Rating: 
Summary: Hesitation is warranted
Review: I've had this player for about 4 hours now and I wanted to share some of my initial findings with people like me who want to know what they're getting before they have it.
First off, it comes with tons of accessories. CD Case, headphones, rechargeable batteries etc. I was happy to find out that it doesn't use AA batteries, but uses rechargeable ones it comes with, where when these batteries run low, you hook up the AC adapter and it will recharge them for you (no more buying batteries). This makes me wonder if the amazon.com person who reviewed this item actually USED IT before saying that it runs for a certain amount of time on AA batteries.
I'm good with technology so i say this with a bit of shame: the controls are not very intuitive. The manual is on a cd so before you can use the player properly, you have to go to your computer. So, before reading the manual, it took me about 5 minutes to figure out how to listen to FM radio, and i must say it sounded good. I was pleased to be listening to the radio on a cd player, much less on a player that plays MP3's.
WELL, the fun began when i tried to burn my own music. I started out by burning an audio cd of christmas music. I put the burned cd into the player and it wouldn't recognize the cd. To make sure the player wasn't broken, I then put in a factory made audio cd and it played great. Not sure if this means my cd-r media is not compatible or what, but I thought i should mention that i had trouble.
I Then burned an mp3 cd with two folders with music in each, and then about 40 mp3's just in the main directory. The player did read this disc, but would only play the mp3's in the main directory. I couldn't access the folders, and got some strange ASCII symbols where the IDE tags should've been.
I assume this issue will be cleared up with a firmware release, and if so, it will be an outstanding player(assuming they support firmware upgrades). But until then, you should proceed with caution.
Rating: 
Summary: ipod is much better
Review: this is an overpriced cd player. it is ultra thin, yes, but if you want something small you really want an ipod. Using a CD player in the car is not about getting the cd player to be as small as possible -- it's about making it as easy to use in the car. that said, here are the positives:this cd player is cheaper than the ipod. overall, don't waste your time with this product.
Rating: 
Summary: Initial Impression
Review: I have only had this player a few hours and this is my first MP3/CD player, so I don't have anything to compare it to. The unit is very light and my first impression was that it was "flimsy" but after playing with the buttons and using it for a while, it appears to be very well built. It comes with a nice leather case which allows access to all of the functionality. The remote is simple and is not an LCD remote. The two included batteries are about the size of a stick of gum. I assumed this player used AA batteries but it does not. The sound is very clear with no static hiss in the background. The resume feature remembers the track but not where you were within the track. I plan on using this player for audio books and had hoped it would have a resume feature that would remember exactly where I left off. This may be included later in a firmware update.??
Rating: 
Summary: sucks!!!!
Review: what's wrong with this player. it is supposedly feature laden; however, the features do not work most of the time. do not buy this piece of junk.
Rating:
Summary: I don't think Rio's very good...
Review: The first time they sent me this player, it didn't recognize any discs, so I sent it back. The new one worked, though it skipped a lot on audio CDs that are older than 2000 AD, and doesn't recognize Fujifilm CD-Rs for some unknown reason... Then a year later the second one stopped recognizing discs. I'm just getting another brand.
This unit had lots of cool features for a good price, but unfortunately the performance wasn't as good quality. Now the player is only good for charging the batteries that only it uses.
Rating:
Summary: Another Horror Story
Review: Brand new out of the box, doesn't recognize most discs. Even store bought music CD's. CD-R's, MP3's ... forget it! Don't even think of wasting your money!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Rechargable Batteries
Review: Enough whining about the batteries already! If you want another set (and charger) simply go to "www.batteryconnection.com", click on the "Contact Us" link and tell them what you want. Some reviewers must not use the internet much, because it took me all of 10 minutes to find this site. The SP350 is a great player full of features AND extra batteries are NOT a problem to find. They have also recently become available on E-Bay. Search for "Prismatic Batteries" and you should find a seller.
Rating:
Summary: RioBites
Review: Customer support is NON Existant for this unit. Batteries are Proprietery AA Gumstick batteries that even Rio does NOT sell. I have literally spent 8 hours on the net and contacting Rio to find batteries and the only person I reached said they were available at Best Buy........which of course Best Buy NEVER heard of. Why any company would use a proprietary battery in a world flooded with battery designs and then decide NOT to support there own units is beyond me. Very Dissapointed. Rio has FAILED again.......
Rating:
Summary: Horror story!
Review: I am not going to repeat all the things that other people mentioned in the same sentence with RIO VOLT (e.g. skipping, bad support, etc.) I am only going to add another story. I bought mine at the BOSS store (it was heavily discounted), so I thought - "What'ta hell!." Bought it in Florida. Returned to GA figured out - no batteries! NOBODY ON THE INTERNET sells replacement batteries - NOT EVEN RIO VOLT THEMSELVES!!!!! Everybody, I urge you to BOYCOTT THOSE SOBs. This is not a right way to treat a customer at all.
Rating:
Summary: Problems with any Rio Mp3/Wma CD player
Review: This is just a fancier version of the SP150, a better looking more defined font for the larger Text Display, blue instead of green backlighting, 32 minutes of anti-skip instead of 16, an added built-in radio tuner, a car kit with ciggarette and casette tape adapters.
Alot of awesome stuff that didn't come with the SP150.
(Like that Software CD and NIMH batteries that were supposed to come with mine, but didn't?)
Here's the things they neglect to tell you when you buy these players. The buttons (especially the "joy-pad") will begin to stick after a while, usually the play button is the first to go. If you don't press them easily the buttons are likely to break. If you burn your CD's be sure that you burn at a SLOW speed (2x) that the laser can read without trouble.
If you have a high end CD burner with fast burning software your CD's are more likely to have errors.
For instance a CD I made 20 minutes ago will screw up on track 3 yet it is perfectly clean and has no scratches. The counter still counts but there is no sound, cueing further into the song helps sometimes but after doing this the text turns into non-sense characters, or there will be no text at all. I put in a CD that I burned 3 years ago on a now outdated Acer 6x4x32 CD-Recorder that is covered in scratches and for some reason it plays fine.
Pretty dang annoying, right?
If you don't go through your MP3's/WMA's and systematically assign the "track number" in Winamp and save the ID3 information your songs will NOT play in correct order.
Player volume is depressingly low, even at 40, which is the highest it goes. Its like this no matter what kind of headphones your using, even if they're the kind with an on-cord volume control.
You'll have to get a pockect EQ from Koss or Boostaroo to be able to hear your music satisfactorally.
This is a great player if your using it in your car, its crap if your using it as a personal walkman.
If you use a wall power supply to run your player while you sleep like I sometimes do I definately suggest you don't use anything other than the specified voltage power supply (usually 4.5v)
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