Home > Consumer Reviews > RioVolt SP100 Portable CD/MP3 Player with 120 Second Anti-Shock

AMAZING!! absolutely amazing! This thing is great.

I've hadone of these for a week now and i can't get enough of it. It haseverything that i have been looking for and it is affordable.

GoodStuff: 1) It plays both regular CD's, CD-R's & CD-RW's, and playsmp3 format as well as regular format

2) it is small andlightweight(it is roughly the size and weight of an average portablecd player)

3) Something that i found to be absolutely wonderful isthat it displays the names of the songs and folders. This issomething i have been looking for everywhere.

4) You can organizeyour mp3's into folders and have the folder name as well as the song'sname displayed in the LCD.

5) The LCD has really great lighting.Easy to see in all lighting.

6) The batteries last longer than withmost of these types of portables.

7) Comes with an AC adapter unlikesome

8) plays MP2, MP3, AIFF, Q-Design AIFF, QuickTime, WAV, SoundDesigner, MOD and 'snd' music files as well as mp3's and regularCD's.

BAD STUFF:

1) No car kit. I really would have liked it, butit doesn't come with a car kit.

2) It is slightly more expensivethan others ... this one is $...

Otherwise it's great and i thinkit's perfect for anyone doing long distance traveling who does notwant to have to pack a hole binder full of CD's, this way you can pack2 or 3 cd's and never finish listening to all of them once through bythe end of your trip. END

The first MP3 CD players were picky about what discs they would play and lacked any features beyond bare-bones playback. But these products have matured quickly, and after seeing Sonicblue's Rio Volt, we're ready to say that MP3 CD players have arrived. Aside from an awkward carrying case, we were hard-pressed to find anything wrong with this player. Best of breed To put this device through its paces, we burned a number of test CDs, which included MP3s and WMA files with a wide range of bit rates. We used CD-Rs, CD-RWs, discs with everything in one root directory, discs with songs organized in folders, and a number of different burning preferences within the included Easy CD Creator Standard 4 (for PC) and SoundJam (for Macintosh) software packages. Much to our surprise, the Rio Volt handled every disc that we threw at it with aplomb. It's also only the second MP3 CD player we've seen that reads ID3 tags (the Pine Technology D'music SM-200C being the first). Without ID3 tags, you have to plod through 150 songs on each CD using only track numbers as a guide, so we consider them a necessity. It's also the only such player to play WMA files as well as MP3s and audio CDs. But there were many other reasons to be impressed by this newcomer. The +10 button, which lets you jump ahead ten songs, makes navigating more than a hundred songs much easier. You can also group your songs in folders, since the Volt lets you navigate within directories, unlike the other players that we've seen. A Shuffle mode lets you skip around between all the songs on the CD-R, while the A-B mode is useful for looping any section of audio. We were as impressed by the player's form as we were by its function: The understated, rounded design is starkly modern compared to those of other portable MP3 CD players, which often look like prototypes. Skip the skipping The Volt collects 120 seconds of audio from MP3/WMA discs and stores the sound for playback in a flash-memory buffer. When playing back standard audio CDs, you can choose between 10 and 40 seconds of antiskip protection (40 seconds consumes more power). While walking around with the device in a bag, we encountered an occasional delay when fast-forwarding between songs on an MP3/WMA CD. However, once the music started playing, skipping was not a problem. If we can single out one problem with the Volt, it would have to be the carrying case, which must be threaded through your belt if you want to attach it to your hip. (The player itself doesn't have a belt clip.) While the player is in the case, you can't tell which song is playing or whether the player is on or off, since there's no display on the remote control. But at $..., the Rio Volt has to be one of the best portable audio values around. Unless you really need a very small, light MP3 player for exercise or travel, multiformat CD players such as this one are the way to go, since they're cheaper and hold many more songs on a single CD. Some other players cost a little less than the Rio, but its ability to play every type of MP3/WMA CD-R and CD-RW that we burned definitely makes it your best bet.

Nice Review, Huh? I thought it was alright...I might have praised it too much, but you can decide for yourself.

Let me preface this review by saying that I'm currently on my second Rio Volt. I purchased one two months ago, used it, returned it, purchased another one, and have been using this one for about two weeks.

To be fair, the reasons I like Rio Volt:

1) The upgradable capabilities are a BIG plus. HUGE. To know that certain features can be added with a 2 second download and burn is a great relief, as I know the player has less chance of becoming obsolete.

2) The mp3 capability is also obviously the main reason for buying it. It was great to take 15 albums by the same artist, encode them and burn them to one disc, and have that to listen to. Quite convenient.

3) The display, while a bit complicated at first, was very helpful in navigation- especially with the ID3 tags.

4) Different EQ's, including a new "user-defined" EQ (with version 2.0)

Now, the reasons I am returning my second Rio Volt:

1) This is the main reason- the damn thing skips WAY too much- almost constantly. I heard there were some skipping problems with mp3s, but I'm not even talking about mp3s. I'm not even talking about CD-Rs. I'm talking about regular CDs. I set the shock protection to 40 seconds and it still skips constantly. I do not jog with the thing, but I do a lot of walking in my daily commute. In order to keep the player from bouncing around in my bag/jacket pocket, I generally keep a hand on it at all times to keep it stable. However, even doing THIS causes it to skip every few seconds. The only time I can guarantee no skips is when it's sitting on a flat surface- and guess what? That's not why I bought a portable player.

2) The thing eats up batteries, even with skip protection turned off. I use it a total of maybe 1.5 hours total per day, and I don't know why batteries are dead after 3 or 4 days. Unacceptable.

3) Carrying case? Don't even go there. :-) 100% useless.

4) The remote, while a VERY cool feature, is difficult to control. I was intending to use it quickly, while walking, to change songs. I wind up having to stop what I'm doing to stare at the remote to see what I'm doing...then I have to pull out the CD player to confirm it.

5) Loading time, and again, not even for an mp3 disc, but for a store-bought, professionally-manufactured CD, is way too long. The thing takes up to a minute to load.

6) The sound on this thing is just not very powerful.

Some people love this player, and more power to them. I'm an optimistic person and was very eager to receive my second Rio Volt, hoping that my first one was just a "bad egg." I think that they're the first company to really put out a functional mp3/CD player, but being the first, I think there are just some bugs that need to be worked out. I personally can't keep a player that skips this much- it's just way too unreliable for my needs. I can deal with not having an mp3 CD player for now- technology will eventually bring about better players. Until then, my personal opinion is to steer clear of the Rio Volt- unless you plan to have it sit on a tabletop whenever you use it.

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This unit really is a great deal at 169 dollars.

Good Stuff-

-You get AC Power supply, batteries, inline remote with headphones is very helpful, you can use it or not, it doesn't have propietary headphone plug like Sony units have had in the past, carry case (kind of cheap though), earbud headphones (you'll want to use your own), software

-Great to see display of all the songs and artists. Backlight is GREAT too, very useful

-Stores MP3/WMA music into a buffer, spins the CD up for about 20 seconds (starts the music quickly though) and then the CD shuts down. This gives 120 seconds of music that is stored in memory, then you'll see it spin up again to get the next portion of the song. No crackles, pops transitions at all, totally seamless. This is how they get the extended battery time too, CD is not always spun up for the MP3/WMA tracks

-EQ spices music up

-Navigation through files is very easy

-Ability to upgrade software in the unit by downloading update, burning to CD, then loading it in the player

-Sound, the most important thing, is great on the MP3/WMA files

Not so good-

-The unit plays CDs fine, but it has skipped while sitting on the table with the 40 second buffer turned on - bizarre

-Would like to have capability to make up my own EQ setting

-Dancing characters on the bottom of the LCD

-Case needs more padding and a window to see the LCD (Can't figure out how that got overlooked)

-Cheap earbud headphones

Bottom Line - I threw many different bit rates both MP3 and WMA at it and it worked perfectly, every one of the several hundred tracks I have played have worked. I shook the unit during the loading of the tracks and no skipping during the playback at all. I bought the unit as a MP3 player, I have several other portable CD players so the couple of times it has skipped while playing a regular CD isn't an issue for me. I am extremely pleased with this unit and would highly recommend it!

When I first saw this item, I made the foolish thought of playing with new technologies without doing my research. However, in the case of the SONICblue Rio Volt, I was hardly disappointed. This handy little gem is definitely a step in the right direction, mixing an ordinary CD player, with the future of audio: MP3.

My biggest concern when I purchased it was if I bought it now, would it become obsolete in say, 6 months. But this fear was put to rest when I found out that Rio actively keeps its products up to date by being able to download it, put it on a CD, then having the Rio Volt read that CD. In about 15 seconds, the unit was upgraded! Incredible.

In addition, this unit has some very wonderful features, such as a remote control (handy for driving in the car), as well as anti-skip protection (the variable selection between 10 and 40 seconds is a nice touch). Also, it can read any CD that you put into it, whether it be a normal CD, or a CD loaded with MP3 audio files (I haven't found a CD it HASN'T read correctly yet).

In general, a buy definitely worth the money I invested in it...