The RioVolt SP50 plays both standard music CDs as well as your own custom CDs that you've burned with MP3 files on CD-R or CD-RW. With your RioVolt and one favorite MP3 CD, you'll have ten times more music with you than a traditional CD player. Plus, it features up to 120 seconds of skip protection, making it the perfect companion for your music.
The RioVolt portable MP3-CD player grants free listening across standard audio CDs, as well as the MP3 and WMA (Windows Media Audio) files that you've recorded to CD-Rs and CD-RWs, letting you enjoy over 20 hours of digital audio from one CD (or around 250 songs). Plus, RioVolt's large backlit LCD supports both ID3 tags and CD Text, simplifying song identification from any compatible disc, while 120-second antishock circuitry guards your listening almost anywhere.
Amazingly, the RioVolt sports a playback time of up to 10 hours on two AA batteries (included), making it the first disc player we know of that can't play a single CD in its entirety.
The ID3 text display includes track number, song name, artist name, folder (album title), and overall playing time. The RioVolt also lets you navigate through directories and search for tracks one by one or in blocks of 10.
A sleek eight-function remote control lets you operate the RioVolt while it's tucked away in its carrying case or even in a backpack. The RioVolt comes bundled with RealNetworks music management software and Adaptec CD-burning software for use on your PC or Macintosh.
Audio features include adjustable equalization curves with five presets (normal, jazz, rock, classical, ultrabass), repeat and shuffle play modes, and programmable playlists.
The RioVolt comes with a one-year warranty on parts and labor.
1 Reliable basic player
I have used this player for more than a year. The only thing that has broken is the little window showing the disk turning. This can be pushed in relatively easily, so I had to super glue it in. Other than that, everything still works properly.
I only play Mp3 CDs on this. Sound is good. I got a car kit to play in cassette players and in the car. The bass boost needs to be turned off to do this or it will distort. No equalizer, but my experiences with other players are that the preset equalizers are pretty much useless- they only degrade the sound in slightly different ways. The bass boost really makes a difference.
I almost always use the random play mode only, which works well (a truly random mix that doesn't repeat the same songs). Otherwise, navigation is confusing- I can never remember what sequence to punch the buttons, which aren't labeled very well for this. I just memorized the sequence for random play. The ID3 tag information scrolls as the song plays.
It will sometimes skip when bumped hard, but does not skip when just sitting still, which I've found some other players do. That's a plus for this player.
It has a hold switch (called Lock), no resume feature. No backlight, which is a drawback if you listen in the dark and punch in songs a lot. It has no belt clip- why don't they put removable belt clips on any of these things? They're supposed to be "portable," right?
All in all, a good player but a bit difficult to navigate.
2 Made in China, and it shows
What is wrong with this player:
The volume control knob is messed up, right channel comes on before left.
Line-Out refuses to work
No remote, and it would be easy to put one in
This player feels like it's going to split in two.
$.01 per unit and the screen could be back-lit
Navigating your songs is next to impossible if they are not in folders, and it only plays
in the order they were burned (leading zeros are required)
High bit-rate (160kbps) reduces the anti-skip to around 50 seconds, down from 120.
If it's moving when it gets more MP3 data, it will skip and pop (loudly)
Adjustable EQ is a bass boost switch, sounds like you're listening through a blanket
Eats batteries as a light snack, no matter the type
Good luck with tech support, it's outsourced to India, they have thick accents and are clueless, and the number is a long-distance call!
Do not buy this player!
3 Can't beat the price
I bought the SP50 for [cheap] after mail in rebate. It plays any mp3 disc i throw at it. The only thing is the headphones just plain [horrible]. But for the price get some better ones.
4 Cheap and it works
OK, a few things that the description for the SP50 lies about:
1. The display is not backlit.
2. You can not add a remote.
3. There is no EQ.
4. It does not come with burning software, but you can use anything that can burn a MP3 CD (most any good burning software).
That aside, this is a good, cheap player. Navigation is a little sketchy, you have to select a track in a folder to jump to that folder, but the manual doesn't tell you this. The CD comes to a complete stop during MP3 playback, and spins back up every 120 seconds to save batteries. If it's not spinning, you have to wait about 3 seconds for it to spin up and get data. Most players do this, even the iPod does it (it has a hard drive so it kind of has to). Throw away the included earbuds, they [are poor quality], which is typical.
If you need a cheap player that you don't care if it gets dropped/smashed/soaked in napalm and set ablaze, and can play MP3's, get this player. It even comes wih batteries.
5 possibly the largest waste of money
This CD player is horrible, go with the iriver. Mine broke the first week i had it and support is so horrible that you cannot get any help. Iriver is a much better company, better support, and better quality.
6 Very good !!
The CD/MP3, plays excellent, the directory search is a little bit difficult.
thanks
7 I'll give it a few days
I just got the SP50 in today. So far, I'm disappointed. I bought it to replace an off-brand 2.5" hard drive player, that wouldn't hold a charge or recharge well.
I recorded a full CD, with one folder of sixty tracks, and the rest in the root directory. The sound quality is decent, after I realized I needed to plug my cassette adapter into the headphone jack instead of line out (it sounded awful when plugged into line out).
But navigation is a pain. I haven't figured out how to get to my other folder, except by browsing in reverse from the first song. The major problem is that after song 60 or so, it just won't read the MP3s, at least in the time I considered reasonable. It just spun and spun, and never actually played the songs from 61-80 (except for 65).
I will keep it for about a week. If I'm not happier then, I may try to return it for something else.
8 Good for the price
This player is great for the price. It is one of the cheapest CD/MP3 players available, but like the cheapest of anything, it has some flaws. First the positives
PROS
+ Decent sound quality
+ Connectable to external stereo with decent sound quality
+ Clear ID3 Screen
+ Plays most files
CONS
- 2 Setting EQ is either too little, or too much bass
- ID3 screen not backlit
- Gets only about 10 hours on 2 AA batteries
- Some songs sound bad when played off MP3 CD-RW
- Weak amplifier causes distortion (Not headphones)
- Included earbud headphones just plain [stink]
- Menu system takes some getting used to.
It works fine for what I generally use it for. My main complaint is the poor quality whe using CD-RW MP3s. When I play them on other sources, they sound fine, but on this player, or at least mine, I get many electronic bleeps. In the next model, I hope they add a better EQ, maybe with a Low, Med, High Bass setting, and not just too little, or too much. The styling isn't the best, but it doesn't feel or look real cheap. All in all, for the price, it's good. But if you use it a lot and have extra money to spend, it may be worth moving up to a RioVolt SP 90, or something similar to that. By the way, I hate ear buds, so I immediately bought Sony wrap-arounds as a replacement, and they work well with this player.
9 This mp3 player is great!
I've had mine for about a year now. I like the line out feature so I can hook it up to external speakers. This little cd player looks cheap so if you are into fashion, you need to come up "some more money" for a mp3 player that does has the same functions but looks high society. about the scrolling of the songs, yes it is a chore to have to scroll through 130 songs if you dont put songs into folders. So if you aren't too bright and are really lazy, do not buy this item. Otherwise, the only draw back is that it has no AM/FM tuner. I think another Rio model does. Oh, and the SP50 plays ANYTHING I feed it. It just gets hungrier by the minute
10 WMA Doesn't Seem to Work?
Can't play WMA even though customer support says it can. I have tried many bit rates secured and non secured WMA files.
11 Such a bad low-end mp3 player
I hope I could return it to the store. This item is flimsy. Buttons are small. The search function is useless. The worst thing is its compatibility with variable bitrate streams. I compressed most of my CD's into variable bitrate mp3 files since this is the most efficient and high-Q way of compression. However, this player continuously makes hissing sound when dealing with variable bitrates. If you stick to constant bitrates like 128kbps, 196kbps, this player is ok, considering its low price. I don't recommend saving $50 and tolerating the lousy playback of this player for years. Go get a sony or panasonic.
12 ok player but horrible customer service
I have purchased a few rio products over the past few years and have found them to be decent but not great quality. the anti-skip technology on their cd players has been completely atrocious, playing cd's or mp3-cd's i can barely walk around without skipping.
but i would never recommend buying anything from this company because their customer service is the worst that i've ever seen. e-mailing them i get a form letter back saying to respond to it if my questions weren't answered, and every time i responded i got the exact same form letter back.
800 numbers are non-existant and i was never able to reach any customer service or get any help with my problems with the product.
overall ok product with the worst customer support ever.
13 Great!
I bought this MP3/CD player last year, and it's been working fine for me ever since. Mine doesn't have those problems many other people have. All the CDs, MP3, CDR, or store bought, have work flawlessly. MP3s sound great, and it is really easy to navigate between songs. The gap betwwen songs isn't much, its just a small glitch and I don't know why so many people are complainig about it. The battery consumption is bad however, but I bought several packs of rechargable batteries for cheap, so its not a real problem for me. This thing does skip though especially for regular CDs, but its not that bad. I carry this player in my jacket pocket and walk to school everyday and there are no playback problems. It feels fragile, but it is durable (I have dropped it several times with no damage). I usually fit 200 songs on a CD, if I compressed them, I could fit more, For those who said that their MP3s sound bad, stop being so dependent on Kazaa. The earphones suppied are not bad, but I recommend buying new ones. The volume, playback, navigation and value are great for this player and I recommend it, unless you like to listen to your music when you are doing physical activity.
14 Good Value for the money
I have had this unit for 4 months now. It has never balked at any mp3 cd's I've used. CD playback, again works fine. ESP works fine. I can recommend it whole-heartedly. Many of these reviews have been rather harsh; your expectations may be too high. You won't get audiophile quality out of something that's this inexpensive. I have used its line out jack with my home theater system and the sound quality was acceptable.
Get a good set of headphones, do a good job of burning your mp3 cds and I think you'll enjoy this player.
15 ...
You get what you pay for with this player. It's the cheapest one I could find and it showed. I returned it immediately. The build quality is horrible and it skipped while sitting on the coffee table. I was so disappointed that rather than tacking on [more money] to see what that gets me, ... I got the Sony 901 and it is excellent.
16 It does its job, but that's it
I bought it like two months ago, and I just feel like giving it back again. I mean It works fine, but for a little bit more of money you could get a way better mp3-cd player i believe
17 As long as you don't want to play MP3s
We bought one of these that had been refurbished. It looked to be in perfect condition, and it's just fine at playing ordinary CDs. I have yet, however, to be able to make an MP3 that it recognizes. It just says "NOCDMP3." The software I am using is the Macintosh iTunes3; it works perfectly with Riovolt's SP90 player. I'm glad this one was VERY cheap. If it had read MP3s, though, I'd be perfectly happy.
18 Excellent for the price
I got [another] version... Look around. They are going [for less].
It has been dropped about three times, and still plays like a champ. It does what is says, and I am pleased. For what I paid, I am VERY pleased. I would not, however, pay full price for it.
Regrets;
Can't FF to a spot in the file. I listen to thirty minute old time radio programs, and unless I pause the program, I have to start from the beginning each time. Can't RESUME when I shut it off. Have to step thru to the file you want to hear. Oh yea. It EATS batteries. But mine came with a car adapter kit, which is a cig liter plug and cassette insert thing. Plus I get free AA batteries where I work. (I know, a tremendous perk.) But this thing goes thru two AAs a day if I am using it much. I don't know where the power goes, since MP3s are hardly spinning the disk at all. But the batteries get down to 1.35 volts, and the thing shuts off. The batteries are still good for a Minimag flashlite when I take them out, but won't run the player. I think they should have run it off of three AA's and got more life out of them. (A simple voltage regulator IC added to the circuit would allow for this.) Other than that, it is OK.
19 be prepared to return this item
this player is a piece of junk. i went through two of them before i gave up and returned it for credit.
the first player would stop if you so much as breathed near it. i mean, forget the fact that it is supposed to be portable. if i moved the unit even an inch, it would shut off. thought it was a fluke, and after 1 week exchanged it for another.
the second one refused to play certain cds, both MP3 and brand new store bought! then after less than a month i got the NOCDMP3 message and it stopped working altogether. so that one went back too. don't waste your time or money.
20 SP50 is good
Although there are many negative reviews here, my player doesn't have any of the problems that the others have. It does everything it says on the box and overall it is a great MP3 player for the price that it is offered at.
THe first thing you do before you even purchase it is to look for some moderately good headphones. Anything will be better than the earbuds that come with it. The batteries that come with the SP50 do not have good battery life. They don't last nearly as long as what it says on the packaging. After I went through the included batteries (Only took about 3 hours, with extensive searching and messing around with the buttons to learn it), I popped in some new batteries and they have lasted over 6 hours, and are still going strong. It DOES read ID3 tags - Just that when you first start the song, the file name of the song shows, and then the Title, Artist, and Album, as well as the kHz and bitrate. All of my MP3's on CD-R discs have played without any errors, although it shuts down by itself sometimes (May be user error, I might have accidentally held the stop button down or something, but it has happened 3 times now).
The playlist feature is a pain to configure, so I don't reccomend that you use it. Instead, use the RND mode. If you have the songs on any mode, once you stop and start it again, you will have to set the mode again, and in my opinion, it is a real pain because RND is literally on the bottom of the list.
Although it has its faults, the SP50 does provide great sound quality. With the bass boost on, the sound is incredible, even on very high volumes. Those reports of distorted sound at high volumes, the sound quality is excellent with my Sony MDR-G52 headphones. The lock feature was a nice addition that is usually found on higher, more expensive models. The extra line out plug is an added bonus, though the bass boost function doesn't apply to it. It is quite slow when it comes to starting or switching between songs, and it is noticeable to other people and yourself if it is quiet. The ESP works great.
Overall I think that this is a good entry-level player with enough functions for it's low price. I highly suggest that you buy the SP50 for your playback needs. By the way, I bought this "fully working" version (It doesn't have the problems that the other people have) at Best Buy.
21 Plays okay, but is missing a several key features.
Before you purchase this player you should know about a few key things:
1. There is no resume feature. Every time you stop the player and start it again, it will start at song #1 in folder #1. This can be really really annoying if you are listening to an MP3 CD with 100+ songs. The player can display ID3 tags and even search songs alphabetically, so I can't see why it can't start playing song 51 if you previously stopped it at song 50. My two year old MP3 CD player has no problem doing this.
2. The Equalizer that they mention on the packaging is nothing more than a bass boost (a simple on/off switch).
3. There is on AC adapter included. Not a big deal, but worth noting.
4. The display is not lighted. This would make the ID3 tags and track information much easier to read.
Because of these things, I returned the player shortly after I opened it. The one time a played a regular CD and an MP3 CD, the sound quality did seem to be okay. You might want to check out their more expensive models...perhaps they have these features.
22 A worthwhile player
I bought the SP50 about 4 months ago, and it still plays the way it did the day I bought it.
The sound quality is good, and the output is loud enough. The controls are fairly easy to master, although it takes some time to get the menu navigation correct. I have dropped this play from a couple feet up, and except for the CD popping out, it was fine. I haven't had any problems with burning MP3 CD's for it to play, and I put almost 15 albums (165 songs) on one CD at decent quality.
One of my few complaints is that the battery life is definatly not long enough. It just eats batteries, but what is to be expected? The player does take a couple seconds to start up, and it takes a second longer than most to get to the next song, but overall, with a little patiance, it works out. Everyonce in a while I will get a "No Disc" error, usually when I haven't used it in a while. It refuses to read the disc and only randomly starts playing it. After it first read the disc, it has no problem with anything else. The last problem is that at the highest volumes it has quite a lot of static, it might be my inexpensive headphones, but it has done that with all of the headphones I've used with it.
This player is a great value. It's cheap for a CD/MP3 player, and even though I make a bigger point of the faults, it definatly works for me. I would suggest this product to anyone who is looking for a lower end MP3/CD player.
23 Apparantly commonly defective
I purchased a RioVolt SP-50 today and promptly returned it. I played several MP3 CD's and consistantly had the same audio problem: an occasional "chirp" (for lack of a better description) coming through primarily the right channel. I then tested several MP3 CD's with the same material in the SP-50 and other CD players. The SP-50 was the only one that displayed that defect. ... The Rio, save the audio glitch, was a little louder and less noisy. ...
24 An above-average MP3 CD Player
This unit actually gives great sound, if you get your own headset. The cheap one comes with the unit doesn't do it justice. Here are things you need to know:
1) When in MP3 mode and the unit is advance reading the data into the "anti-skip" buffer, if the unit is bumped or moved, the "skip" will be read into the buffer memory. There is NO error-correction for reading or buffering.
2) A big battery drainer, a freshly charged 1600mAh NiMH batteries only last about 5-6 hours, so I know it can't reach the claimed 10 hours with regular alkaline batteries.
3) In MP3 modes, there is a long gap (silence) between tracks. The unit doesn't advance read or buffer read until the current track comes to a dead end. It then spin up and buffer read, which creates a long delay between tracks.
Overall, it read all kinds of burned MP3 CDs I threw at it, and the sound quality is amazing, especially with the bass turned on.
25 Very Bad Player
...I made an mp3 cd and tested it. It played very well for the first few songs. However, as the player got futher and deeper into the songs, it would take longer to load. Eventually, near the 40th song, it would be 2 minutes plus to load. It gives no error message or anything so you don't know if it is loading or just stuck. It can't even load up the 200+ songs. Very bad player indeed.
26 Great Player
I ove this player. It doesn't skip (contrary to other reviews). It doesn't have a backlit display. The earbuds are terrible. Buy new headphones. The menu controls are some what difficult to use. It took me about a half an hour to master them. The only complaint I have is that when you burn an mp3 cd, if you want to organize it by artist, you have to create folders of the artist and drag all the files into that folder. You then have to reneame all the mp3s so they don't show the artists' name in the filename. That was the only problem.
27 You get what U pay for
... the SP50 is a really good (though not great) player for the price (after rebate)
Pros:
-really has 120 second anti shock for mp3 playback and 45 sec for regular cd(only when ESP button enabled and not flashing) and with really strong batteries. Shook the thing like a earthquake, did'nt skip a beat.
-Played just about every thing i've put in it. MP3 recored at various rates up to 320kb worked fine.( used Nero-burnig ROM)
-Displays ID3 tag info (scroll)
-easily navigate folders. Displays folder names too.
-Seperate audio line out.something more expensive players don't have.
-Has a lot of standard features packed into it. (read the manual!)
Cons:
-Player feels light and fragile. Afraid to drop it.
-ear buds are poor and should be thrown away for better headphones immediately.
-No Back light. problem in poorly lit areas and at night.
-Sound quality is average.
-Equalizer button only increases volume nothing more.
Bottom Line:
If you're looking for an inexpensive MP3 player that does the basic job of playing MP3 and standard cd's has good features, with relatively average to good sound quality then this this is the right thing for you. But if you need more than an introduction to the world of MP3 players and have the cash to dash then look else where. This is not the luxury car of portable mp3 players but it will get you to where your going.
28 RioVolt SP50 is the best MP3 bargain around
I'm deployed overseas and was looking for a bargain CD/MP3 player before I left, since I didn't want to take my valuable CD collection with me. In a nutshell, I bought this player...It works flawlessly. I play 128k MP3 files on CD. Batteries? I use NiMH exclusively. They last long enough. I always have another set in the charger ready to go. Skipping? Not yet. It works perfectly. I agree it takes some time to figure out the menu system but it can be mastered... The display has all the info you need. There is no player on the market that can match this one for performance and price in my opinion.
29 Lowpriced player with an accpetable audio quality.
In general,SP50 is excellent.
I use it on my car. It works well even in the poor road conditions.By using rechargeble batteries, it will last about 6-8 hours. I think it will have better perfermance with normal batteries.
There is a little noise of the ouput if you listen to the song by earphone. But you cannot feel it by the car audio.
Another shortcoming is the poor quality of earphone.Again, it's not a problem for me because I never use it.
30 Do NOT buy this player! (or be prepared to return it)
I just got this player last week. I was looking for my first mp3 player, and I was trying to find one that wasn't outrageously expensive. After spending quite some time in the store trying to make a choice, I regret my final decision to buy this one. However, I blame it on an employee who told me it was a good player. Riiiiiight.
I have NEVER seen a CD player eat batteries so badly in my life! I had 2 sets of good rechargeable batteries charged to their fullest.... one set lasted 3 hours; the other set didn't even make it through 2 songs! In my last player, one set of those batteries lasted about 15 hours on average. This player is also very difficult to navigate, as it takes forever for the player to actually do anything when you push the buttons. Sometimes, it misses the fact that you pushed a button, or it goes 2 songs ahead when you only pushed the button once. The buttons are incredibly tiny as well, so they're a pain to push in the first place. It takes a good long while to even load discs too.
The player has volume issues also. CDs of mine (real ones and CD-Rs) that have played in other players at consistent volumes play at varying volumes on this player. The sound output sometimes comes out as very fuzzy too, as though the bass is so overdone that the speakers cannot handle it (and this is without putting the bass boost setting on.)
I tried using this player in my car, and it's horrible for that. It didn't skip, but that did nothing to make up for it's other problems. The lack of a lighted display and the fact that it has a 4.5 volt plug instead of a 6 volt one, the typical voltage for a cigarette lighter adapter, made it even worse.
I'm going to be returning this player soon and will hopefully find a product much better. At this point, I'm so thoroughly disgusted that I probably will fork over at least (...) to get a better player. It certainly won't be anything with a RioVolt label on the cover.
31 UGGGHHHH
What a hassle. Plz do not spend your money on this item. It worked perfectly for the first, say 2 days, then the thing would not read a disc. I would put a disc into the CD MP3 player and it sounded like it was loading, then all of a sudden, on the Tiny LCD screen it read 'No Disc.' i tried 5 other cds, no luck. The thing was definetly busted. I threw it against the couch a couple of times, put a CD into it, and it loaded perfectly. If this CD MP3 player had a face it would have a big wide grin on it like it didn't do anything, and that it was innocent. Then i tried to load the same exact CD an hour later after i turned of the CD MP3 player. Guess what, once again, on the tiny LCD screen it read 'No Disc.' If you want to blow your money away, then buy this product. It's not very much, but if you buy something cheap, you will recieve something equally as cheap. Take it from me, buy the SP-90 instead.
32 Multiple Problems
Functionality is good, but quality or quality control is very poor. Headphones were very poor, had bad tonal quality, and one buzzed irritatingly w/ resonances. Tone quality was good with quality headphones. Player exhibited extremely high noise levels while playing CDDA disks and right channel "chirping" noise during MP3 playback. Battery life seemed poor, although no quantitive measure was made. If you purchase this player, test it carefully before you throw away the packaging!
33 SP50 is great...
two lines LCD Navigation!
120sec anti shock...
Don't compare to expensive one. remember you're paying what you get.
...I bought one has openning problem, when I lift the player it will stop and LCD display the cover is open but the cover doesn't open. I figured it out becuase the screws is not tight enough, screw them tight! (Maybe the detection stick is no long enough, I posted little AA super glue at the end of the stick makes the stick can press the open/close botton firmly) If you apply that please wait the super glue solid before closing the cover otherwise you will get problem. Then I fixed it with no problem now. Cannot doubt it is cheap made because [of the] price. You cannot get a navigation LCD display and program select MP3/CD player that cheap in the market. So, that is great.
For this price, please don't require very professional stuff on it. Its included earbuds must be replace ([Cheaply] made), Use Sony bass earbuds will make the player more valuable.
For Rio SP series, I guess the laser head is cheap made. That is right many people complain it is only last a year or two then doesn't read disc. Sometimes, depends how you use it. Don't use it to read mal-made cd or pirated cd. and give a break to it. That will last longer.
I am very satisfied by its price, batteries life and navigation.
It is better look than SP90, SP90 = ugly!
Cons: not easy to control. Philips EXP 200/300/400/500 series did a good job in saving batteries and controlling). Sound quality is not well, compares to Philips/Sony/TDK.
34 Does NOT play WMA files
I can't comment about any other feature of this unit, but IT DOES NOT PLAY WMA FILES as stated above. It does play MP3 files.
35 Good MP3 player, but not great
This is a rather basic player, but it does play MP3's from folders and subfolders and allows you to navigate around to find the song you like to hear.
But I've been having some problems reading some of my MP3 discs. I'm not sure if it's my CD writer, the MP3 file itself or this player. The MP3 songs will play for the first 10 seconds, and stops dead. The very same disc will play no problem on my pc.
And because it uses a non-standard sized power jack, I couldn't use my existing portable CD power adaptor for it even though it is the same voltae and polarity. I view this as a disadvantage because I already have the home and car power supplies for my other portable CD players.
There're other "noname" brands out there that could play MP3, WMA, VCDs and even has FM/AM radio built-in for slightly more. With the glitches I've experienced, the only thing that's still good about this player is the Rio brandname (which by the way has already been sold, now known as Sonic Blue).
36 Value for money
Well I'm starting this review saying that this is a cheap MP3/CD player. Keep that in mind. For the 40$(after rebate) this one costs, your are certainly buying something that doesn't have the features of it's more expensive brothers. What I have to say is it certainly is worth its money.
On the outside it looks nice but it feels a little cheap, as the cover doesn't "lock" into place but moves slightly (not causing any problems). There is an analog volume control, head-phones out, line-out (to connect active speakers, plug it in your soundcard, or for the car-kit), bass control (normal-boosted, sorry no equalizer here), a lock switch that disables the buttons on the cover, which are used for controlling the
device (play, stop, ff,...).
When it comes to using the SP50 I must say I was surprised. I thought it would be a really difficult thing to browse through songs, but that's not the case. The LCD display (no backlight) can handle up to 2 lines (13 characters each) plus extra info concerning the play mode, battery meter and file type. When you hold the player with both hands it's really easy to find the mp3 you are looking for, only using your thumbs. You can browse your mp3s on a cd either alphabetically (entering up to five characters), or by folder. Creating playlists (up to 64 mp3's) is actually a feature that you won't (or even can't) use, as it's not that easy. The random playback mode (entire cd or specific folder) comes in handy here. While playing, the ID3tag information (artist, title, album) +#kHz & #kbps scrolls on the first line while the current folder/mp3 number and duration are at the second one.
I have tried about 15 mp3-cds and the only problem (beeps while playing) was with one album encoded at 192kbps (I guess it was a problem of the codec used, as I re-encoded it using lame's codec at the same bit rate and now plays flawlessly). Also I have yet to find an unsupported bit rate, having tested mp3's from 48 to 320kbps and VBR.
Anti-skip protection works quite well at mp3's, but you have to bear in mind that there is only a 2MB memory (which means 4 minutes at 64kpbs, 2 minutes at 128kbps, 1 minute at 320kbps, 45sec for audio CD's). That means that the player renews its buffer every 2 minutes when playing at 128kbps, so you can shake it for 2 minutes, leave it alone for 10 sec. shake it again...
The sound coming out of this device is what some might find problematic. Yeah the earbuds are low quality (they can be replaced, I use the headphones of my older cd-player). There is a little white noise (hsssss) and a sound (eeeeee) when the player buffers the mp3 to the memory (that lasts 5 sec. every 2 minutes at 128 kbps). Both of these are only audible when using the SP50 indoors at low volume (or when it's really quite around you). When you increase the volume, they disappear and generally when using the SP50 outdoors (where you are supposed to use a portable device) the outside noise is mush louder. The line out however produces clear sound, the only "bug" here is that the bass feature doesn't affect the line out.
At last, battery life is quite good; I got about 6 hours on good alkaline batteries (that was with a lot of browsing and changing CD's, I guess at continuous playback you could reach the 10 hours sonicblue promises). My old Ni-Cd rechargeable batteries give about 2 hours of continuous mp3 playback plus 1 hour of audio-CD (which is enough for my every-day use).
Bottom line, the SP50 is an inexpensive mp3-cd player not lacking basic features. If there was no problem with the sound output I would definitely recommend it, but if you want some quality at this section you have to [spend more].
37 Awful!!
It apparently doesn't like regular cd's because I couldn't get it to play one. It apparently doesn't like movement either! When I played a cd with mp3's on it, it would play as long as I put the player on a table and didn't touch it. As soon as I barely touched the thing, it would stop and not start again. If you don't care to listen to regular cd's and you don't mind playing dead while listening to mp3's, then go ahead and buy this player. Otherwise, invest your money elsewhere.
38 not portable
I bought one and returned it. Holding it while walking or putting the player in your pocket causes it to stop playing. You lose your groove and your place on the CD. Sometimes it plays with the display blanked out. I can't imagine how this product got to market. Consider it only if you plan to place it on the sofa or car seat beside you or in your lap. My grandfather used to say, "You buy cheap, you get cheap."
39 Good Product For Spoken Audio CD's
I bought mine about a month ago and have used it a lot. I use mine exclusively for spoken audio CD's in mp3 format. This is important to remember when reading this review.
Sound - It has regular and Bass boost. Since many Old Time Radio shows already have too much Bass, it would be nice to have more controls. However, after the rebate, I didn't expect much in this area. For about 1 in 20 programs, I will have to listen to the shows on my computer. A lot depends on how they were recorded.
Battery Life - Excellent. Since OTR shows are usually recorded at half the bit rate as music mp3's, batteries last twice as long, since the disk only has to spin half as many times per hour of listening. A pair of alkaline batteries got 13-14 hours. Now I used rechargeables and they last over 10 hours also. It uses 2 AA batteries, so 4 rechargeable batteries and a charger should keep me permanently supplied with power.
Earphones - Tossed those little in-the-ear earphones and used another pair I like.
Buttons - Pretty good. I can get to any show with just a few clicks. It has a pause button if I need to stop for a minute. The bad part is, unlike a computer interface, I cannot start in the middle of a track. This is important when listening to a 30-60 minute show. I have to be very careful not to stop in the middle, or I would have to listen to the whole show again. But, again, that is the price I pay for buying a low priced unit.
Skipping - It has done well for me. I keep it in my pocket as I walk to work and it never skips.
Overall, I really enjoy it and have used it over 50 hours.
40 An introduction to portable .mp3 players...
This is how I looked at my purchase. This was the most inexpensive CD/mp3 player on the market, so don't expect all the features and quality you would from a player 3 times as expensive. I've had little to no problems with data CD-Rs created containing .mp3 files using Adaptec CD Creator. The main problem I have with the player is that it seems to eat-up batteries rather quickly. You should consider buying rechargeables for this player. Also, the display is minimal; when in .mp3 mode and trying to choose which album or track you want to listen to, it's very cryptic, which requires your careful planning when burning a disk of .mp3s. Features I liked: 1) seperate line-out and headphone jacks, ID3 tag recognition, PRICE! You get what you pay for, most of the time, but in this player's case, I'd say you get an excellent value.
41 Bad Rio SP50 Bad
I bought the SP50 at Best Buy and was extremely happy with the mp3 performance, for a ... mp3/CD player it could play any mp3/CD I threw at it.
One little problem though, the damn thing could not play store purchased CD's or CD'R's or CD'RW's. To be fair it could play 1 or 2 store bought CD's out of say 8 or 9.
Hello Rio. I hope this is a fluke, I'm going to get a exchange on it. And then demand a refund.
Thank you for wasting my time.
42 More than 5 stars quality for your money
Right now I think the best deal on CD/MP3 player anywhere.It cost me ($$$) after mail-in-rebate. Again great quality for money you pay,the best features -2 min antiskip protection ,and separate line out jack-features a lot of players do not have.Would highly recommend. Even without a rebate worth what you pay.
43 Rio Dolt SP50
The biggest disappointment in any piece of electronic gear in the 7 years I have had a PC. Sure it reads CD's but any of my full CD-RW Mp3's? Nope. I tried 15+ cds so far and it can't recognize a single one... I get the dreaded "NOCDMP3" error.
The casing itself is so flimsy, you'd think this was a free gift that you'd get for starting a new checking account, or a subscription to TIME magazine. I don't know if I got a defwect but the casing lends to the lid "teetering" as the left and right edges aren't flush with the bottom tray (only the middle part where the "OPEN" buttion is, is where the two meet together)
ESP??? What ESP??? Heck I just lifted the player and it STARTED the CD over.... I can't imagine how frustrating this would be if it was used doing anything requiring motion like walking or jogging.
SonicBlues customer support? They responded to my email with a computerized response asking me for information about the rebate???? (go figure) Now I see why they are called SONIC BLUE, because if you buy this POS you will have a case of the SONIC BLUES
44 RIO DOLT SP50
This either is a defect or all reviewers prior are not keen to detail. My unit won't play ANY MP3's on CD-RW at all! Plays cds fine though. Not why i purchased this POS in the first place. In the FAQ's they mention if you burn with Adaptec Software and the disk is formatted with Direct CD not to use disc compression. It didnt matter either way as the disk is never read by the player "NOCDMP3" was the message I recieved on over 15 different CD-RW's I have loaded with Mp3's. I sent in the rebate before I found out if the Mp3 feature worked.. Hope I can still get a refund...
45 A good beginner CD/MP3 Player
The SP50 is a good basic CD/MP3 player without alot of bells and whistles. The player includes a headphone jack, line out jack, rotary volume control, a slide switch to open the player, a enhanced bass/normal selector and a key lock to lock the controls on the top of the unit. The unit has 8 keys on top for operation. I only use four of them as the other four get you into the menu's to search and program tracks and unless I have the instructions it's just to much of a pain to figure out. The unit is shipped with battaries (chinese ones that don't last very long compared to normal alkaline's) and some ear buds that you might as well toss. I have no problems playing my burned CD's on this player. All of my files are at 128K and have been created with Misicmatch Jukebox ver 7.2. The display shows the artist and song on the display and is supposed to show the album but the album info comes up blank on mine. Sound quality with a decent set of headphones is good. Regular CD/s have played fine as well. I have not had any problems with skipping even when attempting to make it do so. ... I've deducted a star for non intiutive search controls, junky earbuds and the fact that the album title doesn't display.
46 Good ol white noise
If you like to hear your songs clearly avoid this player. White noise is present at all volume levels and is rather distracting. The plastic lid doesn't even feel like it will last more than...well let just say it is REALLY weak feeling. Great price with the mail in rebate- only fourty bucks, but I'm still returning mine and getting an IRIVER 350, nice player..and trust me it SOUNDS GREAT!. The 350 even comes with rechargeable batteries! Head towards the IRIVER, away from this SP50
47 Good value when on sale with rebate.
I heartily recommend the SP50 with a couple of caveats: don't buy it at the suggested retail price and be sure to buy it during the rebate period. On sale with the rebate, the SP50 is a good low-end player with enough features to satisfy most users. At full price, the SP50 simply isn't worth it.
The good stuff:
I didn't see any of the extreme problems with playback reported by others here. In CD mode, the player worked flawlessly. With electronic shock protection (ESP) turned on, I tossed the player on the couch and even shook it with no skips at all. In MP3 mode, the player functioned equally well. It has played every MP3 I have tried at bit rates anywhere from 96 to 196 kbps on a variety of CD-R media. (One note: all of my MP3 CD-Rs are closed disks. Some users have reported playback problems with open CD-Rs. I haven't tested this.) I have experienced some minor playback blips on fewer than 6 individual MP3s, and I can't be sure that they weren't due to problems during ripping. In any event, fewer than 6 small problems out of over 1,000 MP3s is good performance, if you ask me. Finally, I prefer the styling of this model to any of the other RioVolt models. The blue SP90, in particular, has always looked little too cutesy and toy-like for my tastes. In contrast, the SP50 has platinum and gray color scheme with a flat, rough-textured finish that resists fingerprints and smudges.
Not so good stuff:
This thing eats batteries faster than any music player I have ever used. SonicBlue claims "10 hours of continuous MP3 playback." That may be true if you just put a CD in and play straight through, but if you actually use the file search and playlist functions of the SP50, you'll find that 5 hours is more realistic. I suspect this is due in part to the way that shock protection works in MP3 mode. The player has a two-minute buffer, and once the buffer is full, the disk spins down. Thirty seconds before the buffer empties out, the disk spins back up and the buffer is re-filled. SonicBlue claims that this is to conserve battery life, but any freshmen physics student can tell you that it takes more energy to move a stationary object than it does to keep a moving object in motion. All this spinning up and down just has to eat up a lot of electricity, and the more searching and skipping through the tracks you do, the worse it gets. Worst of all, this creates what I see as the biggest flaw in the SP50: As the batteries get low, the player takes longer and longer to spin up the disk. Eventually, it take longer than 30 seconds to get the disk moving, and you get long pauses in the middle of songs while the empty buffer waits for more data. The solution, of course, is to keep fresh batteries in the machine or use an AC adapter, which, unfortunately, is not included.
As others here have pointed out, the included ear-buds provide inferior sound. This shouldn't come as a surprise. Since when are the ear-buds packaged with even the most expensive players worth much? If you're the kind of listener who is bothered by this sort of thing, you should already have purchased a decent set of headphones for yourself.
The search and playlist controls are complicated and cumbersome. It takes some reading of the instructions and a little practice to make it all work. I was eventually able to use those features with ease, but the process could be simplified.
Finally, the player does not include an adjustable equalizer as the package claims. It does feature a simple bass booster, which works well and is sufficient for my purposes. After checking SonicBlue's web site, I knew this going in, so I wasn't disappointed. It's probably just a misprint, but SonicBlue needs to correct it as soon as possible.
Bottom line:
You'll read a lot of criticism of the SP50 here. If you buy one of the players that are recommended, however, you'll never pay less than $100 for anything. On sale with the rebate, the SP50 is a solid little player at a good price that will satisfy the average user. If you are an audiophile and fussy about your playback, why are you listening to MP3s on a portable in the first place?
48 My love affair with my SP50
Wow. Let me tell you, this is the best thing since emo. It's a wonderful thing to store ten to twenty CDs (depending on the bitrate) onto one CD that you can take anywhere. Think about this:
>>>The unit is stylish and the screen is easy to read.
>>>It does work with every mp3 CD that I've put into it.
>>>...it is an amazing bargin.
>>>You can take your whole music collection with you where ever you go on about seven CDs.
>>>It simply does not skip. Whatever you do, even with regular CDs, no skipping. I was throwing it across my room and there was no skipping. NO SKIPPING!
>>>You can organize your music into folders and play only the foloder that you want to.
>>>MP3's play without the CD even moving. Crazy.
There are some things that you have to know about the player though:
>>>The controls are a bit hard to get used to, but a little practice and you can search your whole database of music.
>>>Multisession CDs cannot be played, but you can store some songs onto a CD-RW, play them, erase them when you're finished and write new ones onto it.
>>>The headphones it comes with are [bad].
But that's it! I have no idea what these other reviewers are talking about.
49 The Best Cd/mp3 player ever
the price was great for the quality. they definetly under-priced this one. Even though it didnt come with the remote or the ac/dc adapter it is still great. the sound quality is exellent and the lcd display is cool. Overall this is a great item.
50 best ever sounding player!
WOW! I was amazed at the sound of this radio. It sounds better then any home theater system I have ever heard. There are some problems,though. IT DOES NOT COME WITH ANY SOFTWARE,OR AN AC ADAPTER
AND NO REMOTE. THE BUTTONS ARE A LITTLE CONFUSING, but the sound is great
51 MP3 player not reliable
I had this unit for a month. This CD player does not seem compatible with multisession CDs containing MP3s. I had less problems with single session, closed CDs. However, I have some particular CDs where the player would start playing well the MP3 songs, and then would stop at a particular time, and would do the same thing for each and every one of the MP3 files in the CD (all of them would stop at more or less the same time). I could never figure out what was the problem.
All my CDs were recorded as single-session and closed, all of the MP3s were recorded at a constant bit rate of 128 kbps. Some CDs would play just fine, and some others would have that annoying problem of all of the songs stopping at a particular time. My guess is that the problem is in the anti-skip mechanism. I am puzzled however that the problem was presented only on particular CDs.
It was much of a burden for me to figure out what is wrong, so I took the unit back to [retail store]. I can accept that sometimes MP3 files do not show up well because of the recording, but not all of them.
Anyway, I just got a Memorex MP3 player (MPD8610) for less money, with more sophisticated controls. I tried the problematic CDs in the new Memorex, and bingo! they play just fine. The problem was in the RioVolt, not in the CDs. By the way, my new Memorex is compatible with multiple session CDs. I do not have to close the CDs, which means that I can add more songs at a later time if I want. The battery consumption is as efficient as of the RioVolt. The Memorex MPD8610 can read multiple subdirectory structure, which is quite impressive. It is not as elegant looking as the RioVolt, but who cares. With the Memorex I spend more time listening to the music than worrying about how the CD was recorded.
In summary, I do not recommend buying the RioVolt SP50. Check on the other smaller brand names instead, such as Memorex. You will be surprised of what they offer.
The SonicBlue fellows should definitely improve this RioVolt product, pack it with better headphones (the included ones are so [less costly] and poorly sounding, that you must upgrade immediately if you insist in keeping this product), if they plan on keeping costumers.
52 I took it back.....
The most striking thing about this MP3 player is the cheap construction. The top and bottom of the case didn't line up as well as they should have. In the few days I had it I discovered that it wouldn't play all of my normal CD's, or would not be able to find tracks on them. I returned it to the store.....
53 Good Value for the Price
When I first bought this player, I though for certain
I was going to return it. Whenever the shock protection
was turned on, CDs would have blips in them; the buttons
were totally confusing and oriented in such a way that
whenever you put the player in a backpack or carrying case,
they would get pushed and the player would turn off or switch tracks.
Well, the blipping noise went away after a few hours of
play (even with the exact same CDs and batteries!) and
I found a "lock" switch to disable the buttons so I can
throw it in my backpack while it is playing.
It still doesn't play scratched disks very well, and it
eats batteries, but everything else is fine considering
the price--around $[money]. Plan to read the instruction
manual at least three times if you want to play MP3
disks. The text screen is very cool, but the buttons
are still pretty arcane.
54 Poor performance on MP3s, and also not as advertised
I was very disapppointed in the RioVolt SP50. It simply does not work correctly (at least the unit I got) with MP3 CDs. It puts extraneous thumps and other noises on top of the music. A different reviewer said that this didn't happen with bitrates of 160 kpbs or lower, but it happened frequently for me at 160 kpbs. Also, it has trouble with long tracks; it mysteriously stopped, and would not restart, at about 57 minutes into a 5 hour track. (The same CD plays fine on another brand player and on my computer, to answer the question you might be about to ask.)
So it's going back.
Also, the web site claims that "you'll find an AC/DC adapter in the box", and that the unit includes a remote and is "bundled with RealNetworks music management software and Adaptec CD-burning software". Surprisingly, mine was shipped with none of these items. I would not have purchased it had I known that.
55 It does support VBR!
This is an ammendment to my earlier review. I found out that the SP50 does support variable bitrate MP3 files. I don't know what I did wrong the first time, but I ripped a few CDs using LAME's 192 kbps VBR setting (which uses bitrates from 192 to 320 kbps as necessary) and this time the SP50 recognized the files and played them. Unfortunately, I still heard the same "blips" that I mentioned in my earlier review. Not all songs had the problem, but when it did happen it was bad enough to annoy me. I ended up returning the unit and getting the SP90 instead. So far, the SP90 has had no trouble with any files I've thrown at it - VBR, 256 kbps constant rate, etc. Navigating the files is better than the SP50 (the joypad is much better than the SP50's buttons), but I liked the SP50's display better. The SP50 would tell you the bitrate, but the SP90 doesn't seem to do that.
So, I'm going to up my rating to 3.5/5. My last review gave it 3/5, so I'll rate it 4/5 to average it at 3.5.
56 Not as good as I'd hoped
I've been looking for an MP3-CD player for a while now, and I finally decided to try out the Rio SP50 since it was pretty cheap. I had a bunch of MP3 files at 256 kbps that I'd ripped from my CD collection, so I burned them on to a CD-RW to see how the SP50 would do with them. It played them, but it had problems - there were strange "blips" in the sound every once in a while. The same file from the same CD-RW when played on my PC. I tried 192 kbps, 160 kbps and 128 kbps. The lower the bitrate, the less often the "blips" would occur. I settled on 160 kbps since that seemed to be the highest blip-free bitrate. Unfortunately, that meant that I had to re-rip all of my CDs.
The user interface is OK. There's only a two line display and a limited number of buttons. It's not easy to find the one song you want on a CD with dozens of songs, but at least you can sort them into directories and browse through them, even if it is kind of difficult.
I still haven't decided if I'm going to keep it or return it. The sound quality is OK - not the best I've heard, but acceptable for a portable. If it could handle variable bit rate MP3 files or play 256 kbps MP3 files without artifacts, I'd definitely keep it, but I may exchange it for a more expensive unit - maybe one that has upgradeable firmware.
57 Ok but you have to work with it
Ok but one you work with it for some time its awsome!
58 The cheapest mp3/cd player with great functions
With the new riovolt sp50 you get the same functions as the sp90 and sp100, but cheaper, you get the lcd for displaying song titles, 120 seconds anti-shock, and only at 69.99 what else can you ask for such a great price, there are other mp3/cd players that aren't as good as this and cost even more. this is great for trips and for school.
