Rio S10 64 MB MP3 Player

1 Takes a licking, and keeps on ticking!
I've had many mp3 players in my lifetime and guess what the most important feature is? RELIABILITY!!! This is the ONLY mp3 player that has not let me down! I wish something would go wrong with it so I could justify buying a new one, but I'm scared the new one will screw up!

I've had the Rio 500, an MPIO, an Ipod, a Creative Muvo TX, a Rio One, a Pogo DMP100, and a Casio PDA with mp3 playback. I had to return 2 Rio 500's (when they first came out for $300 with 64mb!), the Creative Muvo never did work worth a damn (although I really liked it!) and had to send it back, The Pogo worked well (until I lent it to a friend and the volume button quit working) but the menu sucked big time, the Casio bit the dust in less than a year, the MPIO wasn't bad (I probably should have kept that, I forget why I sold it on ebay), and I was REALLY UNIMPRESSED with the Ipod especially that there was no hold button!

Anyway, this thing is dependable, and it has this soft case and since it's so light it has fallen to the floor countless times with no effect whatsoever! It always works reliably, and the battery LASTS FOR MONTHS!! Well, maybe not months, but a hell of a long time on ONE AA battery! (I think maybe 40 hours is the official statistic). I just can't convince myself to buy a new mp3 player when this one is so good!

Well, I do have some wishes. For one, I like USB 2.0 alot better than 1.1. It's much faster, and Rio is slow to put USB 2.0 on their mp3 players. It DOES have a bookmark function, which is indispensible if you listen to sermons or books and such, which is mostly what I do. The sound is great, and you can upgrade with SD or MM cards. The included headphones are even quite good comparitively. However, I would like to be able to transfer from the player to the computer, and I would like drag and drop instead of using their proprietary software, although it's nowhere near as assinine as the old Rio Manager was! So, if they would add USB 2.0 and drag and drop software this would be the ultimate mp3 player IMO.

I am starting to think that the mp3 player manufacturers LIKE to make cheap and flimsy products that will break, so you will buy new ones every year! If all mp3 players were this good they'd go bankrupt! LOL!

2 Don't buy this player
I've had this player for a couple of years and I find it to have: 1) a clumsy and non-intuitive interface, 2) a poorly designed software program for transferring and organizing music, and 3) an inability to use playlists--one of the most useful things about electronic music.

3 Perfect Workout Partner
I thought I would add a review to update the information on the S10 to it's current use. The player has been out for some time now and I believe can only be had refubrished or used at this point, but it's still one of the best Flash players available.

Here are 5 Pros and Cons. I listed each in order of importance.

Pros:

1. Battery Life! What more can you say about a player that uses one AA battery and still gives you some 30 hours of play time.

2. Memory. Sure it only comes with 64 megs internal but I just grabbed a 1 gig SD card for 60 bucks. Follow that by uploading 300+ songs and you can see where you won't be changing your playlist any time soon. Also I didn't see any slow down with the larger card. Some other players can experience a start up delay in proportion to the card size.

3. Price. Used you can find these for $55 or so. You'll need to budgest at least another $30 for a 512 meg card. But coming in at under a hundred dollars for 150+ songs is an excellent price point.

4. Durability. I was a little scared when I first felt the S10. Certainly it does feel rigid but the body is molded plastic unlike my metal bodied Rio 500. However it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. By passing on the metal body the S10 is much lighter than the competition. The lighter weight combined with a rigid body means that random drops won't damage the unit. I keep mine in the supplied padded carrier but have dropped it both in and out with no damage. It's well made and reliable.

5. Sound Quality and Features. This is a good player. The sound is good and it has all of the features you need from an MP3 player. Also with the newest firmware (2.03) you can now upload playlist. Volume is also more than sufficient.

Cons:

1. Getting one. You'll have to buy one used now.

2. Software. The Music Manager software is simple but featureless. Also the device does not come up in XP as a storage device which excludes manually adding files from Windows Explorer or through Windows Media Player. But with the larger cards I don't find myself uploading songs often. You will need to format the device with each new card before using it for the first time.

3. USB 1.1. It doesn't have USB 2.0 Speed but again as I said before I don't find myself changing the playlist often. Filling the whole device with a 1 gig card took me about 25 minutes.

4. Non-Standard Connection cable. You'll have to keep the cable they provide as it's proprietary. Yet another thing to have tangled up behind your computer.

5. No radio support. This doesn't really bother me as I've yet to come across a player with decent radio reception. Also the total storage is such that you won't miss not having FM.

Thoughts: Really this is a good player. I can't recomned it enough for anyone looking to pick up something they can work out with but that won't break the bank. Also don't spend too much on the SD card. You don't need good speed for an MP3 player. Just pick out the cheapest card you can find.

4 Excellent Player for the money!
I bought the Rio S10 to take with me to the gym. I've dropped it and spilled water on it by mistake and it still runs like brand new.
The best thing you can do for this player is to update the firmware to 2.03 and the music manager software to 2.90. These updates increase the versatility of the player by adding increased support to WMA DRM files and by allowing you to transfer songs from the player to the computer (couldn't do that originally). Also, the player is expandable memory-wise and the battery life is excellent.

5 Half the price of an IPOD and half as good...
Actually it's less than half the price initially, but after you replace the poor quality headphones and upgrade the memory to at least enough to hold 20 songs, you're half way to the cost of an IPOD and are still not even close in storage capacity much less the quality. This is an inexpensive player and it looks like it. The plastic case feels like the same quality you would find on a kids fast-food meal toy. Does it do the job? Yes, but I keep thinking it's going to break anytime. The software it comes with isn't very good either. You can't change the playlist order, for example, unless you reload everything, which is annoying. It also screws up sometimes and shifts the order of your songs after they are uploaded. The EQ it comes with is not really an EQ, but bass & treble and there is no "loudness" or "megabass" option to enhance the sound. I compared the sound quality using the same headphones and files and the IPOD sounds better, indicating a lower quality amplifier in the RIO. Not all MP3 players sound the same!

One big plus with this player is battery life, almost 30 hours from a single AA, but is that worth the price of poorer quality sound? Not to me. The soft case it comes with is nice and protects it well, but like a previous reviewer said, it's hard to get to the volume controls with it on.

Bottom line: If you just can't afford an IPOD (or a used IPOD) and don't mind having a fraction of the storage, this is a decent player if it lasts (and that's a big *if* when you see how cheap it is). However if you CAN afford more and are just looking at this one thinking you'll save some $ as it is "probably good enough" I think you will be disappointed.

6 Not the greatest.
This mp3 player is nothing revolutionary by any standards. Once I got it, i was thrilled. It was everything I always wanted before I saw what else was out there. I have a large music collection, and the s10 did not meet the capacity to store my songs. But, for $80, it's actually a pretty nice piece of equiptment, despite its storage. On the brighter side, the menu's are a snap to navigate through, and it comes with three songs already in it. There really isn't anything bad about it, with the exception of the storage capacity. But, if you just want the "best of" songs, I would recommend it.

7 excellent starter
I bought the Rio S10 about a year ago for $55 with a 32 MB MMC Card included. This thing was great as a first time MP3 Player.

Pros:
-Great interface
-Equalizer
-Durable, I accidentally put it through the washing machine and dryer and it still works almost perfectly, I just lost battery life
-Marathon battery life (35 Hours) for the first half-year
-Small
-Shows amount of memory left on player
-Accepts up to 512 MB MMC Cards on new versions
-Sound is good, packaged Sennheiser earbuds were okay, lasted forever, just ruined them yesterday.
-Software is ok, much better with downloaded update, which it asks you to do eventually and is free.
-Dropped it several times and it functioned fine, with the exception of a few freezes, which were repaired by removing battery.

Cons:
-On mine, the plug for the DC outlet hole ripped in two when I pulled it out, DC outlet was just hole of nothingness which allowed dust and other foreign objects into the screen.
-Case does not cover screen
-Buttons on wheel were too easily pressed when bendning over, moving legs, etc., hold feature is very hard to get to.
-Emailed Rio Support about the DC Outlet, or lack thereof, and received no response. This was under SonicBlue's ownership, maybe Digital Networks will change the support.

Really good starter player, my mom got one and I got one, she had hers for a year and 3 quarters and broke it recently, mine still functions fine after a year and a half in a teenager's pocket. I am now in the market for a jukebox MP3 player, and the Rio Karma doesn't interest me. The new Carbon is aesthetically pleasing, but I think I will get a Creative Zen Touch 20 GB.

8 Great Expnadable Player
I just got this player two weeks ago works great. The software is a litle hard to use but I use windows media player instead. It detects it instantly. The built in 64 mbs of space is on the small side I have seen 512 mb cards for around $60, so for a $160 you can have a 572 mb player. This more than enough for me. The ear buds are worthless but thats to be expected. Menus are easy to navigate also.

9 1 drip ruined it
Had and liked my S10 for 1.3 years, only using it to work out and run. The headphones were useless, however, the player itself was good. Downloading songs was easy if you are computer literate. My problem is that when I was running I wiped a drop of sweat from my hand and it went onto where the earphones connect into the player. This zapped the player into a $120 hunk of useless integrated chips. Design flaw on a sport type of MP3 player. Also, the menu button stuck (I saw another comment about the same problem).When I got it to turn on at one piont I downloaded a newer firmware (easy to do) and now it just works when it wants to. I have to take the battery out for 20 minutes then restart it to get it to sometimes work. Customer support said they would not fix it for the $59.00 non-warrenty charge because I took the back of the player off to unstick the menu button.
I'm looking for another MP3 player and it won't be a RIO.

10 pleasant little thing
I work out a lot and this player works quite well; however I would recommend using your own headphones. I found it holds about 57-61 WMA files and 20-24 mp3s. Either way you get a decent amount of music and the instillation onto your computer should be easy, at least it was for me

11 Flimsy, breaks easily but cheap price
Bad Stuff:
-I bought this player a little over a year ago with the extended 1 year warranty. Of course it broke after that warranty was up. The menu button is stuck in so I can't change the equalizer setting, turn on the backlight or change the power settings. The sound is horrible. I noticed when I first got it that every time you turn it on you have to go into the equalizer menu for the sound to go back to normal. Otherwise it is fuzzy and the bass is horrible. Now that the menu button is broken, I can't do this and the sound is just bad all the time.

-Another dissapointment was the belt-clip. I use it at the gym a lot and it is bulky and bounces around. I would recomment buying a player with an armband instead. Also, the buttons were harder to use once in the belt-clip.

-Also, sometimes the player will not be recognized by the computer, and I have to turn it off and on several times before it works (no apparent reason). I have had other problems with the power such as turning it on and it shuts off immediately, or having it connected to the computer but it refuses to download.

Good stuff:
-battery life (around 35 hours with good batteries)
-cheap price
-easy to use software

Overall:
DO NOT BUY. You can find much better mp3 players at the same price that will last longer and be more comfortable for using at the gym. The battery life is really the only plus, but invest in some good rechargeables and buy a better player.

12 Good Player At First...
I first got this mp3 player for $120 probably about a year ago. The memory is only 64 mb and it held about only 14 songs for me so I bought a 128 mb card. Then one day I turned it on and it said upgrader on it. Sometimes I'd have to bang it to get it to start working again like I think some other lady said on another review. It sounds like there is a spring loose inside. I tried to update the firmware but it doesn't work. Well anyways, for the first almost year I had been using this, it has been working fine but now I can't even get it to play my songs. I would suggest getting the Rio Karma or another brand of mp3 player.

13 Best on the Market
Product type Digital player
PC interface(s) supported USB
Flash memory installed 64 MB Integrated
Digital storage None
Software included MoodLogic,Apple iTunes,RealOne Player
Carrying Case
Case type Soft case
Strap Belt clip
Digital Player / Recorder
Digital formats supported MP3,WMA
Playback modes A-B repeat,Intro scan,Repeat all,Random play,Repeat shuffle,One track repeat
Supported bit rates 64 - 192Kbps
ID3 tags support Yes
Built-in Display
Built-in display LCD
Backlight color Blue
Audio Features
Sound output mode Stereo
Timer Playback,Stopwatch
Built-in clock Timer,Digital clock
Additional features Bass control,Digital volume control,Battery level indication
CD System
CD system None
Equalizer
Equalizer type Digital graphic
Factory preset qty 6
Factory presets Pop,Jazz,Rock,Normal,Trance,Classic
Radio
Tuner type None
Remote Control
Remote control None
Headphones
Headphones type Binaural
Sound output mode Stereo
Connectivity technology Wired

Connectivity
Cable(s) included USB cable - External
Connector type 1 x Headphones Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm,1 x US
Slot(s) provided 1 x SD Memory Card
Battery / Power
Battery 1 x Alkaline AA type Standard battery
Mfr estimated battery life 35 hour
Power supply included None
System Requirements
Interface devices USB port
Min operating system Microsoft Windows 98,Microsoft Windows XP,Microsoft Windows 2000,Apple MacOS 9.0.4 or later,Apple MacOS X 10.1 or later,Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition,Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition

This Mp3 player is the best Mp3 player on the market, for it's price range. It's no Ipod, but it get's you to the gym and back without a sweat.

Some of the info in this review was obtained at www.ZDNetReviews.com

14 Rio S10
The Rio S10 is one of the best Mp3 players on the market. The S10 is compatible with Mac or PC. The S10 comes with Mood Logic software, to help you sort your ID tags. The S10 also comes with Itunes and RealOne software. I hope that this review was helpful to you.

15 No problems for a year now
Affordable and easy to use, I recommend the S10. I have not had any problems and battery life is excellent.

16 I use it for audio books not music
I wanted an mp3 player for audiobooks. I was tired of the skipping that occurred with my supposedly skip protected CD player. As a mac user, I looked first at the iPod. However, the iPod doesn't support bookmarks in mp3 files which the Rio S10 does. Also, when listening to an audio book, on power up, playback needs to resume at the point that it stopped when the player was shut down. This is something that you can do with the Rio S10 (as a setup option) that (apparently) the iPod doesn't do.

(The iPod does resume at the point of interruption if the audiobook is in audible.com's file format. This means that for the iPod, you will want to purchase audio books from audible.com. No thanks. The S10 doesn't have this restriction.)

Since the iPod wasn't appropriate to books as mp3s and the Rio S10 was, I purchased the S10 and added a 256 MB SD card. Total price was $140 plus tax. Spoken word does not require the sound quality of music. I find that I can get good quality with an mp3 file compressed to less than 10MB per hour of narration of a book. My 320 MB player easily holds 2 books.

I have been very happy with the S10. These are things that I like:

- Small and light weight. I put it in a pocket while listening. (I have trouble with the belt clip. It separates from the case leaving the clip on my pants and the S10 on the ground.)

- Good battery life, no proprietary battery. I have gotten nearly the 30 hours from 1 AA alkaline (the amount that Rio claims). I normally use rechargeable Nimh batteries and get less battery life, but since I listen 20 hours a week, this is definitely cheaper.

- Never any skips as I get when walking and listening to a CD player (even though the CD player has 45 seconds of skip protection)

- Acceptable display. I see everything I need at once: what's playing, remaining playing time, battery condition, and other things. The display is a little bit small but is legible and backlit.

- Reasonable controls. Once a book is started, I usually operate the player by feel while it is in my pocket. I can change volume, pause/resume, backup or advance all by feel. Fast forward and reverse accelerate when held down so that you can quickly move into the middle of a long track.

- Reasonable menus

What I don't like:

- No playlists, no way to group files into folders. That is one of the main reasons I don't find this player appropriate for music. You must play the files in the order they are loaded or in random order. If you want to play a single track you must scroll through all of the files in the player to find it.

- Occasional flakiness. On a couple of occasions the player has locked up and I have had to reload its firmware.

17 Rio S-10 Review
I just got my S-10 in the mail today, using the included "ripping" software I was downloading tunes inside of 15 minutes without a hitch. Head and shoulders above the 3 hours it took me to install and figure out the software for the Memorex 8500 mp3 player my daughter bought. The included "bud" type headphones included are very comfortable and surprisingly stay put but the sound quality is severly lacking. I plugged in my Sony sports headphones and WHAT a difference! The adjustable bass and treble is sweet instead of having to use 3 or 4 EQ presets. I didn't want a radio in my MP3 player because I wouldn't use it if I had it, so this was the perfect player for me. I installed a variety of MP3 and WMA files at differant bit rates and I can say 96bps is the perfect rate for sound clarity and overall quality. You will get a lot of songs on this player at this rate too. 64Megs doesn't sound like a lot but it holds more tunes than you think. All-in-all I can't imagine getting a better MP3 player for twice the money!

18 Best in price range
You can't beat this player for the price. An additional memory card is a must. You can find 256mb cards for under $60. The software is usable. For MP3s, you should encode them at no higher than 128kbps to conserve space. At 128kbps, you can fit 1.5 to 2 CDs worth in the built in memory.

19 Cheap MP3 player=Bad Qulaity
I was very excited when I opened the box only to be severely disapointed. The player, which comes with useless software, has only enough memory for about ten songs. The headphones broke about a week after the box had been opened. The player's volume does not go as high as need be. I recomend everybody to just skip this product and go to something thats actually worth something

20 S10 Ordered from J Wong
Had a very favorable experience with purchase from J Wong. S10 arrived on time and was pleasently surprised when it arrived gift wrapped! J Wong is very concerned with customer satisfaction.

21 memory's a joke -- don't believe the hype
I'm a realy beginner with this stuff, so I bought this one, because it was cheap, or, "affordable." I thought seventy bucks was worth, as the package states, "2 hours'" worth of music. Well, this thing holds at best, an hour's worth, and that's if you save your files as WMA, not MP3, which are a lot bigger. It doesn't seem to recognize WAV files, only mp3s and WAM. So if you only have mp3s in your computer, you'll be lucky enough to fit eight or nine of them on here, which is certainly not two hours of music.

I think it's a waste -- who the hecks wants to carry around ten songs around all day for seventy bucks, that's what cd players are for! -- and I'm going to sell this thing on ebay for as much as I can get and buy the ipod.

22 Not an 'Out of the box' performer
There are a few things you should expect when buying an inexpensive MP3 player, and a few unexpected things that cropped up for me.

Should expect:
-Cheap earbud/headphones
-Generic alkaline battery enclosed (no big deal)
-Limited memory - you will need to buy expanded memory
-Transfer of songs is limited to the enclosed software so be prepared to waste battery life while downloading songs to the unit (thought battery life is very good otherwise)
-No programmable mode on unit so your songs play either in order or random
-The power button is a sliding type and can easily be moved while running or working out (not a good design for the active lifestyle)

Things I learned the hard way (but may not characterize your experience):
-The included nylon case fits snug but also makes it difficult to read the display and even more difficult to reach the volume controls
-I purchased a 256MB SD-memory card which only works if you have a recently manufactured unit or if you can manage to update the unit via the website
-I bought some quality earbuds and the sound quality is still average despite the array of pre-set equalizer modes
-My unit worked beautifully the first few days, then I began to notice it was taking a while to power on
-Then it finally would not stay powered on; the music would start and would abruptly power-off seconds into the song
-I determined it is the power-switch which is especially sensitive on my unit
-I am going to request a repair/replacement through Sonicblue since I did not follow my own basic rule when buying any electronic device - ALWAYS PURCHASE THE EXTENDED WARRANTY

23 Still good, but since price drop go for Rio S50
When I got the unit last Christmas it was 129.99 and it was great for the price. I still have it today and it works great, and I can get about 25 songs on it which is enough for me. A well informed LCD with Progress Meter, Song Name, Artist, Album, Track Number, Time remaining/elapsed, battery, time shows. Good options such as 7 preset equalizer modes and custom bass & treble, stopwatch, clock. Only complaint is that the player doesn't have a playlist editor built in. Thats where the software that comes with the unit comes in. It is easy to use but very basic. What they mean by custom playlists is that you make playlists on the software. I was hoping you could make custom playlists on the player itself, which is included in some other players. But its not a big deal because the software is fast and easy. But since Christmas its price has been cut in half, and its replicate, the Rio S50(which was 179.99 when I got the S1) with twice as much memory and FM radio has gone a little below the old S10 Price Range, which is now only 100 dollars. So for twice as much memory, and a radio, go with the S50. But if you dont have 100 dollars, go for the 70 dollar S10, its a great value and a great, durable player.

24 The Best Low Cost MP3 Player in the World !!!
I consider myself the most logical consumer of personal electronics in the world! So when I give this Rio S10 MP3 player 5 stars and hail it as the best low cost MP3 player in the world... I am not doing so emotionally or without reason. I have studied all of the current models from all the different brands and I have even purchased many of the them. Some are good... most are just OK... But this Rio S10 has the absolutely "BEST COMBINATION" of functions, features, sound quality, size, power efficiency, ergonomics, convenience, and PRICE! The only untested aspect of this little marvel is longevity (since I have only owned the S10 for one month now). I will be sure to report any problems that I experience once they occur. Until then, in my humble opinion, I will continue to believe that the Rio S10 is truly the World's Greatest Low Cost MP3 Player !!!

25 Don't Buy This!
I've had to replace the Rio S10 MP3 player once already this year and now the replaced unit is malfunctioning. I use the player while working out and bought it to replace my bulkier CD player. But I'm going back to my Philips 45 ESP Jogproof CD player -- the sound quality is much better and I've had no problems with it (purchased 2 years ago).

26 no customer support
I bought a RIO600. It never worked. I have been trying to resolve this problem for two months. ABSOLUTELY NO CUSTOMER SUPPORT!!! BUYER BEWARE

27 I want to steal this from my daughter. . .
After watching my daughter (8 years old) fumble around with my portable CD player and her CD's, I mentioned that we should get her an mp3 player so she can listen to her music and not have to carry so much stuff around.

I did a lot of research and settled on the Rio S10 for price. There was too much of a difference in price for the S30. I needed to make sure that whatever I bought would take SD Ram as I have a PocketPC that uses SD Ram and I wanted to be able to share between the two.

I bought this player and a 256MB card.

If there are any complaints it is that you cannot simply copy files to the SD Card directly. You have to either use the included SonicBlue software or even better, if you have Windows Media player 9, download the Rio plugin and you can copy your playlists directly from Media Player.

With all the memory, we were able to store about 6 CD's worth of music using .wma format at 128kbps encoding, which gives pretty good quality.

The earbuds were too big for my daughter so she is using a cheap pair of headphones, but audio quality is not an issue for her. I took the ear buds and used them with my Pocket PC and they are pretty good. A little light on the base, but pretty decent compared to the $30 buds I had previously.

This is a pretty durable little device and I would recommend it to anyone provided you expect to add additional memory (+ ~$80).

** Update 24 Jan 2004 **
We had an mp3 player *crash* within the first hour of a 25 hour drive down to Florida back in October. The player was stuck in some kind of flash update program and would not play anything. It was rather upsetting. I called J&R to get the phone number for Rio's tech support (while driving a motorhome). Rio's tech support was able to tell me that I needed to update the firmware, something that we could not do on our trip. Once we got back I updated the firmware and all is well. A warning that you need to be on the Latest version of the firmware or you could get some wierd errors.
Otherwise, my daughter (who is fast approaching nine now) loves this. She takes it with her on the bus in the morning (has to keep it in her backpack during the day) and then listens on the ride home. She keeps it handy to bring along for long rides. I cannot tell you how great that is for the rest of the family. We use rechargeable NiMh batteries and I think she goes about a week or two between charges. The controls are simple, there is nothing overly complex about it. Whenever we update the music (which is not often) I usually add some of 'my' music in there to broaden her musical universe. To date she is unsure of Night Ranger...

I decided to update this because my 6-year-old was 'jamming out' to baa baa black sheep today on an old walkman-type tape player. In the past two weeks, I have come home to cassette tape confetti and tears (still amazes me how much tape is in one cassette). I really like the "maintenance free" quality of this mp3 player (looking past the long trip upgrade problem).

I am most likely going to snag another rio, I am sure I can fit a ton of kids songs on the 64MB internal memory alone. . .

15 Mar 2004 ** UPDATE **

Time has taken its toll on this player. The Four position has stopped working in the Up position (Play). Sometimes it doesn't even turn on (my daughter has discovered that you can slap it a few times and it will come on). The switch feels broken. It feels like a spring of some sorts has slipped inside. I've thought about opening it up but decided against it.

My daughter still uses this a lot (every day). It is always in its protective case and has never been dropped (or at least she claims). I am looking on eBay for a cheap S50 to replace this one.

I never did get another one for my youngest daughter [yet].

28 Rio elnumbro Uno
I just received this mp3 player today and i am listening to it now. GREAT mp3 player i dont know why anyone would write a bad comment about this thing it has 64mb onboard memory which is expandable w/ mmc/sd cards, very small and lightweight, 1 AA battery lasts over 30 hours, what more could u ask for when paying only [itme price] come on. Ive read how people are [upset] cuz it only comes with 64mb onboard mem. and how they could only fit like 14 songs on it. Well have u tried compressing them??? Ive compressed 30 songs with MP3Converter to WMA @ 64kb/s which is equivellent to a Mp3 @ 128kb/s and the sound is awsome! I would highly recommend this product to the person with a life that just wants to have a bada$$ mp3 player, but if u dont have a life and have 300million mp3's that u listen to every second of the day go for the Ipod $400+ :)

29 simple!
I am a novice. I had tried 2 other brands and was unable to transfer my music after cussing and asking for help I discovered could not download from realplayer where all my music was stored I was told download this,that and something else convert this,drag and drop here.I threw my hands up and gave 1 away and returned the other. I really wanted one so decided to try one more time I ordered the RioS10,I received it and fought to get it out of the packaging,and within 45 minutes I was listening to my music,installing the software was simple,plugged in the usb and selected my songs,clicked on transfer and bingo done! The hardest was getting out of the packaging.The only draw back was the ear buds I did not like the sound or the fit so replaced them with others and I am totally happy. If I can do this any one can.

30 Very good player ...
This is a great little player for [for the price]. The battery life is good, the sound quality is good, and its very easy to use with the computer. The only draw back is that there isn't a fast forward feature to skip through portions of a track--otherwise that its a great player for its price.

31 Great Little Player
I've had this for about 3 months now and really love this little player. Great software which is very easy to use and very fast (about 90 songs in 5 minutes). Sound could be a little higher but built-in equalizer works very well. I bought a 128mb SD card which, combined with the internal memory, allows me to carry about 90-100 songs at very good quality which is sufficient(I don't want to scroll through 2000 songs to find one song, sorry IPOD). Additionally, very good for working out(has not skipped once-I've shaken it, bounced it against my hand, etc.) as it easy to use without looking at the buttons. As a cyclist, I carry this on my hip and the little wheel which governs back, fwd, play, pause is very easy to navigate without taking your eyes off the road. Another very nice feature is if you stop the song and then start the player again (going into a store, bus, etc.) it automatically defaults to a medium sound setting so you don't blow your ears out. Battery life is excellent, about 12-15 hours on a rechargeable batttery (around 20 on new battery). No customer service issues so can't comment. Included headphones aren't great . Yeah, the power switch could be better designed (if you want to get picky) but it's really not that bothersome. All in all I really love this little baby and at the current price you can't go wrong.

32 Excellent, best Flash mp3 bang for the buck
This thing has everything the red version (Rio s305) has, except for a radio, at nearly half the price! Definately worth it if you're looking for a reliable, slick, small, light, and long lasting battery life mp3 flash player. New firmware and driver updates (which you can download) allow this thing to actually be used with SD cards, (as well as MMC), and is upgradeable to 576 megabytes of memory.

Buy it if you can't stand cds, and don't think you'll ever have 20 thousand songs (or the high amount of cash) to dish out for a hd based mp3 player. (Which, having had experience with many, are definately more powerful, but is slower and a bit too annoying.)

33 Excellent, best Flash mp3 bang for the buck
This thing has everything the red version (Rio s305) has, except for a radio, at nearly half the price! Definately worth it if you're looking for a reliable, slick, small, light, and long lasting battery life mp3 flash player. New firmware and driver updates (which you can download) allow this thing to actually be used with SD cards, (as well as MMC), and is upgradeable to 576 megabytes of memory.

34 Excellent, best Flash mp3 bang for the buck
This thing has everything the red version (Rio s305) has, except for a radio, at nearly half the price! Definately worth it if you're looking for a reliable, slick, small, light, and long lasting battery life mp3 flash player. New firmware and driver updates (which you can download) allow this thing to actually be used with SD cards, (as well as MMC), and is upgradeable to 576 megabytes of memory.

35 (none)
THis is very reliable. It is a great device.

36 Well worth the money, A solid product.
I loved this product so much I bought 2 (I lost the first one). My Dad and my brother have one also. It lasted a few months before I lost it without a scratch. I use it to ease bordem in car rides, barn work, etc. It has many great features:
-Hold Button. Great for when working
-Mac and Windows support. If you own a mac like me, you probably already have iTunes, the included software. I've been told the wondows software works great also.
-USB transfer. Uploads 60 mb of songs in 2-3 minutes.
-Sound quality. The sound quality is better than you'd expect from something so small. The included headphones have low quality sound (obviously), but It's still pretty good. With a good set of 'phones, it sounds great.
-Battery life. Lasted 25+ hours on an alkaline.

It does have a few faults though:
-Included headphones don't fit all ears. They fit mine fine, but my brother bought different ones.
-the protective cover is a little large. It makes it hard to fit it in small places with it on, but it's easily removable.
-Has no radio. Most others have this included, but SonicBlue wanted to keep it small.

If you get it, KEEP THE PACKAGING! I tryed to get my rebate, but found that the UPC code, which was long gone by that time, was needed.

Overall, This was one of the best MP3 players on the market for this price range. The S50 is better (128 mb, fm tuner), but it cost more. The S30 is pretty cheap, but is kinda large. I would strongly recomend the S10 to anyone who needs a small, reasonably priced MP3 player.

Pros: Sturdy, cheap, compatable, fast, user-friendly, long battery life
Cons:Bad headphones included, lack of FM tuner.

37 Bad design!
My first MP3 player and I'm glad I got it free because I would have returned it. My biggest complaint is the power on/off button. The switch is recessed and it takes quite a bit of effort to turn the unit on and off. Long finger nails would help here. Also there is not an easy way to search/organize songs that I know of. Bookmarks don't really help. So if you plan to add additional memory, finding a song could prove to be a frustrating experience. On the good side, iTunes4 recognizes both the internal memory and the expanded 256MB SD memory after the firmware upgrade. Download speed is decent with USB. The included padded case is useful.

38 USER FRIENDLY
HAS ENOUGH OPTIONS TO KEEP IT USER FRIENDLY WITH A FEW BELLS AND WHISTLES. THE ON OFF BUTTON AT THE VERY TOP IS VERY TINY AND A BIT AWKWARD TO USE BUT STILL VERY DO-ABLE. IT GOES INTO A POWER SAVING SLEEP MODE WHICH IS NICE AND HAS COME IN HANDY MORE THAN ONCE. MUSIC IS EASY TO DOWNLOAD TO DEVISE. HAD TO SEND MINE IN FOR WARRANTY - - VERY EASY PROCESS AND EXTREMELY FAST TURN AROUND TIME. VERY PLEASED WITH PRODUCT.

39 Great player for technology dummy!
I am no technology buff. I can do basic stuff, but complex programs and gadgets are way out of my league. None the less, I still wanted an mp3 player. So, i started looking around from store to store and website to website. I wanted the mini Yepp player, but got this one for my birthday. It was so easy! Plug it in and convert your songs from Kazaa. I thought moving the songs would be hard, but it was pretty easy. The carrying case for the player is a blessing. The 64 MB is enough for me, but there is an expansion slot which is cool. The program to put the music on works well and is very very easy (thank the lord!) I love this player!!!

40 Good for the gym
A nice, simple MP3 player, just the thing for working out at the gym.

Compact, light weight, looks good, plastic but seems sturdy enough; nice padded case with belt clip. Fairly easy to operate: menus could be improved, but it's a barebones little player and you won't be fiddling with the menus very often. Sounds good to me. I listen to classical on Koss PortaPro headphones, and I'm picky about sound. If you listen in a very noisy environment, or if you just like your music REALLY LOUD, you will want to normalize low level recordings before you convert them to MP3.

The 64 MB built-in memory is a joke, and when you update the firmware (and you should) you will have 61 MB left. Count on buying a memory card. With updated firmware, it will take SD memory cards up to 512 MB. The 512 MB cards are priced out of sight, but I found a name brand 256 MB card for $... That gives me 4 1/2 hours play time. It runs on one AA battery, and the batteries last a long time. I don't need to take the batteries out when I'm not listening, like I did with my tape players and radios.

Can't comment on the headphones (which I tossed) or the Windows software. It works fine with a Mac and iTunes.

If you're traveling or going away to school and music is important to you, get an iPod. If you just want something to take to the gym, this will do. Budget another $... for a memory card and better headphones. I give it 4 stars out of 5 for being slightly overpriced. SONICblue should either cut the list price or build it with 128 MB.

Be aware that as of now (April 2003) SONICblue is going through bankruptcy.

41 Good quality for the money, upgradeable
Because the player is based on solid-state memory, it will never skip on bumps, etc., making it perfect for an active lifestyle. Initially, the player is upgradeable with MMC memory cards, but if you go to Sonic Blue's website and download and install a firmware upgrade, you can also use up to 512 MB SD cards. Because the memory is non-proprietary, it is readily found for roughly [money] per MB, unlike the memory backpacks on earlier Rio MP3 players.

The construction is good, and the key layout is logical. Sonic Blue bought Rio, who bought Diamond, who made some of the first MP3 players, so they have a lot of experience under their belts. The sound quality is good at 64 kbps on this player and superb at 128 kbps or more. I can't hear any background noise or hiss due to the player. Sounds are very clear, esp. if you use your own headphones. Because there are no moving parts, you won't hear background noise from spinning motors (such as in a CD player) either.

Linux users can also get some limited compatability by using rioutils, which you can find at sourceforge.

All in all, I'm very happy with this player!

42 Player good - Software bad
This is my second Rio. I love the hardware, and I liked the software that came with my old Rio from 5 years back. The old software would let you drag files from Windows Explorer and drop them into a list that would load them to the Rio.

That must have seemed to simple for Sonicblue, because they re-wrote the software so that it tries to scan your PC for songs and then lists them by Genre, Album, etc. If you have a lot of MP3's on your hard drive it becomes impossible to find a song. All 3000 of my MP3's show up under the same category.

They do give you a way to browse through directories (folders) on your hard drive and load from there, but they only show you the song title. So you can't sort by date (to find your new songs) or size (to find that 4 Mg file to fill the last bit of memory.)

Like I said, I like the player, and the carrying case is great. But they tried to make the software fancy and have instead made it cumbersome.

43 Good player for the price
This was very easy to learn to use. It took me about ten minutes to load the software, read the manual, and understand how to load the music and manipulate the display. Like everyone else has said the earphones that come with it suck and they hurt but if you use sony earphones the sound is incredible. I am very happy with my purchase and would recommend it.

44 Easy to use, great price
I was very pleased at how easy it was to get this thing up and running. Transferring music to the player is super easy and quick, and deleting and adding new songs is also incredibly effortless.

I bought it for a Christmas present for my 13-year-old and he's been using it without any problem (well, actually there MAY have been a problem, but we weren't sure if it was our laptop, which had been acting squirrelly anyway or the software not being exactly compatible with the XP Microsoft level). I took it off the laptop just in case and put it on my desktop which is ME Microsoft -- again setup was easy. The installation of the MMC card, which I bought from Amazon.com was very easy and added even more memory

45 Excellent MP3 player
What an excellent MP3 player. Software loaded easily and downloaded the MP3's to the player very quickly. I am amazed how good the sound is and how easy it is to transfer the mp3's.

The ear buds sound okay but I prefer using my Koss KSC50 Sportclip stereophone for an even better sound. When working out at the gym I use my Sony Sports Stereo Headphones.

I'm surprised no one mentioned the carrying case that comes with this player. It is quite cool looking and although it adds a little bulk it does help protect the player and is quite easy to work the buttons.

I have found that my Sandisk 128 MB Secure Digital Card did not work at first but downloading the firmware and software updates helped and now it works just fine.

This is the best sounding and easiest to use mp3 player for the price. There is also a rebate being offered till March 30.

46 Nice but memory is an issue
Just picked mine up today and after a bit of trouble getting the plugin for my mac I got it working. I intend to use it during workouts after getting tired of radio commercials, belt clip is nice and strong and I tested it out some to make sure it wouldn't fall off. Sound is good through my Sony headphones [but I won't use] the earbuds they give you. I fit 14 songs (approx an hour) on the 64 mb provided, most of which were 160 bit streams. so am investing immediately in another 128mb card to add. Extremely light and compact.

47 Good hardware and design, less good software
First, the good news: this player is probably the most well-designed and easiest to use of any mp3 players (of its capacity) that I have seen, not to mention it's quite reasonably priced. Though hooking the player up to your PC and uploading songs to it takes the usual basic computer skills, once the songs are on the player, even the computer illiterate (read: my parents!) can figure out how to use the Rio S10 and change the settings. The menus are very intuitive as are the layout of the buttons. The S10 comes with 64 MB internal memory (which is, to be honest, not nearly enough), and I just added another 128 MB, and it was a breeze to do (just buy the MMC card, open the player where the battery goes, and slide the MMC card in into the only obvious slot it could possibly go) and it worked right off the bat. Further, the little cover case that comes with it fits perfectly, protecting the player. The size of the whole unit is smaller than a pack of cigarettes, and easily fits in my pocket. The in-ear headphones that come with it are pretty much junk, but that's to be expected, I guess.

Now, the less good news: when I first got this player (January '03), it was incompatible with my motherboard (MSI Nvidia Nforce with AMD chip) and so I couldn't upload songs to the player. Basically, the player was useless. Sonicblue's support web page was very unhelpful, and tech support was horrendous (they put me on hold forever, were obtuse, and hardly spoke English). They kept having me reinstall (many times) the software that you put on your PC, but it was clear that was not the problem and instead my problem was that the firmware was incompatible with my PC's motherboard. They would have none of it and insisted it was something else. In fact, they even said that even if it was a compatibility problem, this was technically not their fault and they couldn't refund me! Since they don't tell you beforehand what motherboards the player is compatible with, I think that is a horrendous thing to say to a customer. I was very disappointed. Nonetheless, I did what they said (reinstalling the software on my PC a million times) and, needless to say, it didn't work. So I gave up and decided I was just stuck with a piece of junk.

Fast forward to several weeks ago (late April '03). I noticed that, finally, a newer version of the firmware was out. Since the player was not working with my motherboard, I used a friend's computer to upgrade the firmware on the S10 (since the player didn't work on my PC, I couldn't even upgrade the firmware on my own computer) from version 1.60 to version 1.80. I thought I'd do it just for kicks, to see if it might work. Amazingly, the new firmware worked and all my problems were solved! My Rio S10 now works perfectly with my motherboard. Though SonicBlue still doesn't publish a list of which motherboards the player is compatible with, I would suspect that they have finally ironed out most compatibility problems with the newest firmware (I just saw that version 1.84 came out last week, or early May).

Also, I should mention that the software that comes with the player which you install on your PC (called Rio Music Manager, or just RMM) is pretty lousy. It gets the job done allright, but it's clumsy and if you have any more than a couple dozen mp3's or wma's (I have thousands), it's a major pain to organize them. Once you find the songs you want, uploading them is a breeze; it's just the way RMM organizes them that is terrible. However, you can also use RealPlayer instead of RMM (the appropriate drivers come with the Rio S10). It's somewhat better.

So, in conclusion, I would have given the player 5 stars, but the fact that their tech support was terrible and that it took them this long to come out with a fix, forces me to only give the player 4 stars. Had I not gone through the headaches of the past 4 months, the Rio S10 would have gotten 5 stars.

48 Great
I got the S10 about a week ago and so far, so good. I took it out of its package, loaded the software, and was on my way. The 64mb of on-board memory is weak but I also got a 256 mb SD card. The size is perfect and the menus work fine for me. Bottom line: about [$$$] (with SD card) for slightly more than five hours of music. Nice product.

49 Really great..so far....
Bought the S10 for a birthday present for my wife, but I set it up and played with it some. The Rio software loaded without a hitch (this was a sign of good things to come; God help you if you need to use their customer service). It found all the MP3 and WMA songs in the directories I indicated to use. I plugged in the USB cord and the S10, and it recognized it immediately (another good sign). I selected the 9 songs I wanted (it came with 3 preloaded), and transfer took no time at all. I can't stand earbuds, so I'd replace those right away. The RealOne software was a nice added bonus. It sounds pretty good for the price, and the menus for bass/treble, shuffle, clock, stopwatch, and power saver work well enough. The controls are simple and easy to work. The plastic case seems a little fragile; don't drop it too much - keep it in the carrying clip case. The adjustable display tells you everything you need to know. Rio wised up and changed their horribly defective rechargable power pack to a simple AA battery, and eliminated the separate (but similar) AC adaptor and headphone jacks that would destroy the unit when (not IF) the user plugged them in the wrong places.

50 Pleased
After about an hour trying to install the software and the drivers, it works well. This is my first mp3 player and I am very happy with it. Easy to read, comes with a cute little case and great headphones. The onboard memory only holds 15 songs though, so you might need to buy extra. Overall I'm happy with this.

51 this is beautiful!!!
This thing is amazing. i just bought it with a 150$ gift certificate and its well worth it. I mean, sure, 64 megs of memory isn't huge, but it still holds a suffient amount of music (about an hour). The sound is clear and the battery life is fantastic (about 20 hours). As for MP3 players like the iPod...ok, if you feel like transfering 400 CDs onto one device, thats the one to use. but if you dont have 500$ or 400 CDs, this the Rio is the one for you!

52 pretty good for what it is
I got this as a gift for Christmas, and with just a little fussing, it was up and running with all the proper software installed in less than an hour, tops. I use a G4 Mac, and already had a few hundred songs loaded from my CDs into my computer, so choosing the 10-20 songs permitted memory-wise was my biggest problem. The sound is good, the weight is feather-like, and it's the size of a small cigarette pack (not the king size). No. it's not an iPod, but it's a helluva lot cheaper. I go to work, empty the Rio, refill it and listen to different songs on the way home. Get home, refill it with different songs for my commute to work. Not bad. My biggest complaint is trying to track down the memory expansion... The instructions are very vague about installing or even locating what kind of MMC I need... Otherwise, this is pretty good and reasonably priced.

53 this is horible
ok i first bought this and it broke with in 10 days so i returned it ok so i got a new one now i can't figure out how to put the music onto it the computer doesn't realise it's even there it's a piece of junk! ...

54 Perfect for Anyone
I recently got this product for Christmas, and I am amazed with it. It is very stylish, and holds alot of memory. It is also very tiny, and I am still in shock of how it cant hold nearly 30 Songs! Well maybe the iPODs and the RioRiot are better that this, but first of all who wants to pay that much money And, How many of you can Actually THINK of 4,000 let alone put them on a MP3 Player! This is a great Mp3 player and makes an awsome gift. This MP3 also has great sound quality and might I add that the Rio S-10 is very reasonably priced...This is the perfect MP3 player! Highly Suggested

55 the bad thin about this
i like the color of this mp3 player and its fast...but it only holds at the most 15 songs and i dont want to spend 80 dollars on a memory card...try to find a better one.

56 Excellent player for those who aren't addicted to music 24/7
My brother said I should ask for one of these for Christmas, so I did. I got it for Christmas this year, and I have to say that it is truly amazing. Almost everything is near perfect. It is a normal flash mp3 player, with 64MB internal drive(actually 61.5 since it uses 2.5MB for required information). That may not seem like a lot but it is, i got about 37 128kbps tracks on the player, which is enough for me. The transfer speed is somewhat fast, it took 2.5 minutes to get the 37 tracks on. The player is smaller, slightly smaller than a deck of cards. On the front it has the display, D-Pad(Top is play/pause, Bottom is stop, Left is rewind/track search and Right is fast forward/track search). The D-Pad is nice, and there is a smaller circle enter button. On the left and right sides it is rubber coated, with a volume see-saw on the right side. On the top there is the on/off switch, usb/headphone port and the menu button. The back has the battery and memory card compartment. On Screen, while playing the LCD is great. The top row has the time, play modes and battery life. The next row has the track name, next two rows have artist and album. Below that is a progress meter, followed by 4 options below it. The options are Time Elapsed and Track Number, Time Remaining and Track Number, File Type(MP3 or WMA) bitrate and Stereo or Mono, and the date. This can be changed by the enter button.
The menu is nice looking, with the main menu having 4 half-oval menu items coming out from the right side of the LCD. The items are Play Music, Stopwatch, Settings, and About. In the Play Music menu, there is Play All or Play Track. They do what they say. In the Stopwatch menu, there is a stopwatch, which is pretty cool. In the Settings menu, there is Playback, Equalizer, Bookmarks, Power, Resume, Contrast, and Time. In the Playback menu, there is the shuffle and repeat options. The cool part is the Equalizer menu. There are 6 preset equalizer modes, plus custom bass & treble. The presets are Normal, Rock, Jazz, Classical, Pop, and Trance(which is a form of Techno). The Bass & Treble are adjusted by graphical sliders. In the Bookmark menu, there is Set, Select, and Delete. You can have up to 9 bookmarks to save you place in music. In the Power menu, there is Backlight, Battery, and Pwr Save. Backlight can be adjusted to 2, 5, 10, or 20 seconds, Always off or Always on. The Battery can be toggled with Alkaline or NiMH. The Pwr Save can be 1, 5, 10, or 30 minutes, and Never. In the Resume menu there is Track, which can be First or Current, and Timecode which can be start or current. In the Contrast you adjust the LCD Contrast, and in Time you can set time, set date and set the time mode(12h or 24h). In the About menu in the main menu, there is Player and Storage. The About menu just says "About RioS10 Version 1.00 Copyright....." and the Storage shows how much memory you have used.
Sound Wise, this player is great. The possibilites are great with the equalization settings, but with the volume seesaw, its even better. The volume levels range from 0-30, and does it get loud. I rarely go over 14 for my volume. 6 is what i normally use, which is loud enough for me.
I have expierienced a one bug, but a very small one. When i woke up this morning it was December 26 and the date read February 14, 2003 and at 3:23am. . Thats all the bugs i have found.
The Software is great. Its easy to use, and friendly. It searches your drive for music, and from there you can sort the music by Artist, Album, Songs, Playlist, Genre, and My Computer(which lets you select folders manually). You can edit the ID3 Tags, which are information the mp3 uses to return Artist, Album, Bitrate, etc. You can make playlists to use for later. This is an easy tool. MoodLogic is ok, but i rarely use it.
I do have a few complaints about this player. First of all, in all the pictures the player looks purple, but it is actually a slightly-dark blue color. I like that color better, and the photos used for the player need to be changed. Also, The buttons are a little over-sensitive, and a small push can trigger them. Lastly, I was hoping for A-B loop and Playlist Editing on the player, but there isn't. If you want to playlist edit, you have to do it on the software, and you can even choose songs to skip on the device anyway, which is not very cool. The earbuds have a hard time staying in my ear, so i used normal earphones instead.
Praises about the player. The battery life is great, I have probably had it on for 11 hours already and the battery shows about 2/3 full. The backlight is good, and bright. The USB cable is easy to insert. The menus are easy to navigate.
Overall, this is a great portable player. If you like to workout, play around, listen to music, or have a tight budget, this is for you. Its not something you want for an 8 hour road trip, but it will do if you just like to sit and listen to music. If you aren't on the move a lot or you are a huge audiophile, I wouldn't reccomend this to you, since 64MB is only so much. But for those who are not picky, on the move, or like to listen to music for an hour or two, I highly reccomend this MP3 Player.

57 Horrible
I got this product just yesterday and only one earpiece works and the damn thing keeps on jumping like it's a cd. Don't waste your time or your money.

58 This is GREAT!!!
This is the best mp3 player I have ever had! The sound is terrific and it is very easy to figure out how to use! If you are looking for a mp3 player, you need to buy this one! You won't be sorry!

59 Great Product !...
I just purchased this product and the other 2 reviews are dead on. This product is great and so far i have had no problems at all with it.

Its a great price for a great MP3 player.

60 Just plain awesome.
This music player is awesome. It couldn't be better. It has a decent amount of on-board memory, and can be cheaply extended with the MMC Cards. The sound is great, the song transfer is fast and it has an E X C E L L E N T backlit display, which shows the time, battery life, song, album, track, progress meter, and more. The buttons are easy to use also. The player looks great, is light and small. The best thing is that it has a very good battery life, 1 AA battery for more than 35 hours worth. It is a great player. Obviously it is no iPod, Archos, RioRiot or something like that, but is the best of its kind in the cheap mp3 players. I recommend it over any mp3 player that is less than $150, including the Creative Labs ones, Rio 600/800, and the Mp3/CD players as well.
PROS
-Good battery life
-Excellent Display
-Fast transfer, good music software
-Good look and appearance
-Light and small
-Easy buttons
-Low price
-Will Probably last long
CONS
-Menu button is at the top.
-Menus are a little weird

This product should be 100/5 stars, but i can only go up to 5. I highly recommend this product if you have a limited budget and are looking for an mp3 player that is > $150.

61 Awesome
This is a great MP3 Player! I had been looking for an MP3 player and chose this model as my choice. It is easy to use, small, the software works great in downloading MP3's to the unit, it has a long battery life, needs only 1 AA battery, and the price was right. I had looked at other brands but chose the Rio since I know they have been producing MP3 players for several years and have a good reputation. You can't go wrong with this unit.

62 Junk
I bought the S10 about the second week of October. 2 weeks later I could only hear out of one earpiece. I sent it to be fixed 4 weeks later I still have not received a replacement and I just talked to the horrible tech support and they input my order wrong and I will not be receiving one for atleast another week. I don't even want it back now. I would not recommend this to anyone.

63 Took a chance and was pleasantly surprised
Did some research on MP3 players to use while working out. Biggest complaints surrounded use of software to download MP3's or WMA's(Windows Media)to the player. Also wanted to be able to Rip songs off my current CD's to download to the Player. The software was very easy to install (I use Win 2000) and my pc had no problem picking up the new USB connection. After I installed the Software I connected the player and was ready to go. I used Windows 2000 to copy my CD's down to the hard drive in the WMA format. Then using RIO manager I could pick and choose which songs I wanted to hear. The software allows you to sort very large libraries of songs by Genre, Album, Song List and Playlist. The download time for a full CD's worth of sound is about five minutes. The display shows Album, Artist and song title and other info like volume and battery meter. You can shuffle songs and you can apply several setting using an onscreen menu list (i.e. equalizer, powersaver, etc). Also the battery life has been excellent, 3 hours of use and still showing 3/4 full. Headphones are OK (ear plugs only) Very nice padded belt clip stays where you put it.