To be MP3 or not to be (Rio PMP600 32 MB)

Member Name: clanmac4

Product:	Rio PMP600 32 MB
Date:	16/01/01 (563 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Sound, Neat headphones, resilient

Disadvantages: Memory could be 64 Kb at outset

The recent purchase of the mp3 player the "DIAMOND RIO 600" has taken me by complete surprise. It is a technology that I have wanted for a while worth the wait, I should say so.

The ease of use of this mid range mp3 player (£149 - £169) has to be experienced to be believed. It is very light and ergonomically designed, it has a simple LCD (Backlit) display and although has only 32 Mb Flash memory, this can be extended, initially to 64 Mb and then to 372 Mb. Which in layman's terms means at 32 Mb you can store 10 - 13 tracks which is not that great or at 372 Mb a lot more!

However stick with the 32-Mb, this will give approx. 1 hr of loaded music which can be played for 12 hours on 1 AA battery. Ahhh but the quality of sound, forgive the pun "but music to my ears", the standard of headphones, the ones that fit around the back of your ears! Superb.

How does it work?

In the box you get the MP3 player the cool headphones a USB connection for your PC, a CD with the appropriate drivers and Music Management Software. You load the CD in your PC and off you go, what can you do:

1. Upload your favourite CD tracks to you PC convert then to WMA (MS Audio Files) make up playlists and download then to your MP3 player.

2. Download mp3 files from Napster.com to your PC and then download to your mp3 player, free stuff, need I say more!

3. Use the software to create CD's using your CD Writer for playing on your HIFI.

Is it better to buy a CD player or a mini CD player/recorder?, depends what you want from life! Surf, download, mess about, play the results of your hard work onto a machine with no moving parts and suberb sound quality, definitive advantages there.

Other things: The Rio 600 has been designed so that you can of course extend the memory, but that is not all it has been designed to play MP3 and WMA but you will be able to upgrade to other formats as and when
they are contrived/released.

Disadvantage, well its the memory size, if you are PC literate you will know that it is the most expensive thing to buy, so the cost of the backpack to extend to 64 MB music storage or 2 hrs of music plus the rechargeable battery is £80, not good but not enough to stop me.

What about an IBM Microdrive, it snaps on the back 340Mb at £200, but do not be fooled by the cheap option. You are introducing a moving part into the Player, battery life? performance, remember CD players have moving parts they jump etc...

I like the Diamond Rio 600, I bought it, is technology a godsend or what?

Summary: