Diamond Rio 500 MP3 Player
The name Rio is nearly synonymous with MP3. That
is what happens when your product is one of the first MP3 players to hit the
market. The competition for these MP3 players is quite fierce, so one has
to wonder how Diamond is able to keep its Rio MP3 player on top of the competition.
Diamond could simply offer features similar to their competitors but it appears
that they have decided to offer three different players to appeal to different
users needs.
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Features
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The
Board
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- Size: 3.59" x
2.46" x 0.74"
- Weight 2.75 ounces
- Distortion Rate:
0.01-0.1%
- Signal-to-Noise
Ratio: 95 dB
- 4 EQ presets
and 1 configurable setting
- 64 MB of onboard
memory
- Upgradable with
16 MB of flash memory
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Today we take a look at the Rio 500 MP3 player.
If you are looking for an MP3 player Diamond has one in a price range that
will fit your wallet. The Rio 500 certainly won't disappoint you if that is
your choice. Taking a look at the features
of the RIO 500 really shows what an improvement it is over the original RIO
300. 64 MB memory is rapidly becoming standard, but this unit can be upgraded
to 80 MB very easily. Add the other features of this player and you'll see
why I think so highly of it.
How Does It Work?
Diamond included the rugged travel case with
this review unit. Upon opening the travel case I was surprised how small the
unit is. Although slightly thicker than an audiotape it is in all other dimensions
smaller. The unit is the perfect size to place in a pocket. Also included
with the player are the USB transfer cable, a setup guide, earbud headphones,
the CD with all your software, and a battery. The RioPORT software included
with this player not only has an MP3 player to use with your computer but
also a full-featured MP3 recording feature. One of the best features of this
unit is the fact that a 16 MB flash memory card can be inserted into the back
of it to raise its capacity to 80 MB. Very cool. Another thing I liked was
the availability of two translucent colors. Since I'm not a Mac user I'll
simply say that those colors would match my Gameboy perfectly.
This thing screams of ergonomic design. The buttons
on this unit are all laid out for one hand operation. For instance, when held
in the right hand the browse and volume controls are situated for the right
thumb. The thumb can also easily reach the play/pause, stop, FF, and REW buttons.
The unit works easily well for left handed users since the left thumb can
reach the buttons on the front of the unit while the left index finger can
operate the browse and volume controls. The earbud headphones feature a design
to keep them on your ears. They have a plastic tab that raps around the rear
of each ear. Another benefit of this design is that you don't have to cram
the ear pieces into your ear.
The RioPORT software has all its features located
in one interface. You can play your MP3s, transfer music to the player, or
record music from your audio CDs all from the same interface. Ever get tired
of switching programs to do all these operations? Diamond has you covered.
The included software is only half the story. Diamond has the RioPORT website.
From there you can download music from several genres. Believe it or not there
are actually artists who believe in the MP3 format! This software is so easy
to work with there was no need for a manual. Don't believe me? I had a couple
of other people work with it and both of them had the unit setup with their
own music within five minutes. With its USB interface you can cram 64 MB worth
of music on it in under a minute.
