yes it's small, but slightly mean (Rio PMP600 32 MB)

Member Name: rezzlerun

Product:	Rio PMP600 32 MB
Date:	13/05/02 (170 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: small, reusable media, no skipping or jumping

Disadvantages: small buttons, memory, softwares, weak

I bought the rio 600 hundred when it first came out. And it was not an auspicious start. I had quite considerable trouble with both the device and the software.
It lasted about a week before i had to take it back. It has a dual function port. You connect both the headphones and the pc through the same socket. And somehow this had failed. So i took it back and got another one. On the replaced one the headphones lasted about three weeks. which was probably for the best as they were terrible. The sound quality was okay. But it was the shape. They hooked over and around the ear and just felt like clamps.Causing a slight irritation as they rubbed my skin the wrong way.

I replaced the earphones. With some high quality ones. Because no matter how good a device you possess. The sound quality is determined as much by the headphones as the device. Since then the rio it self has been a dream.
Everything about it i like. The size especially has to be it's most endearing feature. True the buttons are small. but then so's the player. (it's a music player not a fisherprice toy.) Compared to my old cd walkman it's like wandering around with a pen. Plus because it's basically a mobile hardrive. No skipping and no jumping.
But although i loved the player the software makes me mad. First of all it was flawed.
You connect the rio to the computer using the usb port.(the same one you connect most scanners to.) Most pc's have them so that's not a problem. Then the other end of the wire goes into your ear phone socket on the rio. You have to put this in the right way round. Although there isn't really distinguishable markings to show you which way that is. So be careful.
Then the software.(my main bug bear) should detect it. Which it didn't.The auto detect feature didn't work. I needed to patch it before it would work. The patch was free. but it's still annoying. On top of that you've got limits to how many burn
s you can do. They want you to register the software and buy a newer version and then you've got unlimited rips and burns. Which considering you've paid over £150 for the machine. Is slightly mean. Especially as a combination of musicmatch and easy cd creator can do the job better for free. There's limits to the quality that you can rip at. Unlike musicmatch. And although the name gathering option for your music is useful. Everything else that rips does that aswell. Personally i don't use the software for anything other than transfering the tracks. Anything else, something else does it better.
The only other real problem is capacity. the initial memory size is 32mb. Not really that big. And although advertised as mp3. It's far better to use the windows format. WMA. As it gives a smaller file size for the same quality setting. the best being 64kb for size. and 96kb for quality. Anything bigger and it just makes it pointless. As you won't get hardly any tracks on there.
You can buy a bigger memory pack if you want. The biggest i've seen being 128mb. But i've never bothered . I've fitted a whole album on mine quite easily. Which i'm quite content with. So although the memories small. It's sufficent for the job.
Now i know i've ripped into it a bit. but since. I solved all the initial problems with it. And ways round the other ones. I have to confess I'm really happy with it.
Yes it was problematic. But it makes a normal walkman feel like an eight track.
Well worth having. Even with all those initial problems. oh and you can change the face. if that kind of thing appeals.

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