The Diamond Rio PMP 600, an innovation? Or just a PMP 500 thrown in a stylish blue round case which is designed to fit your hand perfectly weather you are walking down the street or running down an alley.

I will go through the basic points of MP3 players, and give specifics of this one, and how it holds up with the industry standard of MP3 players.

Basic Style, Looks, etc: Like I said before, it is sound design-wise, yet missing some small details which could and should be there, such as a belt clip, or swivel clip. I find it annoying to have it in my pocket, having to use the "hold" feature so that I can’t accidentally press a button, and disrupt my listening experience. Also along with a belt clip, it needs a protective case; I the rubbery type material the back is made of can easily be scratched or peel off from normal handling-semi- rugged use.

Interface: Something I really appreciate about this unit is the easy to use interface; it's almost as easy and simple as Nokia's mobile phones. You can easily access the graphic equalizer without having to refer to the manual, and everything adjustable is, and is easily accessed by using common sense. "Tab" style menus are effective yet, eye pleasing. The PMP 600's interface is well thought out, and among the best. Oh, and if you're in the dark, the LCD is matched with a handy Indigo backlight.

Memory: It's a shame that Diamond didn't offer a 64 MB version, 32 MB just is not enough, with only enough room for 5, 192 Kbps quality songs (will vary with length of songs). Of course, it is expandable, but expect to pay big money for a decent expansion, you can get up to 340 MB on the PMP 600. But if you're planning on doing that, might as well go for a Creative : Nomad 6 Gigabyte MP3 Jukebox. (tip: if you really need to squeeze songs in it, use WMA files, it's compatible with the PMP 600, and it takes less space)

Software
: Average, anyone can figure out how to transfer files from your computer to the unit itself, and it does it via a USB cable, which is much faster than a typical serial port (the RCA Lyra uses serial). The CD is easy to install on mostly all computers with Windows.

Battery Length: Diamond says you can get a good eleven hours out of it without having to replace/ recharge the 1 AA battery it needs. But I would say 10 hours, because of the loudness I place the volume on, although I haven't timed it, I am taking a guess using my common sense.

Sound Quality: Using a pair of Sony's famous entry level wrap around headphones, I say it sounds pretty good with the volume set on 5- 15, once you get into the 17, 18 19 20 (max), you start to hear distortion in the bass, and that can be a turn off when listening to your favourite song. I’m sure with a decent pair of "studio" style headphones; you will hear the music perfectly no matter what volume.