1 The PMP 300 is back!
Wow, I have this mp3 player...the problem is: I bought it 1999, and it was then called the Rio PMP 300.
This version, the Rio One, is basically an upgrade in memory of a five year old player. Same media, same case, different colors. I have a lot of problems with mine, but mostly flakey, annoying problems. It works...sometimes.
So, be forewarned: this is a first-generation mp3 player. It is the digital audio equivalent of the dodo. Nice and meaty, but don't expect it to last.
2 Run, don't walk away from this product
Mine just stopped working after about 1 month. I returned it, and got another one that stopped working after about 3 months. The batteries lasted almost as long as the player. I now have a Nomad Muvo (64mb), which I've had for about 2 years, and love. I highly recommend the Muvo for someone looking for a small, reliable, mp3 player. It's actually less expensive than this Rio junk.
3 dont be stupid, dont buy this
bad would be a good word for this product. I am writing this in the first day that I have this product. It sucks really bad. It sais that it costs $100 regularly.Ha ha ha, I wouldn't pay 50 cents for it, let alone $30.
4 this thing SUCKS
This mp3 player is so un believably BAD. It takes like 9 hours to finally set up. I bought mine about 2 months ago. guess what, it broke. the thing is so bad. no wonder it was so cheap. the customer service is also horrible. the thing just stopped turning on. i put a new battery in too. when i got it, i opened the battery slot and one of the things that closes it broke off so i had my battery taped in the whole time. If your looking for an mp3 player, do NOT buy this peice of @$#!* !!!!! i would never buy ANYTHING of this brand ever again.
5 one more for the junkyard
I don't write many reviews, I just don't have the time. But I can't pass up the chance to tell everyone what a piece of ____ this player is. I'm just going to be redundant, because everything negative that anyone here has listed is true. I've had both the 32mb and 64mb versions (got the second one free through a rio employee, but paid too much for the first). Both died just after the three month warranty period (not to mention the faulty buttons and software prior to that death), and rio could care less. I just don't understand what's wrong with these units that every single one could die. There is no quality control. These are my first rio purchases, and I could never in good faith purchase another rio product. Listen to everyone here and stay away, no matter how cheap. You will just be throwing your money away. Take a hint from that 3 month warranty, it's pretty clear that Rio knows these will not last, so they won't stand behind their product.
6 Again, do not buy this!!!!
Boycotting all Rio products because of this one-received as a gift and the battery door broke after 4 months of careful use. And whoops that's past their 90 day guarantee! They are of no help on their defective piece of crap.
Ok, now excuse me while I drink some tea to calm down!
:)
7 terrible
What a bad mp3 player. Couldn't get any worse. Rio should be ashamed to have their name attached to it. Examples, the battery door is on the bottom and is prone to breaking. Unfortunately, the idio who designed it used the door to complete the circuit. Therefore, broken door doesnt stay shut, and gravity pulls it down slightly. B/c of that you lose the circuit and the player doesnt have evergy then.
8 Bad manufacturing
Huge waste of money. Mine died after a month and wouldn't be taken back. I'm currently looking for a new player with more features, one that is smaller and for around the same price. I highly reccomend to find another device other than the rio one.
9 Just So-So
I've owned a 32 mb Rio One for about 2 years now. I've never had any of the hardware issues described by other reviewers, though I admit I treat it gently--it is an electronic device after all.
I think it works well with music, but its lack of features make using it for audiobooks difficult. There is no way to control the order of the tracks, except to FF or RW through them, so audiobook tracks play rather randomly. As you can imagine, that is a real pain. The lack of track display information only exacerbates this. Overall, I'd say there are better MP3 players out there.
10 Don't waste your money
Have to agree with the majority of reviewers here, don't waste your time. Mine died, and customer support very unhelpful.
11 Don't make the mistake of buying this item!
Gosh where do I begin, the software is ass-backwards, you have to copy the songs into several folders before you can actually transfer it onto your device. And it is a slow process.
The 10 hours on 1 battery is a lie, this thing eats batteries like crazy, i think 3-4 hours is closer to the truth. The good thing is that it is only one battery at a time, just make sure you always have a back-up you will need it.
The actual device is dumb, it doesn't resume playback from where it was shut off, so if you have expanded the memory it takes forever to get to the 42nd song. Also, would it have been so much to display the titles of the songs? It doesn't dispay anything. The buttons are slow and non responsive, but on the positive side, I have dropped it several times and it is still working. I dropped my Nomad once and that was all she wrote.
So if you did buy this device you HAVE to buy a memory card to make it worth owning and that is going to run you $99 for a 128mb card. Still, that only gives you 45 or so songs. I should have waited and bought the Ipod. I regret it all the time.
The sound is good and I have no complaints about that, if none of the above bother you, then go ahead and buy it, or better yet, make me an offer and you can have mine!
12 Don't even think about it
I own a 32mb version.
if it only works..., it was a pretty good sort of options, wma, just 1AA, smartmedia upgrade, usb conexion, zero configuration requiered for WinMe, Win2K, WinXP, but it just don't work, I bought 1, in least than a month, it goes death, I email to amazon, they send me a brand new, which runs flawless for 5 months, same history goes death, by now, amazon warranty expires, then I email to sonicblue, BIG MISTAKE, they answer me in one week, and told me that my email requiers more time, that was about 2 months ago, never hear anything else from them...
just make yourself a favor, never bought anything from sonicblue.
13 Poor support
I purchased the Rio One specifically because it claims to be both Mac and PC compatible. On the Mac side, it hasn't worked (on multiple computers) -- songs transfer only partially. Rio One's support sent me several different answers from their FAQ on their website (which I'd already read). I patiently explained to them why it did not apply in each case. They finally simply stopped corresponding with me at all without any helpful information, even though I requested additional help.
The Rio One doesn't do what it advertises. The support is poor. The player is flimsy. Spend a few dollars more on someone else's product - you won't regret it!
14 Customer Service gets back to you fast, but often
I've had to trade mine in 3 times. They have a poor quality product here. It's small, and when it works it's nice, however it doesn't work nearly enough. Software errors can make the device inoperable, and I've had three so far. It will simply blink with no other functions available.
Customer service got back to me quickly with each return, however I was out shipping and handling for each return as well as went 4-5 weeks each time between getting a new one.
The UBS cable is smaller than most UBS devices, so if you have only one or two UBS ports open you might want to think about how often you'll have to unplug things rather than sharing a UBS cord with another device.
For $..., maybe, but for $..., it's not a good deal at all. I recommend a CD-MP3 player for durability.
15 Avoid SONICblue products
I bought a RIO One in July. The software was OK but not easy for a beginner. Not intuitive for the MP3 player use.
Controls are limited, even though the buttons are big, the circular configuration works against itself.
Low memory of card requires purchase of more MB or else constantly using USB to change songs.
The RIO one stopped working after one month of use, in August. I finally got an RMA from customer support in Sept. You must call their customer support line, which is not Toll free, and will cost you big $$ if your question is not under warranty. Also the Customer Support phone line is impossible to get through on.
Four months later no returned product and not much of a response from customer service.
Spend you money on another brand and avoid SONICblue.
SONICblue products are faulty and they don't honor their warranty, buy another brand and avoid SONICblue.
16 A good little player...
I recently bought this player and was pleased with it. It is a great little MP3 player -- if you want to only hold approx 15 songs at a time, otherwise I reccomend that you also buy an additional 64mb card to go with it. All around a good product.
17 Adequate
The Rio One is a nice little MP3 player. Very compact. Good sound. Easy to use. It would be ideal as a "beginner" unit. The battery flap is easily knocked open, making the battery fall out. The music is still stored but what a pain. Also, since it only has one battery, it is used up VERY quickly and there is not an AC adapter option. Finally, the unit sometimes does not operate at all. I cannot figure out why but the problem, thus far, always goes away. Spend a bit more on a better unit, it'll be worth it.
18 Poor Quality Build
I bought this for my brother as a Christmas gift. A few days later I decided to try it out and was pretty dissapointed. It was pretty flimsy, as the plastic material felt thin and weak. The headphone input was also messed up. It would only send sound to one ear piece unless you wiggled it around. Needless to say I quickly returned it. I don't know if I got unlucky and bought a defective player, but it was a piece of junk. I was pretty dissapointed as I have other Rio products that are much more durable.
