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Memory isn't the only thing that's large about the Rio Riot--at 5.5 inches wide and 1.25 inches thick, the Riot seems more like an XBox game controller. And unlike the svelte Apple iPod (which is easily operated one-handed), we found ourselves using both hands to manipulate the buttons and scroll wheel controls that are spread across the Riot's face. But its extra-large screen was easy on our eyes, displaying the playlist (something that's missing on the iPod) and currently playing song in readable text.
The Riot provides a number of ways to access tunes, including the standard search through albums, artists, and songs. It also offers the ability to create and save playlists (instead of just transferring them from your PC) and the unique Rio DJ, which can automatically generate playlists. You can set it to find your most-played songs and recently downloaded tunes, or you can use the Entertain Me setting to gather a random sampling of music from 15 minutes to an hour or every song loaded into the Riot. This is easily our favorite feature on the Riot.
However, our least-favorite feature is its USB connection for transferring music from the PC. While USB has become ubiquitous for both Mac and Windows users and is relatively fast, it's not a great solution for transferring large amounts of data. We did an initial transfer of 5 GB of music (one-fourth the Riot's capacity), and it took well over seven hours. Using the Apple iPod's FireWire connection (which can transfer data at up to 400 Mbps), transferring the same amount of files took less than 20 minutes.
The Riot produces a very big sound with the right headphones. The pair that's included are nicely light in weight, but they produce a rather tinny sound. You can adjust the bass and treble with the equalizer setting, but there is no true equalizer feature. It also comes with an FM radio tuner, which is a nice bonus. However, we had trouble getting strong radio signals for even the most powerful stations in the Seattle market.
Despite the fact that the Riot is a spinning hard drive, it seems to have a more than sufficient memory buffer to eliminate skipping. We used our regular air-drumming test (not recommended for typical use) and didn't suffer any skips. The battery life was also adequate, around seven to eight hours. The Riot also smartly puts itself to sleep if you've paused the music for more than a few minutes.
Overall, the Rio Riot offers a lot to like in a digital audio jukebox--if you don't mind its limitations. It's not easily carried in a pocket (unless you have cargo pants), and its slow USB connection can be maddening. But it's a great choice if you're looking for a device to carry your entire music collection wherever you roam. And we really do love the Rio DJ random playlist generator. --Agen G.N. Schmitz
Pros:
This small, ergonomic digital audio player also features an FM tuner with custom presets, an extra-large backlit LCD, and a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that will last up to 10 hours. The Rio LogiTrack player interface makes it easy to find, sort, and play your favorite songs, while the Rio DJ remembers your favorite songs and creates custom mixes.
The player supports both MP3 and WMA audio files, and comes with Real Jukebox (Windows), MoodLogic (Windows), and Apple iTunes (Mac) audio software for creating and managing audio files on your desktop PC.
The Rio Riot comes with a pair of headphones, carrying case, power adapter, rechargeable battery, a printed guide to getting started and a manual, and audio-management software for PC and Mac. It is compatible with PCs with an available USB port running Microsoft Windows 98, 2000, Me, or XP. It's also compatible with Macs with a USB port running OS 9.1 or later or OS X or later. The Rio Riot is backed by a one-year limited warranty.
I would not recommend this product to anyone that I like! One more thing; downloading songs into this device is extremely slow. It can take hours, during which, unknown errors occur which cause me to have to start the process over again.
The battery indicator on my unit doesn't work either. It is completely untrustworthy.
SonicBlue should really be ashamed of this product and their so called Customer Service dept!!!
the only feature i like about this device, is the rio dj. it creates autoplaylists, based upon decade, genre, most recently transfered song, etc.
this would be an excellent product, if the battery would work. but since it doesnt, its impossible to use.
Customer support has been helpful and attentive although a little slow. The Rio Riot issues are:
1. Battery is low quality and easily thrown out of calibration
2. All the Buttons on the unit are connected to micro switches on the electronic board inside and are too delicate for normal use.
3. The Rio Riot is too Big, Bulky and heavey to really be convenient as a portable player.
4. The turn dial is a bid difficult to manipulate at times.
5. I missed the fact that you could not random play a selected playlist.
6. The Interface software was not very user friendly. And you get the feeling that is just a big advertisement for buying other products, with built in banners etc..
I found more wrong with this player but I am tired of writing now and I think you got the idea now. If you buy this unit you are asking for trouble.
The shortcomings are;
Slow USB 1 interface (but then again how often would you download all your songs to this kind of unit?)
SIze - yes the Riot is kind of chunky but I really like the design and it lends itself nicely to car fitting.
Battery Life - upto 10 hours (In reality is about the same as an Ipod)
Files cannot be copied back to the PC/Mac (well not easily anyway - It is also quite difficult to get the iPod to do this BTW)
No AAC playback, not really an issue with me, as although I am a Mac User I use MP3/WMA - as the iTunes store is not available Europe as yet.
Anyway I guess you pays your money you makes your choice, I dont regret mine!
PLEASE avoid purchasing this product!!!
The biggest complaint I have had with the unit is the software. You can download the update for Windows Media Player that will let you use that to load software. True.
But there is another choice. I use Sveta Portable Audio. It actually replaces the software that comes with a LOT of different players, including the RioVolt. It's shareware and you can get it at http://www.dbpoweramp.com/
Is it perfect? Nope. Not perfect. But it's better than anything else I've used and I like it.
Hope some of you find this helpful.......
The only bad things about this player are:
Tag information cataloging
Battery life
Tag information -
The problem here is that your ID3 tags on your songs must be perfect. If they aren't, some songs have (unknown artist) labels, song title problems, and album title problems. However, you are only to blame if the tags are incomplete, but it is annoying to find songs with incomplete tags on this thing.
Battery Life-
Secondly battery life is a problem. While the unit charges relatively fast, and the lithium batteries last quite long, one, they can't be changed when they are empty, two, eventually, when the batteries don't hold a charge, (lithium batteries don't last forever), they can't be replaced. Essentially, you would have to have Sonicblue replace them (?),
or buy a new player. Three, and most of all, the batteries lose their juice gradually. I charged the player, used it for maybe three hours, and didn't use it for three or four days. When I turned the player on again, the display showed that the batteries needed charging.
Overall, this player is very good though, because the problems are minor. The player has a large, backlit, easy-to-read screen, easy-to-use controls, a wireless FM tuner, and fairly good sound with a moderate amount of bass, which is easily adjustable.
Also, all problems with uploads and hard drive crashes have been solved with firmware updates and with a free Powertoy from Microsoft, (since when does Microsoft give away it's licensed, patented software away?) you can use Windows Media Player to upload songs and files. No longer do you need to use the trouble-prone software included with the unit.
I have yet to have a major problem with this player, and with its rock bottom price, I highly recommend this to anyone, young and old.
What I don't like, though, is that you cannot move files off of it back onto the computer. You can only delete. Although the Riot is 20 gigs, my 3 year old computer is only 8 gigs, so I don't have enough room to digitize the music. I would delete the music on my computer and digitize more, but it takes a long time to digitize music. I would like to digitize, move to the Riot and then delete, but only if I could move it back to the computer from the Riot if I wanted that song again. Other portable devices do this.
Also, you cannot create playlists on the computer and move them to the Riot; you have to create the list on the Riot itself, which is a bit cumbersome.
The Riot uses RealPlayer software to manage the songs and playlists. I've always found RealPlayer to be a bit buggy. It has gotten confused by when digitizing CD's and labeled songs on one CD as belonging to another.
And to weigh in on the battery issue, I've had problems with the battery. It has to be recharged constantly! I use it for the gym, and if I leave it my gym bag for a few days unused, the batter will be dead! How does the battery drain when it hasn't been used?
Windows Media Player 9 Support for XP and Windows XP Plus! Digital Media Edition's Portable Audio Devices Power Toy
Version: 1.86
Date: 3/04/03
File Size: 271 KB
This file is provided to owners and users of the Rio 600, 800, 900, RioRiot, or Nike psa[play for the express purpose of using Windows Media Player 9 to transfer music tracks from the computer to the Rio players and supporting Windows XP Plus! Digital Media Edition's Portable Audio Devices Power Toy. Please note that if you would like to add support for your Rio player to Windows Media Player 9, you must have the public release of Windows Media Player 9 installed to use this upgrade.
To begin the installation, expand the contents of the .zip file LegacyRioSupport_MyAudio_WMP9.zip to a known directory. Browse to that directory and double click on the Sbdrvsetup.exe file and the installation will begin.
I have been watching the RIO RIOT on amazon, and other than the price dropping like a stone, I have noticed some trends in the reviews. The trends are this:
1. Customer service stinks. I would have to agree, due to the details of the complaints, and taking a personal look at the diamondww website, that there might be a problem with c.service.
2. Battery trouble. This is totally unfounded. There IS a battery problem, but, there is a solution to the battery problem at the horrible web site (it is very difficult to find the battery driver update...but it is there). If folks would take more time combing through the bad website to find the update to the firmware, instead of complaining on amazon, they would have an answer here. For every complaint of a battery problem there is a person writing in noting that they had their problem solved through the upgraded driver. (this includes me, fixed easily)
3. Many people note that thier Rio Riot just stops playing and will not play anymore. It just sits dead. Will not respond to anything. There is some reason to suspect this story. Mine has done this three or four times, but if you read in the directions, there is a small hole in the back of the Rio Riot which will reset the machine. People have to read the directions on their machine, then they will have to find a paperclip to utilize for this simple, yet seemingly hard excersize. A very simple solution.
3a. Still other people have had their machine die, and the ugly folks at diamondmm could not fix their machine and they were stuck with it. This is a problem. It is NOT a problem that should leave someone totally out of their investment. Keep your receipt. Return it. This IS an electronic device, a hard drive. A hard drive with a user interface. Hard drives, by nature, can be easily damaged. If you drop the box with the Rio Riot in it, which could happen during shipping, this device most likely has a 50% chance of not working. Makes you wonder just how many of these devices, while EN ROUTE are dropped? I would say a fair amount are either dropped or, at the very least, shipped in a rough manner. I am in the military, and have moved several times, and even though the movers have wrapped my belongings in several layers of blankets and crated them, they still arrived broke and mangled. Why? Nature of the beast. If you buy something and it fails within your warrantee period, keep your receipt and return it. If you didn't keep your receipt, take it back anyway, most places will take it back in lieu of an exchange. You might not want this product after a bad experience, but if you don't have your receipt, and you return it for an exchange, you won't be out your money. (ask for a new receipt this time, most of the time you can get a new receipt when you exhange, or they make you sign a return paperwork, KEEP THAT)
4. People like to complain about the size of the device. This is confusing. The size is posted on the box, and on the amazon site. I can only say one thing to this: 'BUY A RULER'. This is a larger MP3 player. Not intended for jogging or athletic participation. IPOD will be good for that, they are slim and sexxy. This is fat and ugly. But it does what it says it does ON THE BOX. Rio Riot is NOT guilty of false advertising. Matter of fact, the only guilty folks are the folks buying this device without reading anything before hand, without determining what they need, or what they will be doing with the device. No help for these folks. They will be upset, and will get EVEN MORE UPSET with the cruddy website.
5. Transfer Rates. Once again, this device tells you the transfer rates RIGHT on the box. In english. If you don't know what the terms are for speed in transfers, or if you can't read english, that is NOT Rio Riots problem, it is yours. Read. Look. Decide. Or learn english, read, look and decide.
6. Price. This device is TONS cheaper than the IPOD. There should be allowances for price. Our society is based on supply and demand principles, most of the time. cheaper means, in this case, a bigger device, slower transfer rates, perhaps bad customer service. Is Diamond the same type of company as Apple? NO WAY, apple is a caddilac and this is more like an every day low budget import. BUT IT IS VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY.
I hope I helped someone that might be thinking about purchasing this device.
First off, at only 25% filled with songs, the player lasts dramatically less than the 10 hours on play time they advertise. I get approximately 2-3 hours--and that is at 25% capacity in use.
Secondly, power switch provides for 3 options: off, lock and on (the lock is used so you can't accidently press any buttons while playing. My first pet peeve is that the lock should be a totally different button. When swtiching from the on to lock position [off--lock--on] chances are you will switch it off. The switch is much like a dimmer switch on the wall of on a household light. Only the 3 functions operate within 1 inch total and the switch moves to the next spot. You have to watch how much pressure you use otherwise you turn the device off and will need to restart the entire thing.
Third, that power switch has broken, which means down time and repairs needed under it's 1 year warranty. Again, I have had this for about 2 months of which down time has accumulated to 1.5 weeks not including repair time.
Lastly, the system crashes ALL the time AND there is no use for the reset button. When the system crashed no button is operable. I basically have to wait for it to drain its battery and turn off. The first time took a little over a day. After the battery is drained, recharging is required which means more down time and less use time.
Basically, this is the worst product I have ever bought in my life. The price caught my eye but I warn you DO NOT BE DECIEVED! This product has severe flaws!
Reloaded 4000 tracks. Now the battery is dead! Will not take a charge! They refuse to give me an RMA#.
If you get one that works, it's a great device. Mine would now be used as a door stop (except it's not heavy enough!)
Try your luck with a company that cares about servicing their customers.
Transfer rates. USB 1.1 is slow. Again, planning comes into play here. I just put all the songs in the Rio software that I wanted to copy over, and then went to bed. No troubles. I really don't know how long it took, due to the fact that I was asleep. A lot of people could use thier sleep time to their advantage. When you are asleep charge your cell phone, charge your MP3 players, charge EVERYTHING that you need charged.. and while your asleep, transfer the MP3s to your fav device. This product is about playing music, and it does it fine.
It is true that you can spend a lot more, like about 200 dollars more, to get one that is a bit smaller (about an inch each way) and transfers faster... and if that is what you want, got spend your money.
You must know what your needs are before you purchase. I feel as though 90% of the complaints are from people who did not know what they wanted before they laid out money.
In conclusion, if you just want a machine to store all your mp3 collection and you don't put too much attention on transfer speed, you have time to re-check the downloaded songs and you don't mind re-uploading some tracks, then this device can suite you right.
1.) The enternal battery... I would much rather have external batteries that you could replace rather than the internal, rechargable ones in the Riot...
2.) I would also change the quality of the included headphones... they're ok, but they aren't the greatest...
Other than these 2 minor things, which you can work around, the Rio Riot is the greatest thing I've seen for the money...
...And for those interested in playing your Rio Riot in your car's stereo, I strongly urge you to buy a cassette adapter to run through your tape player rather than the iROCK! and similar wireless devices... the quality is very static filled through the iRock... I bought one through Amazon, but wound up going to my local Walmart to buy a cassette adapter for my car.
I guess for basic users this is a good, reliable mp3 player with 20 gigs of space for your listening pleasure. If you want books on mp3 or tag editing, song organization, or some advanced features that may seem like common since you will be pretty frustrated..
Good Luck
Battery life and download times were average at best, but bearable. I understood that I was not buying a top of the line iPod so I was not expecting much, but the Riot did not meet my low expectations.
If you're looking for an affordable jukebox player with a large hard drive, this one is a good deal.
Microsoft is now offering a free Powertoy applet called the Plus! Portable Audio Device applet (PlusPAD) which, in combination with a new driver from SonicBlue, lets you you the Windows XP file manager to manage the Riot; it shows up in the MY Computer Window as a system device, much like a Hard Drive. Double-clicking on the icon pops up a directory Window where you can sort the files by any of the ID3 tag attributes and copy or delete files by the usual cut-n-paste or drag-n-drop processes.
As an extra bonus, the Riot-specific driver lets you manage the Riot from inside Windows Media player.
Hence, no pop-ups, no nagging, no attempts to take over your PC.
All you need are the latest drivers from Sonicblue and the MS-supplied applet.
That's one less gripe about the Riot, no?
UPS or Pros:
Long Battery Life, Rechargable Battery, Rugged, Easy to use, 20 Gigs is a lot of room, includes protective case, 400 MP3 Albums or 800 WMA Albums at 64kps., it sounds great, Large Clear screen when backlight is off or in the dark with backlight on, Windows/Macintosh Compatability.
DOWNS or Cons:
You cannot sort music in alphabetical order after you add files, Your MP3Tags are what sorts the files so they must be accurate, long file names do not scroll (they do scroll while playing), Screen not too clear when backlight is on during daytime, file management is add only, you cannot copy files from the player back to the computer. Too bad they don't publish a better software package, they use(RIO JUKEBOX). Windows Media Player 9 does not support it at the moment.
Don't get me wrong, I'm just pointing out some CONS but I am happy with this product! Hopefully RIO or someone else publishes a program that allows you to copy files back to the computer, it would make a great media library backup (20Gigs).
Webmaster:
Because it was so cheap I think I will keep it...
Whether the RIO RIOT meets a given buyer's needs will depend on just what that buyer's needs and prejudices are. For me, the RIOT works beautifully. Other people might differ.
The RIOT's three best features are brain-dead obvious:
- Low Price (as of Feb, 2003)
- Large storage capacity thanks to its 20GB HD *and* its support for WMA files
- Very good user interface thanks to a large, clear, 3" diagonal screen, good screen layout, and simple controls
The less-desirable features are equally obvious:
- A less than pocketable size of 5"x3"x1.3"
- USB 1.1 data transfer
- A very poor choice of music management software in Real Jukebox, the most annoying piece of nagware this side of pop-up ads.
For me, the RIOT works out just fine because its pluses meet all my needs and its minuses are mostly irrelevant to my situation. For example, the size of the RIOT is a non-issue since it fits in my pants pocket just fine, the carrying case has an excellent belt clip, and I do most of my music listening either at home through my Stereo or in my car, anyway.
The USB data transfer speed? Yes, it's relatively slow, but one should remember this product was designed in 2001 and that adding either USB 2.0 and/or FIREWIRE support would've increased the cost. Notice that comparable products with higher transfer rates cost about double what the RIOT costs? Faced with the choice, I'd rather save the money.
And as for the REAL JUKEBOX, well, the less said about that the better. The good news is that you don't *have* to use it to download music to the RIOT.
The first thing to keep in mind if you buy a RIOT is to forget about the included CD; just go straight to the RIOHOME website and download three files:
- the latest drivers for the RIOT; as of Feb '03 that would be the beta drivers for windows 2000/XP, last updated April 2002 (Officially unsupported but they work flawlessly)
- the latest version of firmware for the RIOT; as of Feb '03, that is version 1.25, dated Jan, 2003
- the latest version of the MOODLOGIC application; as of Feb '03, that would be version 2.5
Once you install the three downloads, you will be able to archive your CD music using whatever tool you prefer (for me that is Windows Media Player 9) in your choice of MP3 or WMA formats (I prefer WMA 64kbps for everything except classical music). I deposit the newly-created files in a dummy directory and then I use MOODLOGIC to download them to the RIOT before moving the songs to my permanent hard drive collection. Ideally, I would prefer for Windows Media Player to support the RIOT directly, as it does most other RIO players, (its listed on the Windows Media Web site, so such support *may* be forthcoming) but the MOODLOGIC application works fine and its playlist-generation features are intriguing. Maybe I'll explore that later. For now, I'm busy enough moving my full music accumulation (500 CDs, so far) to the RIOT. Next, I'll start on my old cassettes and LPs. Right now it looks like the RIOT will hold every piece of music I own with a few hundred megabytes to spare for future purchases.
Other features of note? One thing that everybody who has seen it has remarked on is the display. All in all; the RIOT works for me because, first of all, it supports Windows media so I can store double the music I could on an MP3-only player (otherwise, I couldn't get all my music onto it without sacrificing quality). Second, the onboard screen and user interface are excellent. Third, the sound quality is excellent, as far as my ears can tell. And finally, the price. Gotta love that price... Bottom line: a good quality, hard-drive based player for anybody who wants to save money and doesn't insist on shirt-pocket size.
However, when I had a problem with the battery, SONICBLUE would return my emails until I sent them 2 more. Then for no reason, the machine got stuck in a loop and would not come on. When I emailed SONICBLUE 3 times about this, they didn't even respond. I downloaded firmware, software, drivers and everything from the web site with no succes. It's been about 2 weeks since my last email and still no reponce. DONT BUY THIS PAPERWEIGHT. IT WILL CAUSE YOU GREAT FRUSTRATION. If nothing else I have said has convinced you, look at this. This unit first went on the market at almost $$$. Now, you can get for almost half that.
I've had the player a week now and I love it. I've applied all the new patches which is an important point the technical documentation makes. Theres not a product on the market without patches after it's release. I decided to use the old version of Real Jukebox and I've had no problems. The Real Jukebox has all the features a typical user would need. I tried the MoodLogic software and it was a little buggy. Real Jukebox has been rock solid. The sound is excellent I've hooked it up to the home stero and it sounds as good as my main player. The only draw-back is the slow transfers. But most PC users would have to deal with this no matter what device. After the initial transfer getting songs into the player is a snap. I can transfer an entire CD in about 3 min. I say try it yourself. The price is coming down on this thing and it's a steal considering all the things you can do with it. SonicBlue appears to be continuing development with other software features, I expect for this unit to keep it's usefulness for a few years.
I rip WMA files from my CDs using Windows XP Home. The Riot claims to support XP and WMA, yet playback exhibits pops, digital artifacts, and major skipping. I have literally never heard an entire song play from the Riot without some sort of flaw. Certain songs -- if you can believe this -- cause the unit to lock up, necessitating a bent paper clip to reset it. Don't have a paper clip handy? Too bad; you know own a 20GB paperweight. I have upgraded the firmware, I have tried the release and beta drivers, I have upgraded the digital nightmare that is RealPlayer, I have deleted and re-downloaded the same files many times, and still the quality is horrible. Yet, mysteriously, the same files play flawlessly on my PC. I might have given 'SONICblue' the benefit of the proverbial doubt, but if you read the reviews here -- and unlike me, you should read *all* of them; this thing isn't that cheap -- you will see that many XP users have had the same problems, dating back almost a year ago. Exactly when does 'SONICblue' intend to provide proper XP support? So I say this: if you feel lucky today, go ahead and buy the Riot. Maybe you'll even get one that works -- wouldn't that be nice?
Still and all, there is no beating around the bush. [I]f you love your own special flavor of music and want to hear volumes of it...this product is worth its weight in gold. Moreover, this SONICblue product offers massive possibilities and can easily cater to your every whim. Want a jukebox? This is how you go about taking a shortcut and reinventing one. Just remember one thing...the Rio Riot 20 GB can store over 400 albums at high-quality settings. It can also recall you favorite tunes and create custom presentations. Any rookie can handle this...go for it!
No question that the IPOD has the best design. However, in the real world the IPOD controls are hard to work and have a sensitive feel. Try operating the IPOD jog wheel while you are on the treadmill. By comparison, the Rio Riot sports a bulky design with a protective leather cover. The controls on the Rio Riot are simplier to operate and have sturdy feel. The Rio Riot and the IPOD have good quality sound output with average graphic equalizer controls. Volume levels on the IPOD are louder than the Rio Riot. Major differences come with the functionality you get with the Rio Riot compared to IPOD. With the Rio Riot you have FM Radio built in. You are able to build plylists on the fly. IPOD requires you to build your playlist on the computer and transfer it to the IPOD. The Rio Riot provides several other unique song sort features like the "Rio DJ" that mixes songs for you based on how long you want to listen. This great for exercise timing. The bottom line here is IPOD is small and nice looking and you have to be carefull not to scratch it or you can go for the Rio Riot which is built to last with great operating features. For the money go for Rio Riot. I would give the Rio Riot a 5 rating but the interface software needs serious work. The pop-up ads from Real Networks that appear on the interface are annoying.
The only thing i can find wrong with this player is its SLIGHTLY peculiar design. The design is new and bold... and alittle big. But for all the features it has(includeing the belt clip carrying case)I would buy this in a heartbeat. The only suggestion i have is get some new headphones(i personally have had no problems at all, but other customers said they quality can be alittle less powerful then the player can output.)I recommend "Behind-The-Head" headphones. They look(as Data would say)Asthetically pleaseing. Alright, thats it. Thats my review of the Rio Riot Digital Audio player.Peace out! -Francis Gelderloos HOWEVER. When loading music onto the device using the WinXP driver, your songs are polluted with chirps, clicks, pops and sometimes are truncated entirely. The last update to this driver was in 4/02 and it is now 10/02...not a good sign that SonicBlue cares enough to fix the problem. As a last resort (just to the get the music loaded) I installed Win98 and started to load the songs. Loading the songs with Win98 worked - they didn't get corrupt - but the crappy Real software kept hanging Windows! (And this is on a clean virgin install!) My advice: avoid unless drivers are corrected. I've fought with it all week and sadly, I will be returning mine. Again, the hardware itself is just great - if only SonicBLue/Diamond would fix the drivers, the device would be top notch.
Sonic Blue has got the beginnings of a great product here : the storage capacity is great and the user interface on the Riot itself is excellent. All they need to due is fix the problems I mention above and they'll have a 5-star product.
The 20 GB hard drive was one of the major determining factors in my purchase of this unit. The Nomad that I was comparing it to in the store only had a 10 GB drive, but more (what I consider to be ) extraneous features, whereas this unit seemed to me to be concerned with (what a shock!) playing music. Yes, the RealJukebox software ... pretty badly, and I wasn't too thrilled with using it, but I haven't had any of the severe problems that other people have had with it, apparently. Most software has bugs and glitches, and RealJukebox is no different. When I brought it home from the store, I immediately hooked it up and started downloading MP3's to it. Since I have a couple of thousand, it took about a day to get them all in, and I did have some minor transfer issues - one or two tops. Nothing that made me want to return it. I don't know what's going on with the other battery life issues people are having, but the battery life on this ... is pretty impressive, as far as I'm concerned. I had some calibration issues with the battery, and that was a sticky issue with me from day one, but once I upgraded the firmware, those problems disappered. I can't say enough good things about the sound quality - amazing! Absolutely amazing. Clear as a bell, no scratches, no distortion whatsoever. Of course, I'm also extremely picky about my MP3 encoding. After a few days of using the RioRiot, all of my other sound equipment seemed to pale in comparison as far as sound was concerned. The screen and display are large, clear, and are very nice feature to have. In the store I was looking at both the Nomad and the RioRiot, and I wasn't too happy with the Nomad's design. In my opinion, this is more of a "real and true" MP3 player. It's main focus is on music, not additional extraneous features. The form-fitting case included with the player is well-made and holds the device securely, whether I'm carrying it in my pocket or if I have it clipped to my belt. The only real and true complaint I have is the sorting feature - the ability to sort how I want to sort is severely lacking. But, it's minor compared to everything else. So, I suppose if you too are interested in a player that can play your MP3's and utilize their sound to the fullest extent, then this is the player for you.
Yes, the Riot uses a USB cable to transfer files, and the initial transfer from your computer to the Riot will take all night, but afterwards, you can transfer 50 songs in roughly 4-5 minutes. So it's not that big a deal I feel. The negatives I have with the Riot are small. Sometimes when I create a playlist, random songs show up that I didn't select to be added. I don't know if this is a firmware issue (I use a Mac), even after I delete them from the playlist, sometimes they will show up again. That can get annoying at times. The other negative I had was you can't transfer songs from the Riot back to the computer you uploaded them from, which was something you CAN do with the Nomad Jukebox. I like to save hard drive space on occasion by trashing mp3 files. When I have the space again, I'll put them back on. Not this time. Now I have to rip over 500 CD's if I want to put them back on my computer. This isn't noted in the technical manual either. Positives: A 20GB Hard Drive is nice. Like I mentioned before, I have over 500 CD's, and while I don't archive every track from them, I still have 11 GB of Riot space to use. (The Hard Drive itself is more like 18GB instead of 20) I found the menu, and scroll wheel easy to use. The case that holds the Riot is nice. I've never taken it off the Riot as all the buttons can be reached with it on. The sound quality is EXCELLENT! With headphones or hooking it up to the speakers in your house, it's hard to tell the difference between mp3's and the CD itself. I also like the fact that I can hook it up to a cassette adapter, and play it in my car. Who needs cases of CD's when you can just bring the Riot with you? The battery will last about 8-9 hours if you don't use things like backlighting and random play. Using Random Play will bring the battery life down to 5-6 hours (for me it did). It's a decent mp3 player, but if you're looking to do more with one and desire a firewire connection, I would go with the iPod. They're the same price for the same hard drive space. If you're the type of person who likes sound quality and really doesn't care about the PC/Mac USB/Firewire thing, the Riot is a solid investment.
This is a great machine, period. It is large, but it also sports by far the best interface of any of its competitors, Ipod included. The sound is spectacular. The criticisms are fair but overstated. Being forced to use the rather pathetic Real One software is a hassle - it does crash with some regularity - but it's not nearly the problem some make it out to be. Transfer times are slow, but the Nomad is the only comparable with firewire, and I tested it and appreciated the Riot all the more for its interface. Flaws aside, this is my choice, not once but twice. As for the Apple Mafia's complaints - Excuse us! It's not an Ipod, but Windows users can't buy the Ipod anyway. Bottom line - Forget the hype. If you want a 20GB jukebox, take it from someone who had the Riot for 6 months and can't live without a replacement for more than a few days. This puppy's for real. Period.
I found that songs which played fine on my PC would skip on the Rio Riot, often followed by it hanging up. I had to carry a safety pin with me everywhere so I could use it to get to the recessed hard reset button (apprx every 20 minutes). I tried to wipe the memory completely and reload everything several times but to no avail. The skipping continued. I also found that after rebooting my PC, the real jukebox software that comes included would never be able to see that the Riot was connected - that meant re-installing the Real Jukebox software every time I wanted to change the songs loaded on the Riot. Have now invested in an iPod for windows and the experience has been a delight. Apple iPod - 5 stars
The RIO DJ feature is very nice and once I teach it which music is my favorite (by playing it) I expect I'll be using it a lot.
The menu system is simple; you invoke it with a dedicated button and navigate it with a scroll-wheel, a select button, and a cancel button.
The RIOT does a very good job of sorting songs by Album or artist based on the ID3 tags, but it does *not* seem to retain the track number info, so the albums are *not* played in order. I'll have to use playlists for the few albums where this is critical. (Like I said, it is not a perfect product; maybe future firmware updates will fix this, maybe not.
Sound quality? It depends on the playback medium, but when I pipe the signal through my stereo it sounds as good as the original CDs. With a pair of quality headphones it sounds better than my stereo.
Oh, yes, the equalizer functions are limited to BASS and Treble. Of course, I have external equalizers both at home and in my car so, again, it is a non-issue.
Battery life? I haven't timed it but I seem to be getting about 8 hours of continuous playback time in between charges.
It is just plain superb.
Very readable and, with the 1.25 firmware, it displays exactly the information you need during playback.
Faced with a choice between a smaller player with a lesser screen, I'd go for the RIOT's "bulk" every time. Not that its *that* big. (Its about the size of two stacked PDAs, definitely smaller than a paperback book.)
70 What about support?
This player is OK at best. Yes it holds 20 gb of songs, which might be great if it had a useful search function, say to play all songs with "Tricky" in the filename or if it would play album tracks in numerical order. Imagine hearing the songs from Abbey Road in alphabetical order only. It's (stupid). If you run Windows 2000, the only software that will load songs into the player is a horrendous MoodLogic. Why wouldn't Rio's own RioPort Audio Manager work? Find something better. Good luck ...
71 20 Gig Paper Weight
I bought this particular MP3 player for several reasons. One was that I was going on deployments and was tired of carrying books of CDs that could get scratched, lost, or stolen. The 20 gig HD was perfect. The FM radio was an added bonus. And for a while, I loved this thing.
72 XP works fine
This is one of the greatest affordable mp3 players out there. And sonicblue has made a file which will stop the complained about glithches that many people speak of having in windows XP and 2000. All in all, this was definitely worth the money i spent on it.
73 great product
It's not as compact as the Ipod but if that's the biggest complaint, deal with it. It's got a bunch of ways to sort your music and it's got a rechargeable battery so you never worry about buying any. You can get an adapter ...and use it in the car, and ... a charger for the car (Ipod has their adapter kit for around a "little more money"?) Great product, works well and you won't have to buy that CD changer for your car, this can take it's place. Great deal ....
74 Horrible MP3 Player
I received this item as a Christmas gift and it was purchased from a different website, and it was horrible. The SonicBlue (manufacturer) technical support is a nightmare on the telephone (a toll call)- if there are no reps to help, they simply tell you to call back later and hang up. I emailed them and it took two weeks for them to return my question, which was after I had already returned the item. Plus, their advice, a moron could have figured it out and it didn't work.
The product, itself, is garbage. It is a nice concept and well thought out, but the first one I got, as a gift, I had to return it because the AC adapter did not work. The one I got in exchange for that one I got it home, downloaded my music, went to organize it, and then the whole screen started freaking out, jumped around, and then blanked out but would not shut off. I tried to reset it and it didn't work... I let the batteries run out 6 times. Each time, the player would work for less and less amounts of time, the maximum of 5 minutes after the initial meltown. I returned the product. I will never buy a product again from that company. And all I can say is, Thank goodness I have TiVO and not Replay TV.
75 The Roit Works, Try It Yourself
I was nearly swayed to buy a different player considering some of the negative commments I've seen on the Roit. I'm glad I decided to findout for myself the real pros and cons.
76 You have to ask yourself, 'Do I feel lucky?'
This is a TERRIBLE product.
77 Love It, First Large Storage Audio Player
For my first large storage audio player, i love the Rio Riot. I considered paying the extra for the iPod but for the money you can't beat the Riot.
I use the iTunes with my mac and the transfer is flawless. A little slow but that's not a huge deal with me. If it was firewire I would be concerned but it's USB so it's expected.
The options are plentifull and very easy to work through. One drawback I saw is that you cannot (in iTunes at least) upload a playlist including the tracks, you have to create the playlist on the Riot and then add the tracks already on the player to the playlist. But again, not a huge deal, just takes a little more time.
It is a little bit big but not much larger than most of the other players of the same features. i like the protective case, it's nice that you can work the unit while it's covered, i really don't see any reason to take it off so I know the unit will remain looking new for long time.
The sound quality is very nice and volume is great. I work in a studio where I'm always hearing music so when I want to pop on the headphones and listen for a while, I can definitely turn up over the outside noise. Although I do recommend getting a better pair of headphones. The Rio headphones are okay but not high quality.
Anyway, I highly recommend this unit, especially if you're looking at the iPod and just cannot come to grips of paying almost double the Rio Riot's price.
78 Great player
Plays all my music, had early problems with Real Juke Box, learned the tricks, wish it would load back to PC, wish it was more compatible with XP, load the latest firmware 1.24, fixes startup speed and improves battery life, use BOSE noise cancelling earphones and zone out, remember you are an early adopter, people who wrote in October saying they had it for a year must have been smoking something illegal, Sonic Blue will probably continue the firmware upgrades, enjoy.
79 A word on the songs that skip
3 months later and I still love my Riot... Anyway, I have seen some complaints about ripping CDs and getting scratches, skips, cut offs etc. I downloaded the current Real One software and all that nonsense stopped for some reason. Now all my CDs go on to the Riot perfectly. I also downloaded some free music software from Earthlink which works like a charm. Just dump the CD this thing comes with and you'll have a blast getting all 400 CD's on this. Just had a party at Xmas, put about 30 Xmas albums on here and put it on the genre for Xmas on random and had super background music. All the techies at the party checked this thing out and loved it.
80 Not The Best MP3 Player
I bought the Rio Riot over a year ago, and have been mostly disappointed with its performance. I've rated this item elsewhere, and must advise prospective buyers that the software bundle is substandard. The Real Player, even when upgraded to RealOne, does not provide quality transfers. The bright side is that the CD includes MoodLogic, which I recently used for transfering MP3 files to the device (October, 2002). You have to buy the software, but by using this instead of RealOne, I have far fewer artifacts and glitches. I have an issue with the battery life as well--my other MP3 device provides rechargeable batteries that may be substituted with OTCs, which is great on those long trans-pac flights; The Rio Riot internal rechargeable battery sustains 8-10 hours of play at 50% volume and w/out the use of backlight.
The display is great, but I'm more interested in the music. I will soon replace this device with the latest by the well-known other OS system's venture into the world of digital audio.
81 Great sound
Sound quality and lack of storage space was what kept me from getting an MP3 player before now. The Rio Riot has superior sound quality and 20GB of storage. Use of Real One to transfer songs to the Riot is fairly intuitive, but there were some songs that would cause the Riot to hang during transfer. There have been a few updates to the Real One software since my last attempt to load music, so I am hoping that will resolve the issue. I feel a little patience is worth the great sound. Plus the riot is flashable, so hopefully all the minor bugs will be worked out soon.
82 A Worthy Investment
Spoil yourself. The "Rio Riot 20 GB Digital Audio Player," is a sophisticated technology toy with enormous listener potential. To that end, after checking it out and bringing it home...there is no doubt in my mind the Rio Riot is a worthy investment.
83 Somewhat Annoyed
I'm not yet convinced the good outweighs the bad with this product. I can't complain about the 20 GB of memory, this was the main reason for my purchase. I like the large display and I find the firmware to be pretty intuitive. It is easy to navigate and I like the playback options. I don't even mind the slow speed at which songs transfer or the relatively large size of the player itself. What I don't like are the "skips" I cannot seem to avoid on tracks during playback. The player itself is not skipping, it is inherent in the track. I've tried everything and can't seem to avoid this. I've taken a new CD, ripped it to my computer and uploaded to the Riot using the highest quality and the skips are there. The Riot also has a nasty habit of cutting off tracks midway. The countdown timer will show 3 minutes left on a song and it will abrubtly end and go to the next track. The player even froze once requiring a reboot with a paperclip. The included headphones are of the type that everyone within a 40 foot radius will hear what you are listening to. They do not seem to fit very well and tend to fall off if you lean forward. Lastly, I find SONICblue's customer support a great letdown. After receiving a confirmation that my email would be responded to in the order it was received, I have yet to hear back. I sent that email over two weeks ago. All in all, I think this player would warrant a much higher rating if even some of the problems I'm experiencing would be remedied.
84 Rio or the IPOD
I actually went out and did it! I bought both the Rio Riot and the IPOD for Windows. You can tell I love my portable music and it goes everywhere with me in all types of situations. Both the Rio and the IPOD I have are loaded with the same 1,500 songs. To start with each of thses plyers comes with software to download music. Rio comes with Real Jukebox, IPOD with Musicmatch Jukebox. Neither of thses software packages was designed to interface to the specific MP3 device, but where after thoughts. Regardless of what anyone says utilizing the standard software packeges that comes with the device is a real headache to work with.
85 Just stayed up until 3am playing with this
The product is great overall. Based on negative items I have read I found the size to be perfect and smaller than anticipated. The case it comes with is perfect for toting it around. The software is all Real Networks but easy to use and fairly fast. One CD takes about 15 minutes to RIP and download to the device so it could take you all year to get 400 CDs in here. The sound is awesome and the FM radio works like a charm. Really nothing negative to say and I love it. Would be nice to upload from this and hope some software will be written in the future to do this. Without this feature you lose your library if the item ever breaks and you don't store your tunes on your hard drive. The features to break the music up by genre, artist, album, etc... with a 60 minute sampling and random features is awesome. Also plugged this into my home stereo and it cranks. Sound is perfect using 192 bits. Seriously great buy at [amount](w/rebate).
86 Rio Riot=ULTIMATE MP3 PLAYER!
The Rio Riotİ is the best MP3 player i've ever seen. I am a 8th grade student(Technology buff)and was looking for a new MP3 player. I comparison shoped and saw thins little beauty while looking on Yahooİ. Once i saw the Internal FM player, 20 gig HardDrive, A wide variety of formats, Graphic equalizer, And all these other great A+ features, I was hooked. The Rio Riot was everything i expected and more. This player is designed for audio quality and space.
87 Very Disappointing Purchase
I aquired my Rio Riot about a year ago for [$]. At the time, I was using a Creative Labs Nomad, but at 6 GB, I needed something more. Unfortunately, the Riot does not meet my modest needs. The software included, Real Jukebox 2, is substandard. Even upgrading to RealOne doesn't improve the software. The firmware isn't great, either. They've had two upgrades since my purchase.
The playback is plagued with artifacts and glitches--totally ruining the pleasure of the players high-quality audio. While the features are very nice, I cannot recommend this to anyone.
I still use my Nomad, and intend to upgrade to the new Nomad 3, or the Apple IPod.
88 Great Hardware, Terrible Software Ruins It.
I love the device. The display is great, the buttons and interface are great, and the sound is great.
89 Disappointed
I'm a huge huge fan of the Rio product line. I owned 3 Rio 300's, 2 Rio 500's, and 2 Rio Volts - these are all wildly fantastic products! I also own a Rio ReplayTV system - another unbelievably great product. My wife bought me the Rio Riot for our anniversary from Amazon.com and it's the first Rio product that really isn't up to par. I'm already a big MP3 music fan, so I have both iTunes and RealJukebox installed. You CANNOT use the Rio Riot with an existing copy of RealJukebox. I verified this with Rio tech support. The Rio Riot simply did not show up under iTunes no matter how many times I installed and used different USB cables. This definitely won't be my last Rio product, but I'm no longer going to buy their products so confidently. If you are a realy MP3 fan, you can trust my advice to pass over this one.
90 My Rio Riot
My Rio Riot came not too long ago. At first, I couldn't wait to test it out. From the first time I saw it at CompUSA for 350 I wanted it. I searched around online and found the best deal here, at Amazon.com. First, the pros. It can hold 20 GB of music. If you have more than that, than you have too much music. It's setup is very easy to use. I just picked it up without the instructions and figured it out. The "Entertain Me" feature is unique and awesome. It takes clips from different songs and fuses them together. It's one of the coolest thigs ever offered by an MP3 Player. There are soo many more great features, I'm too lazy to write them all down. So now I have to inform you of it's cons. The only downside to the Rio Riot is that the USB port takes a while to transfer files. But if you leave it on over night, then you have no problem. If you need to store a CD collection, look no further than the Rio Riot.
91 Still has major flaws with Win XP as of Sept. 2002
Even with the latest driver update (posted 4/18/02), there are still major flaws for XP users. Namely, 10-20% of all files downloaded to the Riot have clicks and pops. Additionally, some songs are cut off in the middle. Furthermore, the Real interface for file management is terribly user un-friendly. Once you've downloaded a significant number of mp3's to the Riot, it is nearly impossible to manage them from the Real Interface. Another gripe I have is that there is no way to transfer files from the Riot back to your computer. Not a big deal but still annoying . . .
92 Fantastic and incredible player, flaws are minor.
Overall, a fantastic MP3 player.
93 Rio Riot Good MP3 Player
I bought the Rio Riot back in April to replace the Nomad Jukebox, and it was a good purchase, I feel.
94 Buying a Second Riot
I'm not sure what the problem is? I loved my Riot - past tense - as I just this morning discovered my first Riot was accidentally sent down the garbage chute in my building, never to return. My reaction? Buy a second Riot immediately, on two day delivery.
95 A very disappointing and frustrating experience
I could not recommend this product to anyone - based on my experience.
Rio Riot - 1 star (only because your scale doesn't go negative :)
Ninety percent of everything is crap.
-- Theodore Sturgeon
That's one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind.
-- Neil Armstrong
