Rating: 
Summary: Too bad you can't get it open
Review: The packaging is absolutely indestructible. You can't get it open. I had to stab the plastic shell with a large pair of scissors, and then step on it and pry the plastic packaging back, while it cut my fingers in several places. I'm sweating and bleeding now. Whoever decided to packag it this way is a total moron.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not Excellent
Review: I bought it to replace my old SONY DiskMan. Two additional factor make me to buy this one: Firmwire upgradable to 2.10 and [the] rebate.Strength:
1. Firmwire upgradable.
2. Easy operation.
3. Excellent sound quality (don't use the attached earphone, try a high-end one and you'll feel BIG difference). Weakness:
1. A little bit too big.
2. [plastic] construction quality average or below average.
3. Battery life not as long as it advertise. Basically it just stop running the mp3-CD after it prefetch some certain length of music. So if you skip between songs often, it [uses] power quickly. Overall:
If you want a good one for home use, I recommend it. But that ends it.
Rating:
Summary: Backlight
Review: So far I like this product pretty well. The upgrade made some improvements which really helped! I was wondering if anyone had opened theirs up to see if there is a switch or something to turn the back light on. If there is I'd like to know about it! I like this one alot better than the Philips EXP 103 except I wish the AC adapter was included.
Rating:
Summary: [Junk]
Review: Thsi unit may start out good but if u use it alot stuff will start to happen. i sually listen to it while im walking and it's horrible it will constantly skip and the Anti Shock is a load of junk. I would recommend getting the RioVolt SP250.
Don't buy it
Rating: 
Summary: MP3 Player ...
Review: I bought the RioVolt SP90 CD-MP3 Player mostly for the MP3 playing abilities and so far, it has met all of my expectations. If you're looking for a simple [inexpensive] way to play your MP3s this maybe the player for you. I've only got two real complaints. First of all the thing not only is [inexpensive], it looks [inexpensive] too. The unit is light and has a somewhat flimsy feel to it. This is made worse by the matte finish blue and grey plastic used in it's construction. If styling is your thing you'd better move on to a different product. The SP90 looks and feels like one of the kids toys out of a McDonald's happy meal. My second complaint is the battery life. In the few days that I've owned this unit, I've already blown through 6 AA batteries in about 20 hours of use. These complaints aside, the SP90 does the job. If no frills MP3 playback is your thing, give the SP90 a look
Rating:
Summary: Nice, now what?
Review: I have just bought this player. Next day I upgraded it to a 2.10 firmware. It sure does make this player better in many ways. One thing that stinks is that nobody mentioned that if you upgrade to a new firmware you wouldn't be able to change the ESP (Electronic Shock Protection) for regular CD playback. If you check the manual for the SP-100 it has a little switch on the back that lets you change the ESP(10 and 40 seconds). One other thing, I burned a CD with Windows Media. I burned it normallly for my car, there's 15 songs on it, and the SP-90 can't load it up. I tried some other burned CD that I have (all with WMA, they also do not load up). If anyone knows how to fix that ESP, please post a review.
Besides all of the mentioned above, the SP-90 is very good and affordable MP3/CD player. Upgraded with SP-100 firmware it's a nice deal for anyone.
Rating:
Summary: A great deal!
Review: Ease of use:
It's pretty simple to use. One of my concerns was whether or not I could copy my MP3s directly from my computer to a CD-R with the directory structure in-tact, or if I would have to re-organize them all into the root directory. It not only reads all of the subdirectories but allows you to navigate through them. Anti-skip features:
I bought this unit to use in the car and while I was working out. In the car it works perfectly. For low-impact exercise (walking, eliptical trainer, staionary bike, weight lifting) it works perfectly. For running, forget it, it's not that good. It skipped even if it was placed on the control panel of a treadmill (although suspended from the treadmill handle with a neoprene belt it works fine). Disadvantages:
* Navigating is awkward if the CD is packed with music, but then it's a small display so I'm not sure how it could be done better.
* The level of the line-out is controlled by the volume which is awkward because the volume has to be readjusted every time I get into the car.
* The display has a goofy graphic of a person dancing at the bottom. This is a little annoying. I would have prefered that they spent the development money on something more useful than filler to make the display look more impressively large. Overall:
This unit performs better than I had hoped for the price. Battery consumption is very low, and the price is good. This is a nice starter MP3 unit.
Rating:
Summary: good performer, great value
Review: The SP90 has met/exceeded my expectations. I have a Nomad II MG mp3 player for jogging/vigorous sports, so I was primarily looking for a replacement for a 10 yr old Sony Walkman CD player that finally expired. My key selection criteria were price, sub-$ [money], ability to play mp3/wma and of course std audio-cds. I wasn't looking for a high-end unit with tons of gizmos -- if you want such a player, look elsewhere. FYI - I did the firmware upgrade (sp90hack), see earlier reviews for details, and without any exaggeration, it was quicker and less challenging than getting the player out of its inpenetrable packaging! I would recommend implementing this upgrade. *Pros*
- No skipping whatsoever, and I've put it through its paces; walking/running with my dog, cleaning house with all the motions associated with vacuuming, dusting, ironing, etc.
- Great sound (clarity). I'm currently using a $[money] pair of Sony headphones.
- Simple interface.
- No problem reading audio discs or mp3/wma discs that I burned (all at 128 bit rate as recommended). I see some reviewers have problems with this - perhaps more a function of their CD burning software, not sure. Also, many reviewers recommended burning at 1X, 2X. I had 2 audiobooks (8 hours each) I burned to a single CD each. Each audiobook had 8 CDs. I burned the first book onto a single CD at 2x speed. Kinda time consuming and since CD-Rs are only a few cents I burned the 2nd audiobook (8 CDs) onto a single CD at maximum speed based on pre-record test, at least 4X. I've had NO problems playing back this disc either.
- Good battery life. For audio CDs I only got around 6-8 hours, but playback of mp3 discs I'm getting 12-15 hours. *Cons*
- Big letters on LCD truncate the file information, or you have to wait for the ID tag to cycle.
- No backlight. I knew this going in, but may be important for some.
- No officially supported firmware upgrade, but workaround as mentioned.
- Appearance. Not very stylish, unsophisticated. I wouldn't say it looks like a toy, but more geared for the teen market.
- Entire unit is that hard/brittle plastic, including the buttons. I would have preferred rubberized controls. You get what you pay for. A very good quality CD/mp3 player without frills for around $[money] (after rebates), and since some new models are hitting the market, I imagine you'll be able to pick the SP90 up for around $[money] within a month or so.
Rating: 
Summary: Haven't even done the hack!
Review: After my disapointment in the RCA RP2410, I did alot of research for an MP3/CD player and determined this was the best player at an outstanding pice! Boy was I right! The RioVolt SP90 is excellent. It plays MP3 Discs and Audio CDs perfectly and has good battery length. It really does the job and does it well, I highly recommend this player! What a great value!
Rating:
Summary: May work for some, but not for me
Review: I have enjoyed my Philips EXP103 eXpanium for over a year and decided I needed a second MP3-CD player. My wife has been using the Phillips eXpanium 103 for listening to books, and I wanted it (or a new unit) back for use in the car and at work. I saw a review here for the Riovolt SP-90 that explained how to upgrade it to act like a SP100. I was able to do this just as the other reviewer said and it improved things, but not enough to satisfy me. I encode all my music using AudioCatalyst Variable Bitrate High, Joint Stereo. The Philips EXP103 plays everything flawlessly. The SP-90 (even upgraded to SP100) would not play about half of my MP3-CDs. Since I had altered the unit by loading the SP100 firmware, I didn't feel I had any recourse for returning the unit I was unsatisfied with. I gave it to a friend to try to see if he would like to buy it at a steep discount. About the upgrading to SP100 firmware, the SP90 doesn't come with any software, a remote, AC adapter that are included with the SP100. Rio wants $[money] for the remote, $[money] for the AC adapter. If you think you will want them, consider that in comparing price to the SP100 and other units available. Neither the SP90 or SP100 include DC adapter or Cassette adapter that the Philips EXP103 comes with (in addition to the AC adapter). Things I like about the SP90 (as upgraded to SP100 firmware):
ID3 Tag info displayed on LCD
Quick to start play of MP3-CD compared to Philips EXP103 (Philips takes 30-45 Seconds to find all the MP3 files before it start playing)
Continuous play of songs that continue into next song (No gap between song tracks) Things I didn't like:
Wouldn't play many of my MP3-CDs
Silly dancing graphic at bottom of LCD display
Line-out output level changes with volume control, and output not high enough
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