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Posted by Julio
Franco on November 27, 2000
Company: Sonic
Blue/Diamond Product: Rio
500 MP3 player
Conclusion
The Rio 500
is a very solid product, its design is very intuitive and the
size of the player is perfect. If you are specifically looking
for a MP3 player, I'd really recommend the Rio, in fact it might be the best MP3
player I’ve tested to date. Sound quality was on par with the other players I’ve
had on hands, from what I've seen before quality of the output
depends a lot on the headphones you use, the Rio included a
very basic but functional equalizer that made it even better.
The software is nice
but could be better, can't complain a lot about it though
considering that there is a new version of the Rioport
software available on its website.
The
only problem I see with the Rio isn't about the player itself,
I mean, the problem I see with it is the same than with all
other similar MP3 players... price is relatively high and the
use for the player is really limited considering the little
storage capacity.
Usually
MP3 players come with 32-64mb Flash memory by default, this
equals to 1-2 hours of music using a 128kbps compression rate.
When you consider the price you are paying for it and the fact
that there are other portable solutions that give them a run
for the money, then you will get my point. Minidisc format is
nice, the devices cost as much as 64mb MP3 players but you can
always get more discs for very little money and expand your
storage capacity.
Portable
CD/MP3 players are also available for about $200, the only
disadvantage then is that you will need a CD burner. Last but
not least, there are a few companies (such as Creative) that
are working on Hard Drive based MP3 players that would typically
have ~6GB of storage capacity, those products will probably
have strong and weak points, starting with its price above
$500.
I
would say portable MP3 players such as the Rio have their
market and definitely the portability and flexibility offered
can't be matched by any of the products mentioned before,
however price and storage capacity are two really important
issues to consider, so it really all depends on what are your
needs.
Company: Sonic
Blue/Diamond Product:
Rio
500 MP3 player
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