Home > Consumer Reviews > Rio Volt MP3 CD Player

I found this unit everything that it was written about, I cannot fault it's quality it's volume it's ability to play whilst being moved about etc.

The firmware upgrade is a must and offers much more that the basic facilities. I like the resume function but it is a shame it does not also control the sleep mode default setting (which is off).

I tend to use the Riovolt a lot before I go to sleep on a CD with 25o tracks in random play mode. All very well but I would prefer in such circumstances to just switch on and press play (knowing I have set it to resume mode) and have it switch off after a predetermined "standard time", as the deafult is NO to Timer - sleep I have drained quite a few batteries, it's too fiddly to set this up each and every time.

There not much of an issue for what is a great unit, I also have the Rio 500 which is very small and compact but as I have a usb problem on my pc I kept blowing the 500's firmware (Sonic Blue were very very good about it and replaced the unit each time). When I fix it I will use both one (the 500) on the move and Riovolt for more static use.

Well worth the money in my view

Colin White

Having read all the reviews for this product I eventually gritted my teeth and purchased it. Let me tell you though that it was a purchase well worth it.

Having already gained quite a large mp3 collection I really did not want to convert them all back into audio formatted CD's. This player plays them all! MP3Z! CD's and it's just non stop action.

The headphones have a fairly long cable but once you wind it up and tuck it away they are okay. Although if you are a base freak like I am you will find the head phones that come with it rather tinny so I purchased other super woofer base headphones.

The time period on the batteries really boggled me though having gotten at least 15 hours of play time with MP3 cd's.

If you don't get this product you are really loosing out. Those fancy mp3 players that download music are limited compared to this little baby. Besides if you are fed up with your mp3 and go into a music store and come out with the latest hit on cd you can just place it in this bute and away you go.

Had my RioVolt for several weeks now and is well worth the 150 quid.

- 9ish Albums on a CD, encoded with VBR

- plays 70min/80min/CDRW/Branded unBranded and Overburnt with no problem

- firmware upgrade is great

- would like to see the dancing 'things' gone in the next BIOS revision

- size is not bad, though the physical quality is not upto a Sony CD Player, bit plasticy

If you have a CD writer, are happy at encoding MP3's and want to listen to music without carrying lots of cd's this is a great unit.

In a nutshell, the colour scheme, design and quality makes it look and feel like a very entry-level player. On the up-side, it does play MP3's, read ID3 tags and sounds good, and the upgradeable firmware is a good idea, but I just was not happy to keep this unit. The design and especially colour scheme makes it look like a teenybop's 'My First CD Player'. Most importantly to me, build quality seems to be just cheap (though I have to say I did not have it for long, maybe it is actually more robust than the impression I got). Half the LCD is used up with weird dancing figures that serves no purpose and should have been done without. The buttons' function again feels cheap, as does the hinge mechanism part that keeps the lid open, and battery contact springs. The carry bag is rubbish. IMHO, not worth it unless it was priced as an entry-level product. I strongly recommend, if possible, trying out and playing around with a unit first before buying.

After suffering hours of taping CDs onto cassetes or tapes that had worn out or got chewed up in my bag - not to mention the MP3s that I have stored at work, I decided to embrace technology and buy a CD player that could play MP3s and I could load on my favourite tunes from CD.

I haven't been disappointed by this player at all. Sound quality is excellent and even a novice like myself found it easy to use. It is quite big, but as I keep it in my bag, this isn't a huge problem for me. If you buy a pair or portable speakers, you can put all your holiday listening on one CD so that you can either listen to your music on the beach or have a party without worrying about damaging your CD collection. My only niggle is that the headphones have too much cable and the clip on the remote control doesn't always stay put, so you sometimes run the risk of tripping over the cable.