30 mins MP3 player (Rio PMP800 64 MB)

Member Name: straymuffin

Product:	Rio PMP800 64 MB
Date:	08/06/02 (848 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looks good, Supports wma, 128Mb memory

Disadvantages: Battery doesnt work!, Battery doesnt work!, Battery doesnt work!

"Music is your special friend" as Mr.Morrison says. So the day my cheap Goodmans minidisc player packed in was a sad day indeed.
I couldn?t possibly cope with the chatter of the old people on the bus or the boredom of two-hour train journeys. I had to find a replacement for my minidisc player. What could I get? An MP3 player! Of course!
So after a few hours of searching the net I decided upon the Rio 800.

I'll start with the good points...
The Rio 800 comes with a nice 128Mb of memory built in. This can be expanded with clip on memory packs.
The Rio 800 also supports wma files, which enable you to squeeze 4 hours of decent quality music into the 128Mb memory.
The box contains everything you need. USB cable, charger, software cd, protective case and a rather uncomfortable pair of folding earphones.
Transferring files to the Rio is made easy using the software provided, and playback on the player is simple with an easy to use menu system.

Now the bad points.
This is where it all starts to go horribly wrong.
The first problem (if you're impatient like me) is that when you get the Rio 800 out the box for the first time you have to calibrate the battery! This takes about 5 hours.
The second problem? Well, this is the major flaw.
The battery DOES NOT work!
Hard to believe, I know. I know people with the Rio 600 who are very happy with it, which is one of the reasons I bought the Rio 800. But the battery on the Rip 800 is just useless.
After I had calibrated the battery and transferred 4 hours of wma files to the Rio, I switched it on to give it a go. First impressions, very good. After half an hour I switched it off. I came back to it about an hour later and when I tried to switch it on - nothing! The battery was dead!
The battery is supposed to have a playback time of 10-11 hours. Long story short, I recharged the battery and tried it again several times but never got satisfactory res
ults. Playback times varied between 30 mins to 3 hours, but never the 10 hours promised. The device even has a display that shows the estimated battery life left. This is not to be trusted. I looked at it one minute and had 10 hours, a minute later 3 hours! I have had top scientists investigate my house and there are no time dilation fields to account for this.

So there you have it. A nice MP3 player if the battery worked! I have read lots of reviews since and it seems I'm not alone. Lots of people have had the same problem.
I have returned my Rio 800 and am now the proud owner of a Sony MZ-N505 Minidisc (a much better bit of kit and cheaper too!)

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