Rio 600 64 MB Digital Audio Player (MP3/WMA)

When I baught this, I was worried, 'cause I'd heard there were a lot of battery problems and such. Not so! I've had no problems at all. The great thing is, even though it doesn't have more memory than its competitors, it plays WMA files, so you can fit tons of music on it (I got 51 songs, and they sound great!). Also, the earbuds are much better than you think. They look really funny in the picture, but they are actually quite comfortable. It also has great internal software. Instead of cycling through information for the song you're listening to, they gave the screen good enough resolution that you can see everything about the song (name,format,lenght,bitrate,volume, track number, etc.) on there at once. It doesn't take a second or two to move through menu options like some, either. I've owned several mp3 players, and this one has more thought put into how it works than any other I've seen. Also, it's really customizable, and upgradable for future formats, more memory, lots of stuff. It has great sound quality.The one thing that could be a little annoying is that the buttons are kind of small. This doesn't bother me, but if you have big hands, this may not be the player for you. All in all, this thing is a great value (especially if you get it used, like I did). In short, get this one! ; )

I bought this unit based on the feature list, which looked pretty good. I also read some technical reviews, which all indicated it was a "hot" product. Now I wish I had spent more time reading other people's experiences. I was able to easily connect to my computer and transfer songs, but as soon as I hit the play button, the whole thing freezes, including the power button. I called tech support, and they pretended like this was not a previously recorded problem...which of course is stupid, because after reading the reviews on this site, I saw several other people with similar problems. Per their recommendation, I am going to send it back to them for "repair", but based on what other people have written, I'm guessing they will simply send me a new unit, and that chances are pretty high that won't work either. I would have felt better if they had simply admitted some units have a problem, rather than pretending this is rare. I also found some really annoying stuff on their web site, I for instance got an nasty database error message when trying to submit my problem electronically...and also, where you have to enter when you purchased it, the year selection only went up to 2001. The latter not a big deal perhaps, but it shows this company has poor quality control. Based on my faulty unit and the poor tech support, I do not recommend purchasing this product.

We have recently bought two RIO 600s, and love everything about the device itself. The on-line support, the email support (no response) and the phone-in support, are frustrating at best, non-existent at worst. When you go to 'install' the software, well, their motto seems to be, 'let the selling begin.' As it happens, all we needed off the installation CD was the driver (this took...ah...a while to figure out). As for the player itself, we couldn't ask for more. You can pick any bps rate from 32 to 128 and download up to 40 songs (120 minutes?). We run and work out, have found no skipping, plus, grrreat sound (particularly with upgraded headphones, the bass comes pulsing through). We don't use the backpack, which does seem to be a problem for many. And, be prepared to muddle thru until you find the right settings, for example, 'enabling the volume leveling', while time-consuming, seems to eliminate many errors. That's it, then...a 5 star product with 0 star support. I'm sure they get a ton of returns from folks who just can't get it up and running.

I bought this about 9 months ago and have used it 2-3X a week for period of 30-60 minutes while working out. Get the 64 MB not the 32MB otherwise you'll be limited to 5-6 songs. The case: reasonable, can't always read the menu but has never fallen off even during B-ball. The earphones: weird but lightweight, single ear pieces and I'm still using them although should buy a padded set of headphones. The software: A real pain, I have to click thru Realplayers advertisements every time I want to transfer mp3s from my PC. Menus are not intuitive and realplayer often saves my songs anew unless I make them properties, attributes read-only...so a song I downloaded a year ago suddenly has a new date on my hard drive. The battery: change them often. I always worry about changing the battery because this involves carefully removing the back plate that covers a metal connecting clip with about 24 tiny prongs -- Bend one prong and you're out of luck; however, just take a 2-3 minutes and things should be fine. The buttons; tiny but your fingers get used to them. Overall -- some flaws but hey, it's new technology and still works well.

I ordered this thing and then read the reviews(dumb I know). When it arrived I was concerned. I use it for Audible Books. I opened the box hooked it to the computer. I had no trouble getting it up and running. It seems like a quality product. Not at all [as bad]as others have stated. I use my own ear buds as preference, the ones that came with it work fine. I have used it for many many hours and have not had a single glitch. I am very pleased with this product. I really don't see what the others were complaining about.

This was my first MP3 player. Worked well for the time I had it, and it was top of the line when I bought it. I thought it was a quality product for the price.