Designed to be the ultimate portable digital music player, the S50 offers memory, features, and a unique design unmatched in today's market. With 128 MB built-in memory, the S50 gives you up to four hours of continuous, skip-free listening. Plus, the S50's memory is upgradeable to 256 MB with the addition of a standard MMC memory card (not included). In addition to its sizable memory, the Rio S50 is loaded with useful features, including a large backlit screen (great when listening in unlit places), a clock and stopwatch, an integrated FM tuner, a carrying case, and an impressive battery life of up to 35 hours on just a single AA battery (up to 20 hours with the included rechargeable battery).
Rio Music Manager software boasts an easy-to-navigate interface, speeding and simplifying the transferring of MP3 and WMA files from a PC to the S50. Rio Music Manager software also contains an advanced and intuitive database that lets you store all your music and sort by artist, album, or genre. In addition, the software lets you create and name playlists, and incorporates an ID3 tag editor to help update titles and artist information.
Adjustable EQ, repeat, and shuffle play modes deliver all the features you expect in a top-of-the-line portable music player. Bundled RealOne Player and iTunes music management software ensure that your S50 is PC and Mac compatible out of the box, and software upgrades can be downloaded to support future digital audio formats and keep your Rio S50 up-to-date.
1 Light and powerful player
I'm really impressed by the Rio S50, its light weight and powerful output is unmatched by any player on the market. I paid $90 dollars for the unit and $75 for a 512 mb memory card. With the onboard 128mb ram, 640mb ram total I was able to store approximately 10 hours of music all for about $165. This is impressive considering prices almost a year ago. The audio quality and the units 5 band adjustable equalizer, matched with a good set of headsets (Koss 'The Plug' earbuds), deliver superb bass and crystal clear highs without any distortion throughout the entire volume range; you'll never get caught short of audio quality (something to take for granted nowadays with most units at this price.) The S50 will never seriously compete with the more expensive units such as the ipod in storage(the ipod is basically a hard drive.), although the s50 may be more rugged. However, if you're measuring light weight vs. quality, ruggedness and storage size vs. price the s50 is definitely a way to go. The s50 is my champ in the light weight department, with no moving parts except for the on off switch it's a reliable companion on just about any trip or climate. I wouldn't hesitate to throw it into my backpack or luggage for a week-long outing. You may want to bring along an extremely light-weight FM/Am radio, though; On the rare occasion when I did want to listen to the radio, I never picked up any stations reliably. This is truly an mp3 player enthusiasts unit.
2 Horrible Company!!!
Bought one of this company's mp3 players and I lost my cord which connects it to the computer. I ordered a replacement and waited WEEKS to get it despite the next day air priority shipping. For over a week they showed that it was ready to ship, but they still didn't send it out. If you buy this item, pray you never have to replace a part!
3 Great player, poor radio
The performance of this unit for playing mp3s is AOK. The radio is not good enough, and I frequently find myself carrying a radio in another pocket when I carry the S50. I would love to have the same thing with 256 MB built in--and dispense with the radio if they can't do better than this.
4 Don't waste your money
A piece of junk. Had mine for just over a year and the on/off switch and the DC input broke. Customer support for Rio is a technical answering service in India, good luck. They won't replace it. Now it's worthless after owning it for only a year.
5 I love my Rio! :)
I've had my rio for almost a year now and I love it. I have never had a problem with it. The sound is great and the eq works really well. The menu is very easy to use. It even has a hold mode so you can't push the buttons by accident. The software is very easy to use it just finds all your music and you just select it and download them to the player which happens in a few minutes. I have never been shocked by mine nor has it ever skipped. I have a 256mb card inside it so I'm up to 384 which is like 85-88 tracks. If you get a larger card then you'll have even more storage. What I like to do is get cheap low mb card and copy whole cds to them and carry around a few cards. The only down side is the radio doesn't have very good reception. It does work great occasionally. Oh and the earbuds aren't that great but who hasn't bought a player of some sort the didn't come with a crappy head set. So if you want a radio with your mp3 player that this is not the one for you but if you don't mind then go pick this one up.
6 Too much shock to the player?
I've had this player for quite some time now, about 10 months. I purchased it here, on Amazon, the manufacturer is Rio, and my comments are as follows:
POSITIVE
1) Small and light.
2) Sufficient memory storage capacity (although more is good).
3) Easy to use (both player and transfer of music between the player and the computer).
NEGATIVE
1) Extremely static electricity-sensitive, especially during winter time. For instance, I would wear my player attached to my leather belt. If I would try to unlock my door with a key that is metallically tied to my belt, a static charge would send the player in a state of shock; it would either stop playing and you have to restart it or it would interrupt the current song. This is a big problem. So, not to mention its behavior if you're undressing in winter time - as you rub your clothes against one another you generate charge and it also turns out to have the same effect on the player.
2) For unknown reasons the player introduced high-pitched squeeking noise in the middle of music replay. That happened only perhaps 3 or 4 times in 10 months, so it may not be too big of a deal.
3) If you're thinking about using this player while jogging, grab another pair of headphones which you can anneal around your ear. These headphones will keep popping out as you run.
4) My Rio ceased to work properly after 10 months, for reasons unknown. I suspect that it has to do with the above static electricity issue so that every time I turn the player on and press ANY button on it, it simply restarts itself. However, it seems that Rio has agreed to replace the player for me even though the warranty is only 90 days or so.
Overall, do consider buying another player. This is something that is worth spending a few extra bucks on to avoid above problems.
7 Best MP3 Short of and IPOD
This player has EVERYTHING that you need in an MP3! I believe I've got 5 full CD's at a time in the "built in" memory, which should be plenty for anyone. The software is extremely simple, and I'd say it takes me <5 minutes to erase the player and enter a whole new set of music. This was the part of using an MP3 that I was hesitant about before purchasing the RIO, but I've been pleasantly surprised. Aside from ease of use, and sufficiency of the built in memory (not to mention that it is expandable), this player has every other feature you could want. The backlight is key, and you shouldn't waste your money on a player without that feature! The leather case is always on my player, because it not only protects the hardware, but it looks better too (has it's own belt clip). The FM player is also hugely convenient for anyone with radio tuners on their Fitness Centers' Television sets! (other than that, you won't get much reception aside from 1/2 dozen local stations).
I couldn't be happier with the value of this player. Sounds great, totally affordable (I paid ~$95 12/03) and incredibaly convenient.
8 Nice unit, a few problems with tuner and headphones though..
I bought 2 of these S50's for my wife and I about 6 months ago, both work great, did the updates to firmware, the software is easy to use, loaded in a ton of music on both units for my wife and I, we use them about 4 times a week for about 45 mins (at the gym working out).
Music wise its great and I have no complaints on the software, setup, ease of use or quality of the unit itself...
The FM tuner tho is terrible, at my gym they have tvs with frequencies above them you can tune in to listen to the tvs on, only one of the 5 works for me, the others are all too full of static, if I play with the cord, up down left right i can sometimes get it partially in (mind you im 10-15 feet from these units) yet with a junky generic 15$ fm radio from target I can get ALL 5 in crystal clear, so something with this tuner on these units is funky, my wifes does the exact same thing btw...
And my only other complaint is the headphones, they are earbud types and at first they were great, however the outter casing keeps coming off, it doesn't snap on or glue on either, it's just annoying so I had to go buy some sony headphones.
It may sound as if I don't like my rio but I actually do, just dissapointed in the quality of headphones (both pairs have fallen apart) and sad to report even tho the updated firmware was supposed to help with FM reception, it is still very weak raido wise.
9 On/Off switch problems with Rio S50
Had to send my S50 back for repair. The on/off switch was defective right out of the box. Called Technical support who gave me a RMA# and an address to send in the unit for replacement. I'll let you know how long it takes for the replacement to get back to me. Would not recommend this player.
10 Great until it stopped working
I loved this mp3 player -- until it stopped working altogether after three months of use. I purchased it at Best Buy and had their replacement plan, so thankfully I got all of my money back. It was a great player while it was functioning, but clearly I won't be buying this one again.
11 this is the best
I got this mp3 player for my birthday last week and ever since i loved it. It is the best mp3 player ever you really should get it it has every thing you could want.
12 100 % satisfied
Much has already been written about the pro's and cons of this item. I'm completely satisfied with it for the following reasons:
* It's skip free and has a nice back-lit legible display.
* The rechargable AA battery lasts a long time.
* The USB port is not as flimsy as other models.
* It's very easy to upgrade. I've already bought an additional 256 MB.
So if you're looking for an economical MP3 player, you can't go wrong here.
13 Almost 48 hours!
I bought this 12 days ago, received it 2 days ago. Tonight for no reason other then poor quality product, the thing stop producing sound out the left earbud. I switched headsets and same thing. Only way to get music from both sides is to pull out the RCA plus to the point it's almost in the socket, which easily falls out of course. So now I get to play the runaround game and try to get a new replacement or my money back.
14 Worst MP3 Player!
This product I had for about 3 months and the unit kept restarting any time you pushed a button. I received my second one and out of the box it was doing the exact same thing. When I got my THIRD one it was freezing with my memory card in it and anytime it was out it worked fine. I sent the memory back and got a new one and tried it and it was doing the exact same thing with the old one. So right now I am contacting Sonic Blue to get my FORTH replacement. The only pros I can say is that it is a good player when it plays correctly and they have good tech support.
15 Great product!
Sound quality is very good, and software extremely easy to use. Even though it doesn't have an armband or sport earphones, I've clipped the case to my pocket or waistband when walking and doing housework, and haven't had any problems with it falling off, the earphones falling out, or skipping. I like that it comes w/a rechargeable battery and AC cord. My favorite new toy!
16 An MP3 Player That Does the Job, and then Some
The Rio S50 is a great product that offers much for the price.
The unit comes with 128 megabytes but the S50 is upgradeable, which means you can purchase MMC or SD memory cards and carry many, many more songs. With my 256 megabytes Sandisk card, and the 128 megabytes on the unit, I am easily able to store more than 100 songs, all ripped at 128 kpbs.
The S50 comes with Real Player software, for ripping your music(to either MP3 or WMA) as well as Rio Music Manager, which allows you to transfer your music from your computer to the S50.
The S50 works flawlessly with Windows XP, and Rio periodically puts out firmware updates, to improve the unit's software.
It is very easy to navigate through your songs, and the unit also comes with an equalizier, with a number of presets, and a setting that allows you to customize the sound. Battery life is also very good.
The only negatives are the FM reception, which is poor to average (and I live in the SF Bay Area), and the earbud headphones, which are below average (and which never stay in my ears). The S50 itself is small (it easily fits into my pant pocket) and comes with a pleather case with a belt clip.
Overall, this is a great MP3 player, especially if you don't want to invest hundreds of dollars in one of the more expensive hard disk players.
17 Very nice mp3 player
This product is very easy to use. I was up and running within 15 minutes without even looking at the manual. I had no problems connecting to my Windows 98 machine, even with my AMD processor, which I've heard can be a problem. The only drawback is that it is a little big and bulky to use while working out, which is probably why it doesn't come with an armband.
18 Great!!
Got this thing 20 min ago and I already got 32 songs on there and its working great, the FM radio seems to be workin pretty well, I can pick up about 7 stations which isn't the greatest but is decent, I would really suggest this mp3 player to anyone and am so far really enjoying it.
19 EXCELLENT PLAYER!!!!!
i am a teenager from the new york/new jersy area. for my birthday my parents said i could get an mp3 player. right away i started researching the best buy. well probably like most of you, i researched it way too much, so sooner or later they all looked the same to me. i finally decided to go with this one because it seemed to have all the features i was looking for.
Pros:
i set it up within 10 minutes without any help from my parents or anyone else, and transfering mp3s was a breeze
in other reviews people say that the radio doesn't work, but i was able to get every station i wanted
the stopwatch works, and i am able to time myself when i exercise
the carrying case/belt clip has never failed me
Cons:
the only con i could think of was that the earphones weren't very comfortable, but i mean who doesn't have an extra pair of earphones lying around
20 Great Little Player!
This is my first mp3 player and I was very nervous about actually purchasing it after reading some of the reviews. After having used it, I must say I'm very pleased. I didn't buy it for the radio feature, but I can easily listen to all my favorite stations. I also saw a few reports of playback quality being poor. I had no problem with quality so the only advice I can give is that mp3's will not be improved by any player, but their quality (whether good or bad) will just be more apparent. I loaded about 30 mp3's on my player and plan on adding more memory and more tunes!! The software is very easy to use. You just direct it to where your mp3's are stored and it compiles them for you. Only drawbacks? Wish it came with an armstrap and not a beltclip.
21 Great size, great battery, holds tons of songs but...
This is a great MP# player in size, comfort, headphones, radio, battery power, and download speed. But now that I have seen the iPod software that enables organization of your songs by artist, genre, album, etc I am jealous. SonicBlue should design some software we can download to better manage songs once they are added to the device... once you put an MMC card in and have 200 songs on the device it takes forever to find them without better organization.
22 Simply the best value for the money !
I have tried a half dozen players beore I found this one. It as great featues including an FM Tuner,Equalizer,Upgradeable to 640 MB easily and inexpensively. Additioanlly it has an rechargeable battery. It is extremely easy to download/upload songs to. Customer support is excellent. Sound is great!!
You should buy this player if you want one that does everything in a small convenient package!
23 Everyday user. Pros and Cons. Hard to organize.
Got it about a month ago. Added a 256MB memory card. A cheaper choice for Mac. I use it everyday, including while working out...fairly satisfied.
Pros
1.Battery life
2.Light weight.
3.Easy to use.
4.Works with Mac (better price than iPod) and PC
5.Expandable
6. Very good audio quality.
Cons
1.iTunes always crash when I try to add a big group of songs. It also takes a while when you want to erase a song.
2.Every time I add a song the entire list is updated. And the process is slow.
3. I though that I would be able to search my playlist (rock, hip hop, classic, etc) on my mp3 but only gives me 2 choices. Play from a certain song or the entire list. Kind of a nightmare when you have more than 80 songs in it.
4. Cannot organize songs order after I added to the device. Even from the list that appears on the software.
5. Buttons have a slow response.
6. Radio reception kept really bad even after upgrade.
24 The Best MP3 Player Out There
The SONICblue Rio S50 128 MB MP3 Player is a very nice mp3 player. here are the pros and cons
Pros-
1. very fast downloading
2. good sound
3. has a neat backlight
4. long lasting battery
5. can use WMA and mps which is nice if you have Windows media player on your computer
6. it comes with a cover that clips on to your belt which helps you when you run with it, it also doesnt skip when you run with it
7. its very light weight
8. has a slot for adding memory which is nice if you want more songs
Cons-
1. the radio only picks up 2 stations
25 Avoid this Player!
I purchased a Rio S50 as a gift for my wife. When I plugged the unit in to charge the supplied battery, nothing registered on screen. Manipulating the controls did not make a difference, so I called long distance for technical support (no 800 number given). The response time was fast. I explained my predicament to the agent, we went through the possibilities, and he told me to fax him a description of the problem plus a copy of my invoice, etc. This was done on April 2, 2003. A return merchandise authorization number was promised by return e-mail. I waited for a couple of weeks and, because I had not received anything back, called long distance again. The agent apologized, gave me a RMA on the spot, then told me to ship the player to a facility in Scottsdale, AZ by Purolater. He told me to not ship the 'accessories'(charger, CD-ROM, headphones). I shipped the player and the rechargeable battery within --- which was also faulty --- to Scottsdale. Within a couple of weeks I received another Rio S50, but this had NO battery within. I called the customer line right away; after all, the battery was also faulty, as the customer rep agreed, and needed replacing. I was then told that I should NOT have returned the battery (despite instructions to the contrary earlier). I countered saying that the battery was also defective. Tough for me, because Sonic Blue had NO rechargeable batteries available anywhere for its player that is still being sold! The customer rep told me to buy a battery myself!This is unacceptable, readers will agree. Please avoid this player.
26 Liked it for Exercising
I found the SonicBlue S50 almost perfect for listening to music while on a treadmill. It holds 2 hours of music but I quickly added a 128MB MMC card to put 4+ hours on it. The controls are easy to get to even while in the case. The clip is strong. It is light-weight. Being solid state, it is skip-proof.
The only negatives are the earphones and the fact that as of this date they have not gotten their software certified to run with Windows XP so it could, possibly, crash your operating system. Without the certification uncertainty, I would have given this product 5 stars.
27 Sonicblue Rio is great!
This product has been nothing but great since I ordered it! I received it the day I supposed to, and once I loaded the software it was a breeze! I have since dropped it twice and it still does not have any problems! The display is easy to read, and the sound is great! It was initially a little tough to load the software, a bit time consuming, but I assumed that it would be any way. I love this MP3 player and am very happy I invested in it!
28 A good product, horrid headphones
I was excited to get my new Rio Mp3 player. It can hold a lot of songs for it's minimal cost. Also, it is very lightweight, fairly stylish, and the sound quality is good. Unlike many other players, this one takes no time at all to load the songs. It is really easy to figure out how to use it as well.
My only three problems with this player are that:
It runs through batteries in a couple hours, even though it comes with a rechargable battery, that seems to run out even faster. Also, the headphones really have been giving me a problem. They are impossible to get to stay in your ears, and they are vey uncomfortable...even painful. I tried working out with them and they fall out every 5 seconds. My third problem is that, I would prefer an MP3 player that can play cds as well, because now I have to switch from my mp3 player to my cd player to hear different songs. If you're buying an mp3 player for it's capabilities, just go get an mp3/cd player.
29 easy to use even for me!
I just received the rios50 a few hours ago and I already have it up and running with about 25 songd downloaded. The software is so simple to use, even for someone not too computer savvy like me. It's also small, light, and compact. The case is really neat too. I love the stopwatch feature too, since i am a runner and i can time myself. This is my first mp3 player and i consider myself very lucky, so far. No complaints.
30 Love this MP3 player!
I replaced a Rio 600 with this new S50. The S50 is lighter, has twice the storage capacity, a better display, a better carrying case, and twice the battery life. With the firmware upgrade for the tuner, I get acceptable FM reception (another plus over my old tuner-less Rio 600). I use the player for jogging and having a built-in stopwatch is another great feature. The only thing I dont like about the S50 is the on/off switch. I find it too small for my fingers. I purchased the S50 over the Apple ipod due to the ipod's not having a user replaceable battery and the fact that it is a tad heavy.
31 Wow!
I've owned and used many MP3s. The S50 is head and shoulders the best of the bunch. Its simple controls are intuitive and can be easily used without having to remove the unit from your waist. The software is very user friendly and a snap to use. Although its internal memory is listed as 128, I would swear that it's greater than that. It holds nearly forty songs. My Creative Nomad, with its painful to use software, is collecting dust.
32 Great sound, great features...
First and foremost, the sound is great! Very realistic and natural. (The included ear bud headphones are not bad.) Using a minimum 128K files, I was able to load around 35 songs, plenty for running and trips to the gym. The case is lightweight and has a very solid feel and the menus are easy to navigate. The rechargeable battery (included) has about 10 hours of play time on one charge and (unlike most "rechargeable" Sony products) you can also use 1 AA battery with which the manufacturer claims will run for 20 hours. The FM radio feature, as noted in other reviews, is weak, but low on my priorities list. Software installation was simple, no headaches, the "Rio Music Manager" software searched my PC (Win XP Pro) for tunes and created a song catalog that's relatively intuitive to use. My only wish with this product would be the ability for it to install as a "removable" drive on my PC allowing "drag and drop" file transfers, instead of requiring proprietary software.
This product has a lot of features for the money.
33 5 stars if you don't count the radio
This product is great!!! It is such a joy to be able to carry around hours of music in a device that can fit in my palm, a shirt pocket, a pants pocket, etc. No bulky cds to carry around, no skips, just clean, lovely sound. The included headphones are not bad at all (though I might opt for a more advanced brand if you really want the best sound), and I was surprised to hear different things in the mix on this device than on, say, my PDA using the same encoding. If you are using Windows Media 9, then a lot of the included software is superfluous (I'm relying on that to download my music in WMA format..more compact that MP3 and pretty near as good). The FM radio leaves a lot to be desired (try it on a ferry circling Manhatan and just listen to the reception change)..but considering that it does have an external antenna... Actually, if you don't need the FM, you can give this device 5 stars. Menus take a bit getting used to, but you pretty well have it figgured out in five minutes (and the manual could use some work in clarify this, too). Anyway, stop reading this review and go out and get one of these!!!
34 Big Disappointment - will return
I bought this to upgrade from my Nomad Iic (more memory, FM) and assumed that newer is probably better - WRONG. Below are brief bullets of why I felt burned.
1) Software -
It crashes two or three times whenever I load songs, requiring reboot.
I can't re-order songs on the device.
Scanning my music directory on my computer is slow (and the software re-scans EVERY time I load a song).
I can see details (length, genre, etc) about songs on the device - but NOT on my computer.
If I want to sample a song before loading, I cannot skip around - I have to WAIT till it gets to the part I wish to hear.
In sum: What [person] designed this software?
2) The device -
FM Receiver is bogus. 3 stations folks, and I live IN San Francisco.
The volume control is weird - on push sends volume WAY up.
Clearly intended for use while lying down, because the slightest bump resets one button or another (The Nomad IIc has a `hold' switch, so nothing gets reset).
No belt clip, so you have to use the dorky carrying case.
Menu system is cumbersome and very hard to navigate.
Open connector on top of unit (for computer cable) is perfect for letting in dust and sweat.
Earbuds are poorly made - sharp edges hurt my ears.
Earbuds are HUGE! They fall out of my ear very easily.
In sum: Very unsatisfied.
35 Great Device - LAME Software
Having switched from the Creative Nomad IIC, I was spoiled by the really great music management software. The software supplied by Sonic Blue is amazingly bad, klunky, and amatuerish.
1) You cannot sample the middle of a song from your library that you are considering moving to the device - you can only start from the begining.
2) the interface is klugy - you have to move your mouse from one end of the screen to the other ALL the time.
3) Large libraries are re-read by the software every time you move up in the directory hierarchy. That means that after I've selected file 'X' for transfer and move out of that album directory, the software has to re-catalog all 400 albums in my library, and I start again at the top of the list in the 'A' section - and thus have to scroll back down every time.
4) I could go on and on, but I'll just pray I can find better software!!!
36 An mp3 player that delivers
This mp3 player gives you everything that you need. The controls and menu system were well thought out and easy to use. The music manager software is easy to use and I did not have any problems connecting to the device. (Win 2k, 512MB) Battery life is excellent at @ 20+ hrs on a single AA battery! It comes with a rechargable battery but I have not used it yet. I'd rather just use the standard batteries and not get caught needing to recharge the battery. The headphones are good, but definitely upgrade if you are wanting to get a higher quality sound. The FM tuner works great and I get a clear reception. This is my first mp3 player and I am not disappointed. After spending hours upon hours of reading reviews and looking at prices, I am glad that I made this purchase and I would highly recommend this mp3 player to anyone. You may want to consider buying the additional memory card if you want lots of songs.
37 Excellent player - great for exercise
I have no complaints: the battery life is superior; and, despite complaints I read regarding the tuner, I get exactly the same reception as my Sony Sports Walkman (and actually better reception indoors); I am also able to store about 35 songs which is great for easily switching my playlist. I found the software easy to use as well. As a runner, the Rio S50 is a dream come true - it is tiny (fits in the palm of my hand) and the case has a belt clip that works very well (the player is so light!). It takes seconds to switch songs - perhaps some complaints regarding speed have to do with the computer.
38 BEWARE!!!
here is the deal, i ordered this product lime some others did , because it was Mac OS compatable and worked with iTunes, and it did sure enough, the FM radio was useless but it still seemed like a good player, any way, after two hours of using it and enjoying it i noticed that there was an upgrade available for it, i tried to upgrade it and it resulted in the player no longer working, i attempted to call the company and spent nearly 3 days trying to even get on hold, once i did i was on hold for exactly an hour and 12 minutes, i know because i was on the phone while watching a movie, the person on the line while heavily accented was very pricice in trying to help me get my player working but after about an hour of that it was decided that my player was a lost cause, and so i sent it in. never mind that unlike many other companies this was not a toll free support number and i ended up with a $30 phone bill.(total price for non working player $180) i then sent the player in (price now $185) it has now been a month, i called the company the other day and was wondering where my player was, since they had given me a non-standard RMA number i could not track it online and find out for myself (again for the life of me i don't know why) i was told that there had been (gasp!) a mix up in the ordering process and it would not have been delivered had i not brough it up. to make matters worse, the player was back ordered, the person on the phone tried to make amends by giving me 2 day UPS instead of standard shipping to make up for everything. it has been nearly 6 weeks now, i really don't think that makes up for anything. as a product it was ok and i would reccomend it granted i only had a working unit for 2 hours, but after having to deal with a support system that is designed to discurage people from using it, i would never buy there product again. next time i am just savign the extra cash and getting an iPod.
39 Great Value
this was my first mp3 player and as such I did extensive research and compared other flash memory players (like the Nomad II) and harddrive playes (such as the Zen). I settled on the S50 b/c of it's price, portability, and overall good looks. In addition to the player, I got a 256 MB Secure Digital card, although I should have gotten a 512 MB one. This gave me around 380 MB of space, about 100 songs at 96 kbps. The protective case that comes with the player is excellent as are the earbuds, which are normally of sub-par quality. I looked at the Nomad II but disliked the limit to 256 MB cards for extra storage. I also considered the hefty (in price and weight) harddrive players. Although the Zen boasts of the ability to hold 8000 songs, I have no need for that space and I would be terrified of dropping such an expensive piece of equipment. all in all, if you're looking for an attractive mp3 player that can hold a ton of songs at a reasonable price, look into buying a Rio S50 MP3 player.
40 Not fun.
I purchased the RS50 for my 12-year old son. He uses a IMac with a OS 9.1 operating system. I thought I was being careful in my attempt to find a unit that was Mac-compatible. Normally, anything that is made for Mac is easy to install -- but my experience with this was far from it. When I began to have installation problems, I called the SonicBlue help line -- after all they claim they are proud of their customer service. After 45 minutes on hold, I talked to someone who was: 1: not versed in problem-soving with this particular unit and 2. had trouble with the English language. The language barrier was very trying as we both struggled to understand each other. I'm not a computer wiz by any means but I knew I was getting wrong advice in this instance (really too absurd and lengthy to go into here.) I waited a few days and call again. Another 45 minute wait ensued, only this time I was disconnected twice. And again I connected with another indivdual with a thick foreign accent. I suspect that Sonic Blue uses an off-shore call center. Again, we struggled to understand each other. He gave some advice; I took it; and it didn't work. I'd love to tell you I was having the time of my life with my brand new S50 -- I love to but I can't. I suppose customer service is still a couple of disingenuous words in a dictionary according to this company. That's fine -- I'm sending it back.
41 AWESOME MP3 Player
I was looking and looking for a new Mp3 player, something not overly expensive like the Ipod but something with at least 128mb on board memory and upgradeable. Now with it being on sale here on Amazon.com its prolly the only Mp3 player id recommend to buy. The sound quality was supreme i really wasnt expecting much but i was surprised by how nice it sounded. Prolly the easiest software ive used. all you do is pop in your cd, install, plug the player into the usb and the transfer is clean quick and best of all easy. I didnt even know this thing had an FM tuner with it when i bought it. I came acrossed it browsing the easy to use menu. It also had an equilizer and i thought that was pretty cool as well.
Pros.
It very light weight.
128 Mb on board and upgradable another 128MB with smart media cards.
Had an FM tuner
Great sound
Cons.
the only thing i could think of mention would be the packaging. But we all know how the manufactures love to seal things up so its almost impossible to open. But nothing a utility knife couldnt handle.
Performance of transfer will vary depending on your PC for me it only took like a minute to load 128mb worth of MP3, i also have 1 gig of ram and a fairly decent processor so dont be quick to judge because of other peoples computer problems.
also. the FM tuner isnt that bad, but i live in teh city. I really was expecting the FM to be nothin but static from reading these reviews, but to my pleasant suprise all 5 of my favorite stations came in clear and good nough to listen to.
definately a 5 star product and worth the buy.
42 A well designed, likeable MP3 player (Mac perspective)
Pros:
Integration with iTunes (Mac), Design and Build Quality, Belt Holster, Battery Performance
Cons:
poor radio reception, no audible.com support, no Apple Music Store (AAC) support
Details:
I have the Rio s50 (same product as the s35s, just different plastics and rechargable AA instead of the AAA)
I borrowed an iPod for month and fell in love with it but couldn't justify the expense, didn't like the scratch-sensitive case, would have to upgrade my Mac to get Firewire, and was a little leery of long-term reliability (hard drive and sealed battery).
Here's why the S10 is a great mp3 player...
- MP3 audio quality is excellent to my untrained ear
- Really small and solid, fits great in the hand
- Front panel controls feel solid and give good tactile feedback
- Excellent s50 padded belt holster includes a nice spring clip, protection for all 6 sides, and allows full control of unit (even recharging)...I haven't seen the s35s holster
- iTunes is wonderful...lots of features for organizing music and the smart playlist feature chooses a random 128mb set of songs from my collection so I never need to decide what I'm going to transfer. Implemented using an iTunes "plugin" so I should be able to maintain compatibility with future releases of iTunes.
- AA batteries are cheap and easy to find...in case I need to swap out the included NiHi AA cell on the road.
- Software upgradable via iTunes
Some drawbacks:
- iTunes integration is great but not perfect...you have to launch iTunes after connecing the Rio and if you try to drag too many songs on the Rio I got a series of errors and had to relaunch both Rio and iTunes.
- Backlighting is a little dimmer than I expected but quite usable
- Radio reception isn't great (most stations have a noticable hiss, even here in Silicon Valley)...just good enough to be useful but if this is going to irritate you get the cheaper S10 instead and live without it.
- You probably want to get better headphones, the included set feels nice but my $25 Koss' sound a whole lot better.
- 128mb capactity is still not much space if you have a lot of medium bitrate MP3s and SD memory is a little more expensive than SmartMedia and CF (but seems to be the emerging standard). If you need to store >2hrs of songs, add an SD card (note: depending on market conditions, the S10 may offer a better price/capacity ratio...if it weren't for the Best Buy sale I would've bought an S10 with a 256mb SD card and given up the rechargable battery and radio/clock/stopwatch features)
- Although earlier Rio players supported Audible.com content this model doesn't appear to handle this file format (dragging audible files from iTunes to the Rio is ignored)
- Don't plan on using a standard USB cord, this unit uses a proprietary cord (since this unit doesn't mount as a USB drive this isn't a big deal for me since I'm only connecting to my iTunes machine anyway)
43 Pront to lockups. Won't support many cards.
I'm lucky if I can get it to download 50 meg without locking up. Only supporte 128 meg cards - NOT 256. Will NOT support Secure digital cards. Built like a plastic toy.
Not happy. Am returning this piece of junk.
44 Easy to use, With a lot of features.... Great MP3 Player!!!
Not too expensive, but with a lot of features. Its small and compact. Comes with a case that has a belt clip. It comes with 128MB of memory which is enough for about 35 songs and can be upgraded up to 256MB. It downloads the songs very fast (about 5 seconds per song) and the software is easy to use. The headphones that come with it are pretty good, but can break easily. I recommend upgrading them to Koss "The Plug" Portable Stereophones. Also if you use normal headphones, then the volume might not be very high. The batter life is great. It comes with a charger and and one rechargable battery. It takes a couple of hours to charge fully and is good to go for a while. You can also use a standard AA battery. The radio is okay, you can set 6 presets, but the recption is not the greatest... but better than nothing. Also if you're traveling to Europe the radio should work there as well. The player has 6 equalizers: Normal, Rock, Jazz, Classical, Pop, and Trance or you can customize your own. You can also set up to 9 bookmarks. The player also supports both MP3 and WMA. It also has a clock and it also tells the day of the week. You can also choose from it counting down of how much of the song is left, or how much of the song is played. It also has a stop watch. The software can let you edit the ID3 tags (the information that contains, the name of song and artist and ablum) so it can show up on the mp3 player. Overall this a very good MP3 player, if you want the volume at its highest then buy good quality earphones, not headphones. Also if you have a lot of songs to store, then I would go with the Ipod or the Archos, because even after upgrading it to its fullest memory, it will only hold about 70 songs. But for me thats enough. This will make an awesome gift for teenagers.
45 The best inexpensive Mp3 Player 2002!
It is small cute and quite adorable. Backlit blue screen, it comes in colors! FM tuner works (depending where you live!) and your headphones have a long cord, like mine. Mp3 uploading is quick, but the headphones ...., just buy some digital ones (sony has one for mp3 players).... How cool is that!
You just have to edit your play list when your taste changes for all the non ipod people out there.
46 great
this player works great amazing sound quality so far radio works great no problems a great product
47 Excellent Player
I received a Rio S50 just yesterday, and in only one hour I had all of my mp3 files and ripped songs from CD's loaded onto it. Although others have complained about the radio, I will admit that it is shaky. I downloaded a new patch, and the reception on most stations is fine however. On some, the reception can be shaky, but I didn't buy this for the radio alone. The music is excellent, and with the 128 MB SD Memory upgrade, this can hold 8 hourse of music, which is more than enough for me. It is light, and small, and very easy to use, the software being very well writen. This player is a great buy, and I strongly recomend it for someone who doesn't need the huge capacities of the RioRiot or an iPod
48 Great player
I just got it and it already had the latest firmware (1.60)loaded. Software is easy to use and sounds great. After reading some of the reviews I was concerned about the radio reception but I bought it anyway because of it's size and because you can use 256MB SD cards. It picked up 5 of the 6 radio stations I listen to most often. Good enough for me since the tuner is just a plus, this is an MP3 player after all. I considered the Nomad IIc and the iRiver but I like the size and expandability of the RIO. Cost a little more but worth it.
49 FM reception a problem
After 4 days, I have returned my unit. It is fine in every way except the FM reception is horrible. I can only hear the station I want about half the time. I'm using the latest firmware (1.6). Otherwise, I have no complaints, but the lousy FM reception is a deal breaker for me.
50 OK MP3/WMA Player, Bad FM Radio
After looking at various MP3 players, I decided on the Rio S50. I liked how it was expandable, upgradeable (firmware), and had a FM radio built in. After much anticipation, I received it yesterday. So far, I'm a bit disappointed.
After opening the package, the first thing I noticed was that there was a large speck of something behind the clear plastic but on top of the LCD. There's no way I can get to it without taking the player apart. It's quite visible and it's going to stare at me for the life of the product. So immediately, I wondered about the quality of the player.
After recharging the included NiMH AA battery, I immediately upgraded the firmware to the latest (1.6). I had read in previous reviews about the bad FM reception and how the firmware upgrade made it better. The FM reception is still terrible! So much for listening to the radio when/if I get tired of listening to the MP3s I loaded on it.
I loaded as many MP3 files onto it as I could last night. The software to transfer files to the player worked fine (Rio Music Manager). The player didn't have any problems playing the files I loaded on to it. It seemed a little lacking in the bass, but I don't know if that's an attribute of the player or the earphones that came with it. The 5-band equalizer (with presets) helped a bit. I also noticed that the buttons sometimes don't work and you have to push them more than once to work. The volume buttons, on the other hand, make the volume go up or down quite drastically instead of 1 increment at a time.
Overall, I think it's an ok MP3/WMA player with some nice features. However, it's an awful FM receiver and the firmware hasn't made it much better. I expected more from this player, especially considering the price, and I'm a bit disappointed.
PROs:
small, compact, very lightweight
expandable, upgradeable
built in 5-band EQ with presets
easy to use software (Rio Music Manager)
CONs:
horrendous FM reception
questionable quality or QA
slow or overactive buttons
pricey
51 Lousy FM reception
I Live real close to a lot of radio stations on a small island and couldn't tune any of them without a lot of static, also the tuning steps are too large.
My advice buy it with out the tuner and spend the extra $50 bucks on the memory upgrade!
52 Good memory card unit
Just picked it up today after returning a Sony Minidisc player. So far I love it, great sound AFTER upgrading the firmware. As with any new product like this it is always best to check for updates and apply them. The firmware update did a remararkable job of improving the radio reception and solving the other problems listed in the readme for it. In the first few hours of use I did have problems with radion reception, playing it loud, and a couple of resets for a unknown reason. It has been a couple of hours since the update has been applied and it sounds better playing mp3, sounds better in radio (twice as many stations tuned in now, all that I want) and hasn't reset playing the same files as before. My big complaint isn't Rio's fault I think though, there is no Musicmatch plug'in yet. I am sorely tempted to try one of the other Rio ones listed though to see if they work. Hopefully one will get posted soon since Music match is one heck of a better program than the Rio one. I am still not sure about adding more memory through cards but will try it as soon as I get a card or two. The sales persons at my local Blessed Buy ;-) were unable to figure out what kind of cards it took when I picked it up. Would give it 5 stars if the management program was better. Real also is on the disc, but who in their right mind uses any Real software???!
53 Sent mine back
The recharge feature over USB is a great idea but mine didn't work. The sound quality was really good but it got progressivly worse as the unit ran. After three songs it was fuzzy and unbearable. At nearly 200 bills I expect better and will probably get better sound from a cheaper unit. Tech support was unresponsive and only sent me a form email stating that I should try playing the MP3 file again.
54 Good MP3 player...
Just bought it and I like it. Holds about 35 songs with the standard 128MB memory. The UI in the hardware and on the PC are both easy to use. No complaints about the battery life. I have only used the rechargable battery but not the disposable AAs. The headset seem fine. It is the kind that fits directly into your ears. I didn't buy it for the FM tuner so I haven't used it a variety of situations BUT I just flipped it on and the sound is crystal clear. No complaints about the tuner despite what the other reviews have said.
I am very satisfied. A great buy. My only complaint is that it does not come with some kind of clip so you can hook it to you while you work out or walk around town.
55 Absolute best player in its weight range.
I needed an MP3 player light enough for jogging, with long battery life, user friendly interface and at least as much memory as my previous favorite (Intel Pocket Concert 128Mb) - and this player delivered. Since portable music is important enough for me that I set an open budget, I did consider the IPOD and other hard-drive based players - but those are all too heavy. (the lightest 5mb Ipod is about 6.5 ounces ). This one is so light, depending on what kind of battery, it is probably bit over 3 ounces. The light, padded carrying pouch with belt clip is also very useful - you won't even need to put the buttons in lock mode, since they're accessible yet well protected when on the run. The supplied in-ear headphones deliver surprising good quality sound even when compared to brand-name equivalents (Aiwa, Panasonic, and Sony ones I bought for up to $20)
Then comes the fun part - tricking it out. First, I upgraded the firmware to version 1.2. With this, it will take SD (Secure Digital) cards of up to 256 Mb (as stated in the firmware documentation - who knows it might even take 512 Mb cards, but I decided to play it safe ), not just the MultiMedia cards as the manual and website state ( as far as I can tell MM cards are only available up to 128Mb )
Not only did it accept my 256Mb Sandisk SD card - almost tripling total memory to whopping 370 Mb - the S50 loads music files into this card more than twice as fast as it does into the internal 128Mb ! To make it perfect for running or working out, replace the single included rechargeable battery temporarily with an Energizer PhotoLithium battery which while expensive and non-rechargeable, is feather-light and lasts pretty much forever.
The music uploading software is simple and does its job admirably. Since the SD card is so fast, it uploads songs about as fast as I can pick them out from my library.
Any cons ? The design is uninspring. But so what - the best looking mp3 player in my opinion is still the Philips Rush which under WinXP is completely unusable because of utter lack of software support.
And I do miss the little scroll wheel that made navigating a large list of songs so easy on my Intel Pocket Concert. But that is offset by the fact that the skip back-or-forward-to-next-song buttons react quickly, much better than the ones on the Pocket Concert.
Also, the player has reset itself on two mp3's so far that played fine in winamp, most likely due to non-standard encoding issues. But such is the risk of running downloaded mp3's from unknown origins, and I have a lot of faith that with the ability to upgrade the firmware, the compatibility of this player with the various file formats is and will remain up to par with the best ones out there.
The bottom line: buy this player, expand its memory if you can afford to, and forget the many 'cool' looking competitors out there. This one is the most useful, unless you need your entire collection stuffed in a not-quite-portable, expensive hard-drive based device.
56 Nice MP3 player...but don't buy for the radio
Good: sturdy design, you can use standard AA or included rechargable batteries(life is EXCELLENT!), nice form factor (2"W,3"H,3/4"D, well designed case, tranfer time for 128mb on a standard USB is about four minutes.
Bad: the radio reception is very weak, management software is average, MMC memory is more expensive than compact flash to upgrade
Conclusion: Buy this player if you want a well made player with capacity for 256mb. Do not base your purchase on the fact that it has a radio because you will never use it. I paid a premium compared to other 128 players, but would probably make the same choice today.
57 sent mine back
The only reason to spend so much on this unit was because it has a radio ............in my area using identicle headphones my $30 dollar potable radio picks up 36 stations clear the Rio picked up 2 .....Their customer service was just as bad.
dont wast your money.
But it did look good.
Howard
