Welcome to the future of personal audio. The tiny Diamond Rio player plays MP3-encoded digital music, the open Internet standard that's shaking up the industry. It stores your music files in 32 MB of RAM instead of on CD or tape, so it has no moving parts and it can't skip.
About the size of a deck of cards, the Diamond Rio player weighs under three ounces and can store up to an hour's worth of music files encoded at 64 Kbps or half an hour's worth of files at 128 Kbps. The supplied Windows software and PC connector cable let you upload new selections, delete old ones, change the playback order, and even create new MP3 files from your own CDs.
What about sound quality? MP3 is a compression technique that discards a lot of the information captured by normal CD encoding. True audiophiles will hear the difference. But the overall effect is surprisingly clean, and the Diamond Rio's extreme portability more than makes up for the subtle degradation.
The Diamond Rio connects to your PC by a parallel-port adapter. In our tests, hardware setup consisted of nothing more than plugging the supplied parallel adapter into our PC's parallel port, attaching the connector cable, and dropping a single AA battery (supplied) into the Diamond Rio unit. The parallel adapter has a pass-through connector so that you can use the port for your printer or other parallel device.
Software installation under Windows 98 also went without a hitch. The default installation puts two applications on your system: the Rio Manager and the MusicMatch Jukebox. You use the Rio Manager to download new selections to the Rio player, delete selections from your lineup, or clear all memory so you can start with a fresh slate. It also lets you view the size of each selection, control the play order, and see how much RAM you have left for storing music. We downloaded a bunch of MP3 music files off the Web to the Windows desktop, dragged them into the Rio Manager, and clicked on Download. Approximately three minutes later, we had stored 30 minutes of digital music.
The supplied software lets you make MP3 files from your own CDs using your computer's CD-ROM drive. You can select 128 Kbps, 80 Kbps, or 64 Kbps encoding. The highest-quality 128 Kbps encoding is definitely worth using for music you really care about, but it creates files that are twice as big as those encoded at 64 Kbps. This means you'll be able to store only about 32 minutes of music at a time.
The Diamond Rio is a computer peripheral, and, as such, it's not quite as easy to install or use as a conventional portable audio gadget. But it delivers great sound, extreme portability, and access to the wealth of MP3 music on the Web. It's a trailblazing technology that's a pleasure to experience.
Pros:
- Compact, lightweight
- Won't skip
- Uses open MP3 Internet music format
- Allows you to create MP3 files from your own CDs
- Near-CD quality audio
Cons: - Only 30 minutes of play at near-CD quality
- Requires a Windows 95/98 PC to use. Not compatible with Windows NT or Mac.
Internet Music in the Palm of Your Hand! Diamond's Rio PMP300 is the first portable MP3 music player for under $200 that stores up to 60 minutes of digital-quality sound. It's smaller than an audio cassette and has no moving parts, so it never skips. Powered by a single AA battery, Rio provides up to 12 hours of continuous music playback.
1 waste of money!
i got one of these a LONG time ago for christmas. it was the first mp3 player i have owned and it did serve me well for quite some time.
firstly, i have to credit this piece of crap as being the first mp3 player marketed and almost didn't make it for legal problems. sound quality is ok.
now the problems: firstly, there is a MAJOR design flaw regarding the battery cradle (holder, whatever). the door fits over the end of the battery and contains the negative terminal. door is held in place by a small plastic hook and WILL break! i had them replace it once! also, as it gets older and takes even light abuse i found that the solder joint on the negative terminal breaks which forced me to open the damn thing and resolder it to the board. my solution? get a single AA battery holder from radio shack, remove the old battery cradle inside the rio, cut a nice big rectangular pocket out of the side of the case with my dremel (to accompany the new battery clip) and solder the wires of that to the board of the rio. and then i attached it to the case with hot glue. yes its ghetto but it worked way better than diamond's solution!
secondly, we all know about the lack of OS support. just sick there...there's beta thrid party software that'll do it on xp, but it sucks. 32mb of memory isn't enough. i got the 32mb flash card and 64mb isn't enough!
ahh the flash card....would be nice if the rio properly detected it even half the time. something is desperately wrong with the memory controller and most of the time it can't even detect the card let alone play anything off it. to fix that, i kept hitting it. stop laughing, it worked. but then after a while it started turning the volume up and down on its own....
so in conclusion i can't recomend this piece of crap to anyone. my final solution was to get the creative MuVo TX FM (256mb) and then i gave the rio 300 to my girlfriend. haha i know....but it still works. too poor to buy her a real mp3 player yet.
2 I love it, but...
I have one of these, and I'm very fond of it. It does a good job, and is very durable (I've had mine for years and haven't been incredibly kind to it, but it's still good as new.) The design is plain but classy, and it's easy to use. It takes almost no time to familiarize yourself with the buttons so you can fool with it without looking. There aren't any buttons or switches that are easy to hit accidentally, and in general, it can take being tossed around a little in a bag so long as it's reasonable. Don't crush it and don't spill anything on it, but it's not like it's the Mona Lisa.
As many have mentioned, it holds about 30 minutes of music, unless you can find a memory card (I'm not sure if they are even made anymore, but I have seen them for sale) which will give you a whopping hour. If you're just going to use this for walking the dog around the block, or standing in line, or a quick run in the morning, this isn't such a big deal.
The USB-type cord is primitive and weird, so you'll probably be using the parallel port adapter, which isn't really a problem, but can be an inconvenience if you have a lot of things that use your parallel ports.
I'm pretty sure the company no longer supports this device or its software, since they have gone on to bigger and better things since its debut. Caveat emptor.
Also, it is not compatible with anything after Windows 98, but you can get around that easily by downloading the free program "Dreaming of Brazil" which works with XP, NT, and 2000. (Google search for "Diamond Rio mp3 player" or "Dreaming of Brazil.")
A few pointers from my humble experience with the Rio PMP300:
If the headphones it comes with break, you can replace them with any headphones that fit the headphone jack. You should also take the battery out of the Rio when you aren't using it-- it sucks energy when it's idle. If you happen to need a little bit of misc. storage space, you can use the Dreaming of Brazil program to transfer any items that will fit, which can be handy.
I imagine this is not the best mp3 player you can buy, but if you can get it cheap, it's still a pretty good one. The main problem I have is the tiny amount of storage space and compatibility issues. Shop around for an iPod or a newer Rio or something if you're very concerned with absolute top quality.
3 The Diamond Rio PMP300
Think about this...[quite a bit of money] for a mp3 player that holds max. 9-10 songs. That is the most rediculous thing i have ever heard. You can get a Nomad II for [less money]with 64mb built in. I recommend getting that mp3 player. I just bought a 128mb card for the PMP300 and it doesn't work. This Mp3 Player only takes certain 32 mb cards which are [quite expensive]. When i drop the mp3 player it shuts off completely as if there was no battery in the device. Alot of times when you take the battery out and then put it back in it doesn't even register as having a battery in it. It is not a high technology device at all. Something else that made me even more mad was that there is no longer customer support for this product. I think this company should get their act together. I highly recomend buying another mp3 player b/c this one isn't worth it at all.
4 rio mp3 player pmp300
i brought my pmp300 brand new but moved some time ago and have not been able to find the download cables it is a great mp3 player but i am getting bored with the same mucis thats on the player if you have one for gods sake DONT LOSE YOU DOWNLOAD CABLES because you can not get them for love nor money
5 Piece of [junk] if you ask me..
I loved this Rio when I first got it, honest I did. I took great care of it, was careful not to drop it, fed it fresh batteries every time it asked, and all was well.
But then, after about a year, my Rio failed me. The battery compartment flap came loose and refused to stay closed. I tried taping it shut, but as I usually clipped the Rio to my pocket, gravity worked against me to keep the battery continually falling out of the bottom. Every time I so much as shifted in my chair, the song would restart because the battery had gotten loose and caused the Rio to power off.
What's worse is that SonicBlue blatantly refused to replace the player even though it was clearly a product defect and though I had a warranty. Their reason is that this product is a "legacy" product now..so even though they're apparently still manufacturing this thing, they won't do anything to fix it. I'm never buying from them again.
6 Now it works, now it dosn't
Well yes it is a Mp3 Player... and I have used it for three years... but now I can't get support for it from either Sonic blue OR RIo. Like this product has been completely abandoned... they told me that I would either have to downgrade my operating system or buy a new player. Niether solution is a very good way to treat your customers and they have completely lost me. Now I desperatly search the internet for a alternative softwear package. DON'T DO IT!!! LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE!!!!
7 Awesome little device
I love my rio 300 it is hella cool. some people dont like them because they dont have much memory,... i fit about 22 songs at once and as for the connections they work just fine with absolutly no trouble. i have windows Xp but i found a program that is compatiable with my rio. this is a great device and i would gladly buy a newer model when the prices come down
8 I want my mp3's
I got this a gift for my birthday one year. It was pretty cool until it refused to recognize that it in fact has free memory and a card. I can't do anything with it. I came on here to see if others have the same problem and apparently I need to buy a new device. Which, of course, is what rio advised me to do months ago...so sad when a company doesn't even support it's own product...
9 Rio MP3 palyer
Very Good product. The software that comes with the Rio PMP300 was not suitable for newer Windows versions, as Win ME or Win 2000, but I was able to abtain "download" proper software easily.
Product is easy to use, as well as the software. Good buy. I am happy with product and the service from seller, which was excellent.
10 Awful Machine and Customer Service
After about a year of service, the link between my machine and the computer stopped working. I attempted to get te problem fixed by calling "customer service" and was put on hold for a ridiculous length of time. Then I was told to download a useless interface. The end result is that I am going to get a new MP3 player that isn't made by this manufacturer.
11 Don't waste your money.
This seemed like such a great idea: music that won't skip; I can record what I want. Then I got it.
The software is far more complicated than it needs to be, and it's unbearably time-consuming to put everything you want on the machine.
Then it there's not enough memory to record all you'll need for a long enough stretch.
I could go on for pages but won't waste your time with it. My last straw, however, was when, after I'd purchsed some additional memory, the lid to hold the battery in won't close. So the little, grandly over-priced toy is a total waste.
Stick to your CD player. Maybe it's not all the up-to-date, i.e., the hi-tech industry has replaced it with this little thing. But you'll enjoy it more.
12 Do not buy this
I bought this a year ago. It lasted a month. It's a piece of crap. When it did work, the volume was pathetic. But it is poorly designed with small buttons that can be press accidentally too often. And it just is cheap. Buy a sturdier model or wait.
13 Great...while it lasts.
I've had my player for just over a year. No problems! No skipping, doesn't have a mind of its own. In otherwords, the play options (random...) never switch on me without my promt. It functions very well. Battery uses quickly. It's only just very recently that it's beginning to die on me. It plays, then won't. It's something to do with the battery and the connection. Also, the screen is fading from the top down. This may be to slight rain sprinkles, or its visit to a sandy beach in the Turks (this occured in February though). I am getting another!
14 Great little device for short duration play
I got my Rio PMP 300 from my employer as a gift. It was my first exposure to MP3, as up to that point I had been dismissing it as a fad. Having the device, and about 150 CD's, I figured why not give it a shot.
The installation of the software went smooth. I found an update, and installed that as well with no problems. Then I started trying to rip and found that the included software was hardly stable. I was running on Windows NT, which seemed to be supported by the manufacturer, but with some caveats. I would start ripping and the software would crash. I would try to transfer to the device and the software would crash. I would complete a transfer to the device after several tries only to find that one or more songs didn't actually make it. Bottom line - the connectivity for this device was pathetic.
But speaking for the device itself - I loved it. The music played cleanly, without interruption, regardless of how much I shook the device. The buttons on the front are well placed, well labeled, and nicely inset just enough so they still provide easy access, but you don't have to worry about them protruding. It has all the features you might want including random and repeat. The display let's me know how much memory I have, what track number is playing, and the time of the song. There are also various other indicators that are helpfull (battery, etc.).
The memory on this device is small - 32Mb. And the manufacturer says it will only support up to 64Mb total with an expansion card. That expansion card can hold it's own set of music so you can swap them in and out without effecting the music on the built in memory. However, vendor chose the odd memory type of 3.3V for the external memory versus typical CompactFlash.
There's a convenient "lock" switch on the side that keeps the buttons from registering. This can be good in two ways: it won't get turned on accidentally and burn battery, and you won't accidentally hit the stop button and interrupt your listening. The belt clip is handy, and detachable, and the battery life (one AA) is quite respectable.
In all, I really love my Rio PMP 300. It's perfect for a trip to the gym, a jog around the neighborhood, or even for a short plane flight. If all you need is an hour (30 mins on internal memory alone at a 128 sample rate) to pass the time, then you really don't need to spend more - this is the perfect device.
15 Rio excellent player
I got the Special edition 64 mb's RAM and a 32 MB flash card for 96 MB's of RAM. Very nice, and skip free so when I work I don't have to worry about skipping like I did on my CD player. Very compact, easy to fit in a pocket or even better it's got a clip if you don't have pockets. Some people complain about batteries but I get the same performance out of a single battery in the Rio than 2 in a CD player. It's not an issue to me anyway since I use rehargable batteries, but some complain anyway. Download speeds to the Rio are pretty good, would like a faster download time though. Anyone think of Firewire or USB? As far as durability I accedentally dropped it on concrete and it still works perfectly. Overall a fine product, I'd pick it up again after my experience with it.
16 It was the best... for a week.
I originally bought this a year ago. The first one i had just quit working. They sent me a new one right away but it was refurbished and the memory was messed up. So i call their tech support and they charged me $19.95 for the call and couldnt even send me a new one or atleast tell me what's wrong. Im sad to say that i was completely dissatisfied with this product and the company.
The prices are really coming down on these things so just pick up a cheap one with 64mb memory because trust me 32mb aint enough.
17 there are better deals on mp3 players than this one
I've had my Rio for about 4 months. The other day I went to download some songs to it, and now it says that it only has 16mb of memory. I don't know what happened to it.
Also, the 32mb of memory is not enough if you're like me and use the player all day. If I bought another mp3 player to replace this broken one, it would have to have at least 64 mb of memory. I could fit a maximum of 8 songs on the Rio.
18 it broke after dropping on bed!!!!
for the first month i had it this thing was great. but then when i dropped it on my bed it wouldnt play right. every 3 seconds it went on and off, on and off. get something better.
19 Portable relaxation machine
I've had a PMP300 for a little over a year now, and the only complaint I have is with the transfer cable. I had to return the first unit I got as the cable was defective, and now it seems to be failing again.
I have a 32 meg flash card, and at 48k bitrate I can store 43 songs on my Rio. I mostly listen to celtic and classical music to help me relax and drown out distracting noises, and prefer a larger variety of music to near-CD quality. 48k is supposedly AM radio quality, but I quess I'm no audiophile as it works for me.
I will probably have to upgrade to a Rio500 or something similar, but I won't go back to CD or even cassettes. It's small enough to fit in a shirt or pants pocket, and it is skip-free unless you bump it fairly hard.
20 good for a beginner
When I first got this mp3 player, I had hardly heard of one before. I started to use it and it was awesome, untill I found out that I could only put about 6-8 tracks on it. I don't mind that much, but I would like a lot more memory on it!
21 Not a bad littel divice for the money
I rolor blade and jog a good ways and the no moving parts feature is perfect. Exclient continues music with no skip works for me.I down load my favorit cd's and they come out great.The only bad part is only six songs, almost seven.You defnitly need a sond/vido card.Unfortunly there expensive,but nessary if you want longer play time.I'm going wait till they drop in price or hopefully go on sale.
22 Well.... it's pretty good.
I bought my Rio PMP300 last fall, and it's been my primarysource of personal music ever since. I think MP3's are a great alternative to CD's when used ethically, and the Rio 300 is a fairly inexpensive option. I must say that the Rio is efficient on batteries, has very good sound with very little distortion (if it's distorted, it's probably the ripper/encoder that made the MP3), and since it's completely electronic with no mechanical parts, it obviously never skips. I run with mine and use it in the car with a cassette adapter, and I love how light it is. Despite all these pluses, there are a few things the wary consumer should know:..As for mechanics, the Rio 300 has limited onboard memory - I get along fine with the 32 MB, but at times, especially on long trips, I wish I could play more than about 3/4 of a CD at 128bps (about "CD quality"). Be ready to shell out more for that flash memory add-on. The case on the Rio 300 is relatively fragile. Don't count on putting it through a lot of abuse, and be careful with the belt clip, as it may strain the thin plastic - - mine cracked, but a little superglue fixed it and it's fine now. The bottom line: if you don't have a lot of money but you want that MP3 player, it's a good buy. As for me, I'm about to convert to a minidisc player/recorder with a USB MP3 adapter.
23 DO NOT BUY THIS PIECE OF ....
IF YOU LOOKING FOR AN MP3 PLAYER THAT IS CHEAP IN DESIGN, THIS IS THE PRODUCT FOR YOU. I'M TELLING YOU, DONT BUY THIS PIECE OF.... YOU COULD PROBABLY GET ABOUT 7-9 SONGS... IF YOU'RE LUCKY... THE BATTERY COMPARTMENT IS SCREWED UP... DONT BUY ANY PRODUCTS FROM DIAMOND... THE ONLY THING THAT'S GOOD ABOUT THIS PRODUCT IS THE "AA" BATTERY THAT COMES WITH IT...
24 Good Value
Many people like to criticize the Rio 300 (and the newer model,the 600) because it only comes with 32MB of memory. While thiscriticism is valid, I'd like to point out that the Rio 300 (and other 32MB players) are considerably CHEAPER than their newer 64MB siblings. ...
Think about it, folks, ... A 32MB SmartCard, if you search around online, only costs about [30% of a 64 MB player]. If you're that upset about the skimpy memory on the Rio 300, simply shell out the extra sixty bucks and you'll still have saved yourself fifty-plus dollars.
As for memory, you can gain more music space on your player if you DON'T transfer songs at high bit rates. For example, I typically transfer my songs (from an origianl CD) at 112 kps (CD quality) and sometimes at 96kps (near CD-quality, and believe me you can't tell the difference). In short, I love my Rio 300 and will soon buy extra memory for it and still have money left over in my pocket.
25 lacking memory
when I first received my Rio for my 16th birthday I was excited, as well as a little doubtful. could such a tiny device live up to all its claims? well, it's been a little over a year, and my Rio and I are constantly attached at the hip. it's little, it's light, it doesn't skip when I exercise, and the software is so easy to use that even my mother has figured it out. the only drawback is that the onboard memory is limited to 32mb, which, for me, just isn't enough. I can only squeeze between 6 and 12 CD quality (128 kb/s) songs on at a time, so I always feel like I need to change the songs halfway through my day. my advice is to splurge and shell out the extra cash for the special edition Rio 300 with twice the onboard memory (64mb), or even better wait for the Rio 800, which should be out soon, and promises to be the best Rio yet.
26 Can't believe other reviews
First of all, I have used software named "Streambox" to cut down the size of my files. So, instead of playing the selection at 128 kbs, I have cut it down to 16 kbs. Believe me, the quality does not deteriorate that much! By doing this, I now can hold 100 tunes (mine are all jazz)--50 on each of my two 32 mb modules. If I choose to do so, I just cut down on the number of tunes, for example to 47, and replace them with three old radio shows. As long as I keep the number of selections at 50 or less and do not exceed the 32 mb on each module, there is no problem. Now for the negative--Yes, it is rather cheaply made. Bump it and it will turn off; the battery compartment is not well thought out. But, if you have problems within the warranty period (one year), Diamond will replace the unit. One more thing--the cost of the 32 mb modules is beginning to drop. I would be lost without my Rio!
27 cool technology but don't run out and buy one just yet
MP3 players are truly a great idea, but this product is not very practical. It only has 32MB of memory and the upgrade cost is almost like buying another whole player. I enjoy using mine for exercising - it's light and doesn't skip. However, it is very touchy/quirky. Don't bump it or the whole thing will turn off. And sometimes it will automatically pause play even when I have the "hold" feature engaged. The technology is great, and I'd like to upgrade but I'm going to wait until players can hold more memory or until MP3s can be further compressed. This would be one of the coolest products ever if it could hold your entire library of music. For those of you that can't wait that long, go for at least 64MB.
28 Great Product!
This product has no bugs in it. The memory at the 32 Mb is about 23 minutes of equal to or better than CD quality music. The equalizer settings on it are pretty good. Although the headphones it came with have absolutly no bass boost I would recomend buying your own pair. The software it comes with cannot get any easier. To get songs onto the Rio from your computer is so easy and takes VERY little time, about 15 seconds per song! This is a great product and IS durable, I have dropped it numerous times and it works FINE. It has never skipped... won't. I don't know why some people downgrade it so much... this is a great product for an even better price, I do not regret buying it.
29 excellent BUT not perfect
This is REAL. Im 13 years old and i live in Pennsylvania . LISTEN! A VERY good player has good sound and is very portable. There are a few small set backs , the plastic outside is flimsy , stronger than it looks , if u drop it on hard linoleum it will be fine but i wouldnt go mountain biking with it. The battery case thingy pops open and is poorly designed , if u bump it too hard it turns off . that can be fixed by putting a small spring inside or something though.The headphones are ok , they sound decent and are comfy 4 me , the software is decent but i like RealJukeBox better.I wish it had better EQ but the ROCK setting is good 4 me ( CLASIC setting is best 4 punk rock). Sometimes the rio doesnt connect to the port cord cuz gunk gets in the uncovered connection but it can be cleaned( with a Q-tip not with water).It's easy to set up , if u can use a remote 4 a TV all u need to know is the port conection which is fast and EZ. Music is of good quality at 64kbps and free with Napster or Scour Exchange.Battery life is GREAT one batter has lasted me about two weeks( not with constent but frequent use). My battery life indicator measures wrong but that doesnt really matter to me , its no prob . it measures almost dead wen the battery is brand new but the battery still works.no other complaints. over all a Great product , small lightweight , relativly strong. Their are players that record and have Fm tuners , u can get a FM tuner 4 extra money and u can have it support other formats 4 more money too .It cant record , but no biggy.with 64kbps u get about 24-30 songs... get a smartmedia card. i got 32mb which adds the capacity to about 56-60 songs, but i geuss 16 MB would do.my bro has an MD rio ranks lower cuz extra memory is expensive but the rio its self is half that of a MD player. Great product , buy it. Excellent present.
30 THIS IS THE FIRST AND WORST "MP3 Player" ON THE MARKET!
I got this as a birthday present. It was all that i wanted. i started reading bad reviews... at first i did'nt believe them but then i tried what ppl told me to do to see if mine was as bad as the rest. For the first few weeks it's ok but now after 1 year... it's had it. If u touch it. it will switch off and on again and sometimes the battery will fall out(by the way... it uses them up very quickly). Now it does'nt work at all. If you're thinking of getting an Mp3 player... get a Nomad or Nomad II or a minidisc player
31 A Great Cheap Machine
The Rio, for being a first generation MP3 player, is awesome. The design is well thought out, and simple. The audio quality is great at 128kbps, an in general it sounds "right." I bought it mostly for jogging because I wanted to choose what I listen to. (Anyone who has been interupted by commercials in a great part of their run can relate, I'm sure.) I wasn't looking for much, so this meets my expectations. I'm not much of an audiophile, so the features offered wasn't an issue. Price was, and . . . for 32mb... I'm happy.
I've only had my Rio for three days, so I can't really comment on durability issues. My one problem with the player is the headphone jack. It seems to be really cheap, and so I worry about it being the first thing to fail. The software is really cutsie, and easy to use. Being what I consider a power user, I'd rather see it simpler, and more streamlined. All in all, I'm pleased with my purchase.
32 Good sound but not durable
I bought this item when it 1st came out, but after dropping it once the metal clip that provides the battery connection came loose and wasn't ever able to be kept in place, meaning no power and no music.
33 Never buy a first generation product!
I bought this mp3 player thinking I was going to be on the cutting edge. What i ended up with was an ok piece of hardware that just wasn't worth the money - only 1 hour of music? What a waste! BUT, the worst part was that it was so flimsy that it broke within the first week! I dropped it about 1 foot - not on a hard floor, but on a soft carpeted floor, and that tiny fall completely killed it. It wouldn't turn on. So i had amazon.com send me another one. Guess what happened after i got a new one. The exact same thing, 2 weeks later. So i returned it for a refund and am now going to wait for portable mp3 players to get better and cheaper.
34 Great!
This is a great mp3 player! Especially because this this was the first one out! And for all the people who think it isnt durable enough is because they arent careful! I mean what [type of person] would put a mp3 player in their backpack with all their books an let it get crushed? And with the size of this thing... your pocket is where to put it! This thing has great sound, could use a bit more memory but with the 16 MB upgrade, its fine. Also, its great for saving money after you get it... no more buying cd's! That saves me sooo much money. A GREAT MP3 PLAYER
35 Excellent Player that's Easy to Use
I've had my Rio for almost a year now, and it goes everywhere with me. I have had very few problems with it. The sound is not always perfect, but errors are few and easy enough to tune out. I have an expansion card for it, which doubles the memory, but since I've had it, the player has started to "skip" (that is, every time a certain song is played, it leaves out a second). It's a great player for running and hiking, though, because dropping and bouncing it do no damage. That's what I use it for the most, and I find it to be a far better option than a skipping CD player or a cassette player. The earphones are useable, and in fact are ideal for the activities mentioned above. The device can also be hooked up to speakers through the earphone jack. MusicMatch Jukebox is the included recording software. It creates quality mp3s, but may not work well on older computers or with additional programs open. The Rio Manager software used to download to the player (which uses an EASY parallel port connection) is self-explanatory and also serves as a music player on your PC. I've tried playing music through RealPlayer, MusicMatch, and Napster as well, and in my opinion, this is the best software. My complaints: there's no radio tuner, and the player cannot be hooked up to an AC adapter. Being an environmentally-conscious person, this bothers me. Also, see complaints about batteries in Michael Slabodnick's review. Otherwise, it's a great piece of technology with a lot of possibilities.
36 Good sound Weak quality Poor support
I have this unit with the 32 Meg Flash Card. When I first bought the product, I was running around like a happy fool glad to be ride of my walkman bouncing around my waste on short jogs. After the honeymoon was over I started to have issues. The software that came with it, was the music match software.It was good for only a limited number of plays before expiry.I called diamond and they told me their RIO Port software was to come out shortly. When the software did come out I found it didn't work properly on the PMP300. I looked for some help files on "configuration / troubleshooting " but there was none. Tech support told me this was a known issue the pmp300 doesn't always show up as a configurable option so reinstall the software. 3 reinstalls later I still couldn't get the Rio port software to work, so I gave up and I just reinstall the music match software when it expires every two weeks. Since then my LCD has become dim and the plastic belt handle broke. The unit is about a year old now and cost about 230 $ new.
I really like my MP3 player but I will not buy another RIO .I am looking at alternatives
37 Good product, bad support.
I purchased a Diamond RIO 300 almost a year ago, and I definitely say it has been great. The one problem I've had was with the battery compartment. When Diamond designed the RIO, they took the duracell ultra batter and built the RIO around it. Low and behold, the Duracell Ultra tends to be bigger then most AA batteries, so I had problems when using rechargable batteries (stupid me, saving the environment) that made the RIO shut down every time it was bumped. Diamond addressed this issue in a knowledge base (which was hard to find) and basically said "shove something in there to make the battery fit. I use foil now (which sometimes makes the compartment pop open, but only when it's in my backpack) and haven't had much problems yet. However, Diamond's tech support is very horrible in trying to get merchandise replaced (which I've tried with my rio and other diamond products). I'll probably purchase a RIO 500 just because it has a better battery compartment design.
38 The first mp3 player ever is a big hit!
I read a lot of what other people have been saying about the diamond rio. For the most part, the reviews have been good, but when they weren't good, they were BAD. I don't understand how someone can complain about the rio just because they can't install it on their computer, or they didn't look at the computer requirements. Or if they mistreated it... The sound quality on this is excellent. For those people who said it is NEVER cd quality sound could never be more wrong. The Diamond rio can actually be above cd quality sound, depending on the speed of your encoder. I was almost completely satisfied with the Diamond Rio, but the 30 minutes of sound it could hold weren't quite enough, maybe if it just had 45 minutes. I didn't want to buy a memory card for it because they're about $100, and it reduces the sound quality by 50%. I bought this mp3 player last summer, and i still have it in one piece. I've dropped it a few times, and had to make simple repairs, but i've never had to do anything that actually cost me money. There are better mp3 players out there now, like the diamond rio 500, and some nomad ones, but they're probably considerably more expensive. The diamond rio is a bit fragile, and if you drop it, then it will skip, because the battery could be knocked out of place. But as long as you're fairly careful, it'll stay in one piece. I've been biking with mine, skateboarding, through the airport, etc... and as i said before, it still works. You might want to shoot for the diamond rio 500, but the price on this baby is killer. The only thing that beats an mp3 player, sadly, is a minidisc player, mainly because you can bring your songs with you, and many other reasons, but i'm not going to go into that ^_^ the bottom line is, if you want a VERY small mp3 player which holds FREE downloadable music from the internet which works on fairly new computer, and is fairly durable, go for this one!
39 Works great for me
This thing was the first MP3 ever? Wow! Not too shabby. Its durable,it has good sound (satisfactory at 64kbs), it looks cool, and most importantly: it gets the job done. Throwing music on the Rio from my CD's and my computer is simple. Who cares if it doesn't support USB? I can go brush my teeth or clean my room while I wait 5 minutes for all 17 songs to download onto the Rio. That's right, 17 songs at 64kbs, which makes me happy since I haven't even upgraded this inexpensive device yet. In fact, i might not even need to upgrade it; I'm already content. No moving parts, no skipping, la dee da da, bla bla,great sound, and it all does the job with one "AA" battery, which lasts for hours upon hours. I honestly, have no complaints, really. Listen to this picky electronics consumer's advice: if you know how to use a computer and you want a quality MP3 player worth your hard earned money, go buy the Rio. ..., sweet.
40 Somewhat disappointing
When I bought this product, the price seemed right, and the sound was great. Overtime however, my control pad wore out smooth! My battery mechanism holder broke! And the headphones broke as well! I got a replacement pair, but those eventually broke too. The Rio offers an hour of music storage.....which is only true if you use 64kbps! Pretty much cassette tape quality. An expansion card will allow the Rio to hold more, but at almost 100$! The sound never TRULY disappointed me, but it should be noted that it ISNT EVER CD quality. NEVER. It takes away bass from songs to allow more volume. The durability on this product is a joke. The software that came with it was efficient, but not great. It would be more cost efficient to get a CD-Recorder and make CDs rather than to use this! Don't waste your money! Get an Mp3 player from a better company such as Creative, or possibly even Sony.
41 You want an MP3 player? Here it is!
This is the best little gadget I have! It's the coolest thing! It's about the size of a deck of cards and weights about 4 ounces. It hold 32MB of songs, which turns out to be a lot more than you'd think. The advertisement says near CD quality music, but I've never had a CD play this good, and honestly would like to hear CD quality music if this is "near CD quality". It's well worth the money-- it's an offer you'd be crazy to pass up!
42 Fun And VERY Portable
I bought the Diamond Rio 300 Player and I love it. It's is so portable its unbelievable. One tip though, the speakers that come with it aren't that good. The plug doesn't fit in well you have to shove it in. By the way, if you see that your player keeps pausing it is because your volume is up too high.
43 It gets more difficult the longer you own it!
Love the concept. Love the transportabilty, BUT onehour...means more like 30 minutes AND after you download 50 songs theyexpect you to pay (from there software provider-music match) for adding other songs to your play list. I am sure there are ways around it, but who wants to spend the time figuring it out? I want ease and Daimond is not making it easy! I own stock in the company and am really annoyed that they expect me to pay after I forked over the cash for an over priced piece of... I will get around it because I grew up on computers, but WHY make it more difficult for me so that I am DRIVEN to write a BAD review at amazon. I made an effort to write this review so that the comapny will make a change. Simply...I want to hear a song right now, but because my roommate is sleeping and I USED up my 50 songs I would have to make an even BIGGER effort than signing on and spending 10 minutes writing a NEGATIVE review to DIAMOND in hopes that they will make their product more USER FRIENDLY. When I paid $150, I was not aware that the product ACTUALLY held only 30 minutes and I would be responsible for anything over 50 songs. I want to feel at ease, in that I can recond ALBUMS and not be selective in songs. DO SOMETHING DIAMOND OR SONY WILL TRULY MONOPOLIZE THE MARKET!
44 Better then I thot
I got the Rio PMP300 player about 7 months ago. I love it, and use it every day. I have all of my favorite music on it, since it is so easy to get. I dont need to buy CD's any more, and it's saving me alot opf money. Its small size allows me to bring it ANYWHERE i want, including school.
45 MP3 all the Way!
This product is AWESOME! It was really easy to use, probably because I'm a 13-year-old computer nerd, but anyway, it was really easy to set up. You plug in the Parallel adapter, and off you go! I already had RealJukebox and a small collection of mp3's. And, since I can't really notice any difference in the quality, I can fit up to 20+ songs without any extra memory! This was well worth the $ I paid after a rebate and 3-7 day shipping. BUY IT IF YOU HAVE A NEWER COMPUTER AND LIKE MODERN MUSIC (modern is easier to find)
Ciao!
46 Flaws
It is cool to have such the technology to listen to music at not have it skip. But Diamond needs work in many areas before they have a great product. First the battery location is not well placed or it needs a better locking mechanism(mine has tape holding it closed). Second, their customer service really needs improvement. My first player didn't work correctly. SO after calling long distance on my dime they sent me out a new one which intially didn't work. Then I called long distance again to be told that "this is a common problem" that is not in the manual. But i enjoy it though.
47 It was nice at first
The rio 300 was great, untill i broke it.......twice! The first time it broke was for NO apparent reason, which is never a good. I thought it was just a defect, untill 2 weeks of constant jarring and crushing in my backpack proved otherwise. The front plate was completly torn off. It did look a little flimsy and weak. So if your a high school student, just trying to keep up with the ever changing music fads, wait untill one of the other, stonger Mp3 players drops in price, because it just wont last in your backpack! For this imperfection, I give the Rio pmp300 TWO STARS.
48 Pretty Damn Good
What most of these reviewers are forgetting is that the Diamond Rio 300 was the FIRST MP3 player to hit the market. And it was a great struggle in the courts to even get it released.
I had one of these pre-ordered for almost 3 months and finally got it 2 days after it was released. I have been pretty happy with the way it has held up. I did a 16 MB upgrade for it and it seems to hold enough music for me.
It is durable, but the button control now falls off unexpectadly. This is probably why they moved away from this design on the 500.
Personally, I would still consider this a very good MP3 player. When I bought it it was over $200 and I thought that was a bargin. I really just depends on what format your music collection is...mine is 99% MP3, so these little guys are awesome.
49 Good bargain
I think this product is a good bargain for the money. People are complaining that it only has 32 MEGS then why don't they just get the 550 or more memory! I'm not thrilled about it only having 32 MB but for its price im not compliaining.
50 I love it!
I got a Rio for Christmas, and I absolutely love it. I rarely use my CD player anymore! It's an absolute dream for jogging, nowhere near as bulky as a walkman (just clips right onto your shorts) and doesn't skip like a CD player, plus 1 hr of CD quality music (with a 32 MB flash card in there) is plenty long enough for a jog. Also, you can switch the music when you get bored of it. It's also great for short trips, so much better than having to drag around a CD player with a couple of CDs. For longer trips I often have my laptop along anyway so I just pack the cable as well and load new songs onto the Rio when I feel like it. The case does feel a bit flimsy, but I have dropped it many times, no problems. I once even accidentally left it soaking in a puddle of water for a few minutes... the LCD screen died for a day but then it came back, and now (a month later) it's still running fine. The sound quality is good, if you play around with the equalizer settings a bit (I like Rock better than Normal, it gives some bass boost).
To all the people complaining about the buttons accidentally getting hit when you carry the Rio in your bag: use the Hold button, that's what it's there for! This isn't just a Rio thing, I have the same problem with my portable CD player.
Drawbacks? The parallel port connection is slooooooow, and 32 MB is not enough memory. Spring for the 500 if you can afford it and your OS is USB-compatible. (I run Linux and Win95, which is why I got the 300.) And definitely get a 32 MB flashcard to increase the memory.
Also.... I wouldn't recommend it if you're not already an MP3 convert. If you've got a large MP3 collection that you want to take along with you, you'll love the Rio. If you're just wondering what this whole MP3 thing is about, the Rio is probably not for you.
51 Pay Attention
I just bought the MP3 player. It is great! There is just oneproblem that relates to the installation of the software. If you areinstalling the software, and an error message comes up, don't call tech support! They offer nothing! Here is what you do: open Windows Explorer, select the CD ROM drive (D), double-click on "extras", double-click on "MMatch", run mmSetup. This will work if the autosetup doesn't.
Buy other headphones! I would recommed the Sony Sport Earphones. The earphones that come with the product hurt and they fall out of your ear... I would also recommend buying a memory upgrade. I could only get 8 songs in CD quality.
Overall, I would definately recommend that you buy this product.
52 Rio = Amazing
This player is simply amazing, I'm had mine for more than 6 months and its really great. The 32 megs is a bit limiting, but Smart Media is very cheap now, I got a 32 meg card for $55 last week. Now I can fit just over 20 songs, I am the envy of all my Mini-Disc freak friends (they won't admit it though). I love people comming up to me and asking me if its a radio or a mini-disc, and I show them what it really is and watch thier faces light up :-p
53 Freaky stuff
I've used my RIO300 a lot. It goes a very long time on a normalbattery, it is easy to have in my pocket an the interface is very easyto use. The only problem i had was w1ith w2k, but i downloaded some free software...
54 This is worth buyin.
THis little mp3 player is awesome. It has crystal clear sound.Portable and easy to use. I figured it out without the directions. If you want a good quality mp3 player buy this one! But if you want more space ( the 64megabyte)go for the PMP 500. This holds about 12 to 14 songs compressed. Very good. BUY IT! I have had mine for 4 months and i havent had a problem with it once.!
55 Ok product but the diamondtech service made up for it.
I originally got it from some idiot on ebay who said it was new. Well it had that skipping problem where the power would go on and off when you moved it. I went to the diamond website and they imidiantly said they would replace it for only a shipping charge. I got it back in about 3 days from when i shipped it,and it didn't skip.
If your want one, but can wait a few months the 600 is coming out for about 170. I've heard from amazon and diamond that it has 32 to start with. It has a memory card slot and a seperate "backpack which expands it to 320mb.
Get on any major problem fast although dont worry about small things like the battery hatch coming off (you can just stick it back on.) Among 9 friends who have this player I've encountered severel prolems (skipping, batery hatch comes off, it says its on hold when its not on hold, and the play button comes off(my second did that.) To avoid prolems dont use the hold key, get the seperate remote instead of beating on the regular keys. The 300 comes with everything u need, but get the case and remote. I use mine about 5 hours a day and i love it.
56 Buyer Beware!
Don't buy the Rio 300. They are offering a $50 rebate for a reason. The memory in these things are failing miserably... the Rio 500, on the other hand, is much more robust.
Spend the money, sleep well.
57 REALLY POOR SOUND QUALITY
I could hardly hear any bass from the player, I tried to change the earbud to a Sony's high fidelity earphone but the result was the same. The trible part was too extreme and might eventually spoil ones ears! I was really disappointed with it so I sent it back and exchanged for a Eiger Lab F20, Now! this product really does amazed me with the excellent sound quality. Believe me, it's much more better than the Diamond's junk!
58 The NiQ Electronics review- Great for an Mp3 Player/300vs500
I had first purchased a PMP300, but wasn't satisfied. The design of the PMP500 intigued me, and i couldn't resist. It was a very good buy. This is a review and comparison of both products.
Hardware:
Like the PMP300, the PMP500 can play mp3 tracks and cd tracks, but unlike the PMP300, the PMP500 can also play MPEG2.5, ADPCM, and Audible.com content. The PMP500 plays Mp3s 16 to 320 Kbps and VBR. It includes a Basic equalizer with song adjustments such as treble, bass, etc. The PMP300's equalizer consisted of only four synthetic options: Normal, Rock, Classical, and Jazz.
Connection:
The song transfere speed from your computer to your device for both products is relitively the same, with the PMP500 being a little faster. Connection from the PMP300 is made by parallel-port connection. It is hooked into your printer port and has another parallel port in the back for your printer so that way you can operate your printer and your player at the same time. The PMP500 has easy connection thru a USB socket. NOTICE: YOU MUST HAVE A USB SOCKET IN YOUR COMPUTER TO OPERATE THE PMP500. THE PMP500 DOES NOT WORK ON WINDOWS N/T OR WINDOWS 95.
Buttons:
The buttons on the PMP300 are far better than the buttons on the PMP500. The buttons on both products are easy to use and good, but the buttons on the PMP300 are bigger and cooler.
Memory:
Memory on the PMP500 is better than the PMP300. But keep in mind. If you buy memory chips (They are like disks. There is a slot on both product for insertion. The chips can be easily ejected. They are called Flash Cards. You can buy them here.) You can store play lists on diferent disks, label them, and when you want to hear your pesonal mix, just pop in that certain disk.
59 They have technology for 6GB
They have technology for 6GB and they are juts making it...32MB thatis bucks where you could get 6GB FOR $600 bucks! NOW THAT'S SAD,more than 1,200 songs FOR $600!...
60 GET 64MB GET 64MB GET 64MB
Great little player...2 miffs.
1) delicate.. i MTN bike a lot and its delicate and contrary to popular belief, it will skip
2) 32 megs sucks big time. Hold out for the 500 series because it has twice the mem and its way more solid in design feel.
Tron - Defender of the Users....
61 Won't work on All PCs!
It would not work on my P2 233 PC. My buddy has the same PC, but it works on his. He also has the same Rio 300 and his works on his PC but not mine.
Now it won't work on my new P3 667 PC. It works on another buddy's machine. I tried to do all the things that Diamond told me...no luck...the best offer they had was to replace it. That's not the problem...I recommend a USB MP3 player. This parallel port stuff sucks.
62 Best Purchase I've Made In Years!
I bought the cassette tape for the car to use the mp3 player onthe road. You can fit about 8 quality sounding songs on the 32meg mp3 player and it is better than any walk-man i've ever owned.
63 Complete Flop!
I have recently bought the Diamond Rio PMP300 player and it was a complete dissapointment right fromt he get-go. As soon as I got home, I was so excited to put my MP3's on to it and begin to listen to it. WRONG! If you dont have a computer that was made yesterday, it wont work. My computer was made in 96 and already it is too old to support the software. I had to call Rio and wait 20 mins for a operator who as soon as I talked to him, said my computer was hopeless and the only way it might work was to go and download all of this information and purchase new parallel port adaptors. NO WAY! no where on the box did it say this. I have finally gotten it to work, but it is skipping like crazy. something is wrong with it and this sucker is going back to the store. Its a complete flop, and NO ONE should buy it. It only has 32MB memory, and the cards cost a fortune. it is always running, so the battery slowly wears down. I love the earbuds, and the size and wieght, thats why there are 2 stars. No other reason. Overall, this product stinks!
64 Good machine
Good machine for the price. The people complaining about the memory BUY MORE MEMORY! Its not that expensive. The people complaining about the sound quality RIP YOUR SONGS AT HIGHER SPEEDS! Its not that hard. I recommend audio grabber for ripping them though. The software works perfectly. I've had it for 3 months and have not had any problems at all with it breaking and I take it to hell and back. The only thing is it would be better if it had backlit display and usb capabilities.
65 POOR Tech Support!
I have received my mp3 player to find out that the softare does not work on my computer. I have called their tech support line to find out that I must wait ten to fifteen minutes to get help. The only problem with this is that is not a free call. Therefore I have emailed them just to get an email back to find out that they need more info. So I email them back and didn't get a response. Besides this I cannot comment on the usefulness of the product because I have yet to get it to work. All in all, I must say I bought an expensive paper weight. So far, I can tell you that I will not purchase a product from this company again because of the poor customer service which I feel is a major trait that any business should possess. Lastly, I feel giving this player 1 star is too much.
Thank you,
Brett
66 A lot of bang for the buck!
If you are a jogger and go for 45-60 minutes, the Diamond pmp300 is the greatest thing since sliced bread! The player is super-light, has NEVER skipped, and the download/music selection software works great. I converted some of my favorite jammin' CDs (from my own personal library) to 96 kbs MP3's and get about an hour of very acceptable sound quality. The quality is much better than cassette but not quite that of CD. I have had the pmp300 for 8 months and have not experienced any problems at all. I would highly recommend using the RealJukebox player for recording and storage of your MP3 library. It works great with the pmp300. This might be the best hundred bucks I ever spent! Get one!
67 You'll never see your rebate...
I will never purchase another Diamond product. I bought the item over six months ago and have yet to see my rebate check, even after three phone calls and numerous promises that it was in the mail. Sorry Diamond, there are too many competitors for me to purchase from you again.
68 No problems, pretty good
I read most of the reviews posted here before I purchased the 300; so I was a little concerned.
I had no reason for concern, though, because this thing works just fine and is easy to use. I'd say I had it loaded up with music and was off to run within 30 minutes or so. Easy.
The 300 is just what it is advertised as and with the rebate the price is right. Without the rebate I'm not sure it would be worth it due to the small memory; but at 90 or so bucks it's an a-ok value and good introduction to portable players.
I'm happy with the purchase and am enjoying the product.
69 Great product overall
The Diamond Rio is great. I read the negative reviews and thought that Iwas probably gonna get ripped off for a crappy product, but its reallygood, you can fit a lot of songs if you sacrifice quality, which to me doesnt really matter as long as i can hear the music well. It is a lot cheaper than minidisc, and it hasnt broken or had anything fall off yet, so i'm satisifed with it, go out and get one!
70 Get one!
I got a Rio 300 two months ago and I love it. The only thing its missing is a USB connection, but if you want that you'll have to pay for a Rio 500. Also, if you "rip" your cd's at a larger compression you get more playing time, and you wont really notice the difference
71 don't get pulled in i had 2 bolth didn't last a month
the thing is a pice of crap don't get. i saw neg. reviews i ignored them big mistake. now my story i got it for xmas and now 3 months later i have owned 1 before that suddenly eraced but the good people at crcuit city replaced it now my new one has skipping problems where it turns off and it's a weak plastic so the battery latch broke off. so i say don't get sucked in by propaganda it's all lies
72 MP3 PLAYER
BUY THE DIAMOND RIO PMP 300 MP3 PLAYER...IT'S AWESOME ! YOU WON'T BE SORRY. THE HEAD PHONES SUCK SO GO OUT AND BUY A SONY HEAD PHONE SET FOR IT.
73 AWESOME!
I bought the Rio mp3 player last X-mas and I have used it everyday since! It is so cool! Installation is so easy, and when it comes to putting songs on the player, its even easier. I highly recomend this product. Its worth the money! Buy it now! Its even upgradeable to hold more and more songs!
74 Cool Player
I got the Rio 300 today and it is great. The set-up is hard, then it gets easy. The machine will go on pause only if the volume is too high. It is light convinent and cool.
75 Poor design & placement of the play button
The play button on the front of this unit is driving me crazy! It depresses with very little pressure, so the Rio regularly gets turned on by accident while I carry it in my bag. By the time I get to the gym the battery is dead. Whoever designed this thing NEVER carried it around and used it for any length of time.
76 1st-generation mp3 player
The Diamond Rio 300 made news when it first came out at the forefront of the 1st generation mp3 portables. Once the best in its class, it's no longer cutting-edge: its lack of memory (32 MB, which can only hold 30 minutes of CD-quality sound) and stodgy controls have been vastly improved upon by its more recent bretheren, the Rio 500 and others.
As a result, it's difficult to rate this product a worthwhile buy nowadays. Purchasers would be better off with the more advanced Rio 500, Creative Nomad 64, or RCA Lyra (64 MB version)-- or, better yet, ordering an mp3/CD player like the MamboX or Brujo, which put traditional portables to shame with the ability to read mp3 tracks from CDs.
77 RIO Good, RIO SW Bad
Santa brought me the Rio PMP 300 for X-mas and was excited at first. Then I found out the software to transfer MP3's from PC to the unit was only 95/98 compatible. Having only NT 4.0 to work with I mooched off a friend, until I found: rioshell I am now self sufficient on NT, no thanks to Diamond who could not committ to NT. The 300 unit itself has not had an issue even after adding the extra 32 MB flash upgrade.
78 mmmm....so,so
One word to descirbe the Rio, WEAK. It is a FEEBLE GOOSE! I was really excited when i got my Rio for Xmas, but then I wsa horrified! I opened up the box and picked up the Rio, i tried to open the battery compartment but the whole machine snapped in my hands! IT WAS SUCH A FEEBLE GOOSE! I had only opened the battery compartment and it was already snapped up good! I tried to return the beast but, low and behold, the bloomin' monkies refused to give me a refund (not Amazon).
My friend Johnny has a Rio as well and the sound quality was extremely poor and no way near Cd quality! I warn U know this little beast should be avoided
p.s REMEMBER IT IS A 'FEEBLE GOOSE'
79 Diamond RIO PMP300 - Goods and Bads
I will have to say this is a very good product. Unlike other reviewers I think that it has a very solid design.
GOODS: Great Sound Quality (Creates Problems - see Bads:) --- Good Belt Clip, Run with it and stays there! --- CANT SKIP - Incapable of skipping like a CD Player --- LONG Battery Life - Runs Approx. 10hrs on One AA! --- Easy use : Just hook it up and tell it what u want --- Quick Download : Each song - 10 secs from computer ---
BADS Plastic Cover - Picks up fingerprints, spears, ugh --- Display - Small Digits - However Comfortable --- Night Use - FORGET IT! --- Headphone Jack - Somewhat unsturdy, be careful! --- Memory - Interal Memory Chip Skips after a lot of usage, it is irreplaceable. Must buy new ext. chip --- Only comes with 32 megs, and another 32 is much$$$
Thats all I have to say, but if your into skipless music, HERE YOU GO!
80 Worth the price with multiple rebates
This RIO model is a nifty music device. Compact size, fantastic sound quality, no skipping, and easy transfer of music from a computer. On the other hand, it only holds six or seven songs, the door on the battery case doesn't stay shut so well after a few months of use, and a little abuse, and the "hold" switch gets sticky after a while and becomes difficult to move. If you can find it on the cheap it's a cool toy, otherwise wait for a newer model or get some other technology to fire up your tunes.
81 Follow-up review
Last time, I only gave the Rio 300 4 stars because of the lack of memory size (only 8-9 songs per 32 MB). Now, I must take that comment back. If you encode the files to 96 or 112 kbps onto it, yeah, you'll get the occasional skip (once a song, at the most), but I'll sacrifice that any day, now that I'm able to encode almost 12-14 songs for each 32 MB. What else is great (besides getting new songs) is being able to find older songs or songs out of print from the internet (I prefer Napster). I still strongly suggest getting a fast net connection, or you'll have to wait all night to get one 4 MB song. (This is for us unlucky scrubs that can't download songs at work....) Rationalize it this way: $40-$50 per mo. for broadband internet service. Faster browsing and downloading programs, and you don't have to buy a CD again. If you bought 3 CD's a month, it just paid for itself. And you don't have old jewel cases lying around gathering dust.
If the recording industry figures out how to prevent digitizing of music and outsmarts the computer industry, the Rio would be in trouble. But any industry that throws money at N'Sync, Dwight Yoakum, and Ben Folds Five is probably not too tough an adversary.
P.S. Why are these reviews even necessary? As you can see, Amazon's been sold out since before Christmas.
82 One of the Best values on the Market
"Minidisks the wave of the future" ...all that I have to say about this is ...HA. All minidisks are, are glorified cd's. But this review is about the Diamond Rio pmp300 which I have recently purchased. I find that the diamond rio 300 is one of the most excellent values out there...not only with no moving parts there is no skip (as opposed to a mini-disk which has 40 second protection) but also, the price value is excellent. I say this because all those poor feebs now who have mini disk players have to pay $CASH$ for their music. Why do that when I could log on to a popular Mp3 music servers and download free music. The only gripe I have with the Rio 300 is that it only comes with 32 megs of memory...and flash cards are a tad expensive at the moment. I have to say though...this machine is perfect.
83 First model out - - - Watch out!
I purchased this product for a wopping $220 US as soon as it was on shelves... I know, kinda a silly thing to do. I've been into the whole MP3 thing since MP2's first came out, so needless to say, I was eigerly awaiting this product.
GOOD - Lightweight, small, quick to upload to
BAD - Somewhat flimsy design, display is hard to read, holds only 6 songs at CD-Quality
UGLY - Bad memory causes skips over time, extra flash cards are super expensive
So, my suggestion, if you want something that is cheap, consider the Rio, at under $100, to be a great substitute for a tape walkman. If you can afford it, go with MiniDisc, otherwise buy the Rio, keeping in mind that it is NOT a great alternative to a CD-Diskman, or an MD-Player!
- E-Mail me at nairos@home.com if you have any questions -
84 cool
for the price this is really cool, you will need to buy extra memory, but it works with free mp3 players to load. the headphones are ear type so get a real pair, otherwise this worked great
85 Diamond Rio - The Score
Ok, I Have Had My Rio For Over A Month Now And I Think It Is The Best Thing That Ever Happened To The Music Industry. In A Few Years This New Standard Will Be Wide-Spread, And Will Be The Future In Digital Audio.
As For The The Rumors About The Case Being Flimsey And Insucure, Is Totally Fictional. I Have Dropped My Rio Lots Of Times And I Is VERY Strong.
It Is Worth While To Buy The Extra Memory, If You Are Away From Your PC Alot.
This Product Is Way Better That Mini-Disc Because Of The Costs Involved
Diamond Rio = $100.00
Mini-Disc = $250.00 - ?
Plus You Have To Buy Discs.
The Rio Is Worth Every Cent Of Your Money ImprezaT2K@aol.com
86 Great gadget all around
I own one of the original PMP 300 MP3 Players and it has served me well for over a year now. I have never upgraded the memory though I plan to, but it still will store around 8-10 songs depending on the quality and length. Moreover it runs forever on a single AA battery and never skips whatsoever. The transfering procedure is a little slow but not horribly slow. Finally I also found out this great website where you can download excerpts from audiobooks since they don't have nearly the quality of music you can put hours of them on the Rio.
87 Pretty cool!
I own a 300SE and aside from the fact that it has updated firmware and more memory it is exactly the same. I was worried about things that I had read stating that the case was shoddy, the volume level was insufficient and the memory didn't hold enough. I just wanted to say that all of this IS NOT true. It seems really solid to me, not that I'd ever drop the thing or be rough with it, but it does just fine while jogging or riding a bike...as for the volume level comments perhaps people are just listening to songs encoded at a low base level because I listen to mine on level 5 of 20 and it's fine for most songs unless I'm in a REALLY noisy environment...lastly I listen to all of my songs at 128k. and I can fit an acceptable amount of music on my 64megs--no it isn't as much as a CD but with 2 32meg smartmedia cards on the way that should be more than enough to get me through all but the longest of plane flights. With the portability of the transfer cable and software I can just burn all of my mp3s to a Cd or 2, throw it in my luggage and change the songs out from wherever I happen to be...much more efficient than lugging around all of my CDR mixes and other CDs. True the parallel transfer is much slower than the USB that the 500 offers, but do I really want to use USB when places that I travel might not offer USB support? Also the backlight of the new 500s are supposed to drain the battery power and I don't find the lack of a backlight to be as big of a problem as I thought it would be, however. I would definately recommend purchasing the rio remote as it super easy to use and extends the headphone's cord length by a good 2 feet. See ya!
88 This thing rocks
A great little gadget. The design of the buttons makes a lot of sense and at the same time looks really cool. The program it comes with to transfer files from your computer is small but excellent. Has most of the functions standard to CD players-- Hold, Intro, Repeat, and Random. It's also got some EQ options, and a button called "A-->B" which repeats a section of a song - I don't really see a need for this, but it's cool anyway. Besides the somewhat-steep price, the only cons are that it seems to eat up battery power rather quickly, and only holds about half an hour of CD-quality music without a memory upgrade. Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone with access to mp3's.
89 Great Product
This product worked fine with my computer despite what I had heard. It is lacking a little in memory as I was only able to save around 9 songs on the internal memory. The sound quality is great and the software it comes with is a breeze to use. I would recommend this one to anybody. You might want to order more memory with though.
90 Despite What You Might Have Heard, This Product Works Fine
Some of you might have heard that the Rio PMP 300 is not as good as the 500 and you would be crazy not to buy the 500. The truth is that you have plenty of memory for around 10 3 minute songs! However if you don't think that this is enough, all you have to do is buy the 32 MB upgrade.
The software is exceptionally great. It provides ease of use as well as varied options to edit your playlist. It also has drag-and-drop capibilities.
Overall, save yourself a hundred dollars and buy the Rio PMP 300. You won't have missed anything by taking this one instead of the other model.
91 A good little device
I got this MP3 player after seeing it in a magazine article about cool new technology. The price was (and still is) a little steep, but I love my little Rio anyway. The software that comes with it is pretty easy to use, and it's not too hard to connect it to your computer. I don't like the fact that it can really only hold 6 or 7 songs, unless you buy extra memory, which is very, very expensive. I also wish it came with an FM tuner, for when I just feel like listening to the radio without carrying around my big ol' Walkman. But overall, it's a nice thing to have; very lightweight, doesn't skip, excellent sound quality, and runs on just one AA battery!
92 My second review of the Rio pmp300
I reviewed the Rio pmp300 a couple of weeks ago, and I still love it! I am writting a second review to let people out there know that I found an extremely easy way to download mp3's for the Rio. You don't have to spend hours searching the internet for the music you want. It is called Napster, I can't give the url so just type it in Yahoo's search engine. Once you install the software, you will have access to more that 200,000 mp3s. I also found a way to download files from the Rio into your PC it is called Rioexplorer. I can't give the url for this either but you can download it from download safari. This program basicaly turns the Rio into a large portable hard drive. With the information I have given you here you don't have to contemplate buying a Rio, just go do it. After downloading these programs you won't ever have to buy cd's again, and your zip drive just became obsolete. Rio Rules!
93 best buy
this product is definately a best buy. It's inexpensive, but has great quality. I also love mp3's
94 A mindisc fan gets Rio
I am an ardent MD fan. I bought the Diamond Rio because of the price. I love gadgets. I use it for exercise (even skip protection on MD and CD players sometimes is not perfect)...it does NOT skip, period. Holds about 50 minutes of good quality music. Construction quality ok (although I would get a headphone or headphone adapter with a right angle plug). Easy to play. Good on batteries (1AA alkaline).
Problems? Yes. The software comes with basically two programs, the RIO Manager: used to load Rio from computer. Easy. Drag and Drop items from Windows Explorer. Very easy and painless. No problems with RIO Manager. The other software, for getting music from CD stinks. Search the internet for freeware, and you will find some jewels. You need need software to convert .wav to .mp3 and .mp3 to .wav. It does NOT come with this conversion software. The RIO has three "speeds". If you do not use the right "speed", or bitrate, the sound will be off speed (like playing a 33 record on a 45 turntable). So you need to be flexible.
The second problem is the parallel port adapter. Some devices AFTER the plug adapter (it goes inline with cables, and has a cable that plugs into the side of it) do not work. Major pain. Just my printer and the adapter are fine. But throw in my scanner, and boom, the scanner don't work. Anyway, the fix was not a port sharing device, nothing worked. The solution is another parallel port card (for lpt2). Cheap, and protects computer from plugging and unplugging the Rio.
Those are the ONLY two "problems". Easily fixed, and worth it to get the Rio. For the price, it is GREAT. You need good headphones. With good headphones at 128kbps you get very near CD sound. NOT as good as minidisc. But ok. the medium RIO speed 80kbps is ok (it depends on the encoding software you use).
The "equalization" of the RIO his four modes: NORMAL, CLASIC, JAZZ, and ROCK. This thing has the best type of digital sound shaping I have heard. Sounds good!
Controls are Volume, Play/Pause, forward search/skip, reverse search/skip, stop, Random, repeat (all or song), A-B, and HOLD (locks buttons).
I am very happy with the Rio. I will get extra memory soon.
I will say it is not as flexible as minidisc. With MD you use a 74 minute replacable disk. You can buy MANY MANY MD's for the price of 32mb memory for RIO.
But Rio has it's place. In my pocket when I exercise!
95 Decent sound, not enough space, and NO MAC SUPPORT!
Mac users get nailed again. No matter how good a product is, if it doesn't support the macintosh platform, it makes it worthless for the millions of mac users around the world. If you have a mac like I do, you'll unfortunally have to look into a different, more expensive Mp3 player. The 32MB space is too small on this one anyhow.
