Rating: 
Summary: Do NOT buy this player! (or be prepared to return it)
Review: I just got this player last week. I was looking for my first mp3 player, and I was trying to find one that wasn't outrageously expensive. After spending quite some time in the store trying to make a choice, I regret my final decision to buy this one. However, I blame it on an employee who told me it was a good player. Riiiiiight.I have NEVER seen a CD player eat batteries so badly in my life! I had 2 sets of good rechargeable batteries charged to their fullest.... one set lasted 3 hours; the other set didn't even make it through 2 songs! In my last player, one set of those batteries lasted about 15 hours on average. This player is also very difficult to navigate, as it takes forever for the player to actually do anything when you push the buttons. Sometimes, it misses the fact that you pushed a button, or it goes 2 songs ahead when you only pushed the button once. The buttons are incredibly tiny as well, so they're a pain to push in the first place. It takes a good long while to even load discs too. The player has volume issues also. CDs of mine (real ones and CD-Rs) that have played in other players at consistent volumes play at varying volumes on this player. The sound output sometimes comes out as very fuzzy too, as though the bass is so overdone that the speakers cannot handle it (and this is without putting the bass boost setting on.) I tried using this player in my car, and it's horrible for that. It didn't skip, but that did nothing to make up for it's other problems. The lack of a lighted display and the fact that it has a 4.5 volt plug instead of a 6 volt one, the typical voltage for a cigarette lighter adapter, made it even worse. I'm going to be returning this player soon and will hopefully find a product much better. At this point, I'm so thoroughly disgusted that I probably will fork over at least (...) to get a better player. It certainly won't be anything with a RioVolt label on the cover.
Rating: 
Summary: UGGGHHHH
Review: What a hassle. Plz do not spend your money on this item. It worked perfectly for the first, say 2 days, then the thing would not read a disc. I would put a disc into the CD MP3 player and it sounded like it was loading, then all of a sudden, on the Tiny LCD screen it read 'No Disc.' i tried 5 other cds, no luck. The thing was definetly busted. I threw it against the couch a couple of times, put a CD into it, and it loaded perfectly. If this CD MP3 player had a face it would have a big wide grin on it like it didn't do anything, and that it was innocent. Then i tried to load the same exact CD an hour later after i turned of the CD MP3 player. Guess what, once again, on the tiny LCD screen it read 'No Disc.' If you want to blow your money away, then buy this product. It's not very much, but if you buy something cheap, you will recieve something equally as cheap. Take it from me, buy the SP-90 instead.
Rating:
Summary: Multiple Problems
Review: Functionality is good, but quality or quality control is very poor. Headphones were very poor, had bad tonal quality, and one buzzed irritatingly w/ resonances. Tone quality was good with quality headphones. Player exhibited extremely high noise levels while playing CDDA disks and right channel "chirping" noise during MP3 playback. Battery life seemed poor, although no quantitive measure was made. If you purchase this player, test it carefully before you throw away the packaging!
Rating: 
Summary: SP50 is great...
Review: two lines LCD Navigation!
120sec anti shock...
Don't compare to expensive one. remember you're paying what you get.
...I bought one has openning problem, when I lift the player it will stop and LCD display the cover is open but the cover doesn't open. I figured it out becuase the screws is not tight enough, screw them tight! (Maybe the detection stick is no long enough, I posted little AA super glue at the end of the stick makes the stick can press the open/close botton firmly) If you apply that please wait the super glue solid before closing the cover otherwise you will get problem. Then I fixed it with no problem now. Cannot doubt it is cheap made because [of the] price. You cannot get a navigation LCD display and program select MP3/CD player that cheap in the market. So, that is great.
For this price, please don't require very professional stuff on it. Its included earbuds must be replace ([Cheaply] made), Use Sony bass earbuds will make the player more valuable.
For Rio SP series, I guess the laser head is cheap made. That is right many people complain it is only last a year or two then doesn't read disc. Sometimes, depends how you use it. Don't use it to read mal-made cd or pirated cd. and give a break to it. That will last longer.
I am very satisfied by its price, batteries life and navigation.
It is better look than SP90, SP90 = ugly!
Cons: not easy to control. Philips EXP 200/300/400/500 series did a good job in saving batteries and controlling). Sound quality is not well, compares to Philips/Sony/TDK.
Rating:
Summary: Does NOT play WMA files
Review: I can't comment about any other feature of this unit, but IT DOES NOT PLAY WMA FILES as stated above. It does play MP3 files.
Rating:
Summary: Good MP3 player, but not great
Review: This is a rather basic player, but it does play MP3's from folders and subfolders and allows you to navigate around to find the song you like to hear. But I've been having some problems reading some of my MP3 discs. I'm not sure if it's my CD writer, the MP3 file itself or this player. The MP3 songs will play for the first 10 seconds, and stops dead. The very same disc will play no problem on my pc. And because it uses a non-standard sized power jack, I couldn't use my existing portable CD power adaptor for it even though it is the same voltae and polarity. I view this as a disadvantage because I already have the home and car power supplies for my other portable CD players. There're other "noname" brands out there that could play MP3, WMA, VCDs and even has FM/AM radio built-in for slightly more. With the glitches I've experienced, the only thing that's still good about this player is the Rio brandname (which by the way has already been sold, now known as Sonic Blue).
Rating: 
Summary: Value for money
Review: Well I'm starting this review saying that this is a cheap MP3/CD player. Keep that in mind. For the 40$(after rebate) this one costs, your are certainly buying something that doesn't have the features of it's more expensive brothers. What I have to say is it certainly is worth its money. On the outside it looks nice but it feels a little cheap, as the cover doesn't "lock" into place but moves slightly (not causing any problems). There is an analog volume control, head-phones out, line-out (to connect active speakers, plug it in your soundcard, or for the car-kit), bass control (normal-boosted, sorry no equalizer here), a lock switch that disables the buttons on the cover, which are used for controlling the
device (play, stop, ff,...). When it comes to using the SP50 I must say I was surprised. I thought it would be a really difficult thing to browse through songs, but that's not the case. The LCD display (no backlight) can handle up to 2 lines (13 characters each) plus extra info concerning the play mode, battery meter and file type. When you hold the player with both hands it's really easy to find the mp3 you are looking for, only using your thumbs. You can browse your mp3s on a cd either alphabetically (entering up to five characters), or by folder. Creating playlists (up to 64 mp3's) is actually a feature that you won't (or even can't) use, as it's not that easy. The random playback mode (entire cd or specific folder) comes in handy here. While playing, the ID3tag information (artist, title, album) +#kHz & #kbps scrolls on the first line while the current folder/mp3 number and duration are at the second one. I have tried about 15 mp3-cds and the only problem (beeps while playing) was with one album encoded at 192kbps (I guess it was a problem of the codec used, as I re-encoded it using lame's codec at the same bit rate and now plays flawlessly). Also I have yet to find an unsupported bit rate, having tested mp3's from 48 to 320kbps and VBR. Anti-skip protection works quite well at mp3's, but you have to bear in mind that there is only a 2MB memory (which means 4 minutes at 64kpbs, 2 minutes at 128kbps, 1 minute at 320kbps, 45sec for audio CD's). That means that the player renews its buffer every 2 minutes when playing at 128kbps, so you can shake it for 2 minutes, leave it alone for 10 sec. shake it again... The sound coming out of this device is what some might find problematic. Yeah the earbuds are low quality (they can be replaced, I use the headphones of my older cd-player). There is a little white noise (hsssss) and a sound (eeeeee) when the player buffers the mp3 to the memory (that lasts 5 sec. every 2 minutes at 128 kbps). Both of these are only audible when using the SP50 indoors at low volume (or when it's really quite around you). When you increase the volume, they disappear and generally when using the SP50 outdoors (where you are supposed to use a portable device) the outside noise is mush louder. The line out however produces clear sound, the only "bug" here is that the bass feature doesn't affect the line out. At last, battery life is quite good; I got about 6 hours on good alkaline batteries (that was with a lot of browsing and changing CD's, I guess at continuous playback you could reach the 10 hours sonicblue promises). My old Ni-Cd rechargeable batteries give about 2 hours of continuous mp3 playback plus 1 hour of audio-CD (which is enough for my every-day use). Bottom line, the SP50 is an inexpensive mp3-cd player not lacking basic features. If there was no problem with the sound output I would definitely recommend it, but if you want some quality at this section you have to [spend more].
Rating:
Summary: Awful!!
Review: It apparently doesn't like regular cd's because I couldn't get it to play one. It apparently doesn't like movement either! When I played a cd with mp3's on it, it would play as long as I put the player on a table and didn't touch it. As soon as I barely touched the thing, it would stop and not start again. If you don't care to listen to regular cd's and you don't mind playing dead while listening to mp3's, then go ahead and buy this player. Otherwise, invest your money elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: not portable
Review: I bought one and returned it. Holding it while walking or putting the player in your pocket causes it to stop playing. You lose your groove and your place on the CD. Sometimes it plays with the display blanked out. I can't imagine how this product got to market. Consider it only if you plan to place it on the sofa or car seat beside you or in your lap. My grandfather used to say, "You buy cheap, you get cheap."
Rating:
Summary: Good Product For Spoken Audio CD's
Review: I bought mine about a month ago and have used it a lot. I use mine exclusively for spoken audio CD's in mp3 format. This is important to remember when reading this review. Sound - It has regular and Bass boost. Since many Old Time Radio shows already have too much Bass, it would be nice to have more controls. However, after the rebate, I didn't expect much in this area. For about 1 in 20 programs, I will have to listen to the shows on my computer. A lot depends on how they were recorded. Battery Life - Excellent. Since OTR shows are usually recorded at half the bit rate as music mp3's, batteries last twice as long, since the disk only has to spin half as many times per hour of listening. A pair of alkaline batteries got 13-14 hours. Now I used rechargeables and they last over 10 hours also. It uses 2 AA batteries, so 4 rechargeable batteries and a charger should keep me permanently supplied with power. Earphones - Tossed those little in-the-ear earphones and used another pair I like. Buttons - Pretty good. I can get to any show with just a few clicks. It has a pause button if I need to stop for a minute. The bad part is, unlike a computer interface, I cannot start in the middle of a track. This is important when listening to a 30-60 minute show. I have to be very careful not to stop in the middle, or I would have to listen to the whole show again. But, again, that is the price I pay for buying a low priced unit. Skipping - It has done well for me. I keep it in my pocket as I walk to work and it never skips. Overall, I really enjoy it and have used it over 50 hours.
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