hmm... no diamond pun is unused. ah well, "diamonds are a [bloke]'s best friend" (Rio PMP300 32 MB)

Member Name: khrys

Product:	Rio PMP300 32 MB
Date:	27/06/01 (363 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cheap, cool, easy

Disadvantages: slightly behind some models

dooyoo opinion - Rio PMP300 MP3 Player

I have had a Rio PMP300 for nigh on two years, and it has only just begun to have slight problems. This, however, could be because one of my less clever friends tried to open the battery compartment backwards and nearly snapped off the entire connecting battery door. However, it survived with just a broken clip, and I now carry ir around in a small leather pouch, with a small piece of sellotape over the hole. Anyway, do not let this put you off, as the PMP300 is one of the best value for money MP3 players there are, and one of the most worthy purchases out there. Read on...

Admittedly, the player itself is not feature-rich like its big brother the PMP500, having only the most basic functions available (detailed in the next paragraph), however, it is far cheaper, has been around longer, and is the same size, plus is easier to manipulate. The player was one of the first ever digital portable MP3 players, and is still comparitively very good even today. It is smaller in width than a floppy disk, measuring about 4/5 of the width of a 3.5" disk, and roughly the same height. It is, of course, wider than your conventional floppy disk, but no wider than a cassette in its case. These enviable measurements, coupled with its virtual weightlessness, and very attractive appearance (see below), make it a very desirable appliance.

The features for the PMP300 are as follows:
1) Keylock switch, on the side (prevents keypresses from doing anything). Sadly, this can be difficult to switch on and off when you have guitar nails like mine, or when it is in a case. However, only a minor problem.
2) Basic LCD Display (track details). Basic display only, which means there is no display of track information, nor any other relevant information, except for bitrate, track number, and time elapsed (plus "status bar" details such as repeat mode, keylock status, and other play modes.) are displayed. This is a
bit of a shame, but no real problem again, unless you wished for a full ID3 listing of each of your tracks.
3) Play/Pause, Stop, Forward, Rewind "Wheel" (circular disc in centre of player for manipulation of tracks). Easy to use and feel, as it has special "feel discs" on the Play/Pause section, so you can find it easily.
4) Repeat Function (track repeat possibilities). Can be off (plays from track one to end and stops), Repeat One (repeats single track until prompted otherwise), or Repeat All (repeats all tracks in order, looping from end to beginning when required). NB Repeat Mode is displayed in status bar.
5) Intro Play: very simple, plays the first fifteen seconds of a track, before skipping to the next one (displayed in status bar).
6) Excerpt Mode (records a section for repetition). Pressing the A-B button turns on Excerpt Recording (displayed in status bar). Pressing it again, within the same track, stops recording. The excerpt then recorded will simply loop over and over again until A-B is pressed again to turn off Exceprt Mode. This is a very useful little function if you are word-learning or just have a love of a certain riff/chorus/fill etc.
7) Menu (memory information): displays if any further flash memory is installed, plus the amount of memory available on the player.
8) Equalizer Mode (different play modes): select from Jazz, Rock, Classic (written CLASIC because the LCD display has a character limit of six...), and Normal. This merely alters the way the music is played by enhancing the bass/percussion/lead/vocals etc, in accordance with the selected style.

So, as can be seen, there are a fair few functions on the old PMP300. However, there are many more on todays newer players, thus giving the impression that the 300 is a basic player. In a way it is, because it is older, but it is still far better than some that are produced today, in terms of quality.

The overall appearance is a black b
ox, with a silver-grey "wheel" in the middle, with an extra circular rim, holding more separate buttons. There are three silve buttons atop the player, and on the back is a removable beltclip, plus the release part for the extra flash memory (an external Flash Memory card is not provided, but you can purchase additional 32MB or 64MB Flash cards for between sixty and ninety quid. Of course, you can only use one additional external card at a time, along with the internal one, but you can always carry extra ones!). The battery door is located on the bottom, and opens (openED in my case) with a push on the pressure pad. The Rio PMP300 takes one AA battery, which lasts for more or less twelve hours, if the battery is of Duracell standard. The ergonomic design makes the whole thing apear very compact, and also it has a very "modern" look, with the circular navigation panel against the black background.

As for time, 32MB gives around an hour, to seventy five minutes (a CDs worth!) of recording at 96kbps to 128kbps (Super CD Quality), and half an hours worth of recording time at 256kbps (Ultra-High-Quality Unnecessary Recording Bitrate). Thus, if you only wish to record at 64kbps, or high-radio-quality, one can get around two hours worth of tracks on. I usually have around ten to twelve tracks on my MP3 player at any one time, at bitrates of between 96kbps and 128kbps (with the occasional at 56kbps or 192kbps), and I am very satisfied with the result.

And finally, installation. You get MMJB (MusicMatch JukeBox), a CD-ripping and MP3 playing application, supplied with the Rio Manager, which together allow you to rip MP3s from CDs, upload them to your player, and then have fun, with no trouble at all. Installation is simple and the most complicated part is working out which one the parallel port is (this is a joke by the way...). You should have no trouble getting this to work.

So, in conclusion, if you want a relatively cheap MP
3 player which will not let you down (by itself... if not accompanied by a foolish friend :) ), which will give you no trouble in any field, and which is just really quite... groovy, then, the Diamond Rio PMP300 is your player.

-khrys

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