Rio Volt SP-150 MP3 CD Player

Amazon Customer Reviews

(1 out of 5)

For an MP3-CD player it should be far better!

i purchased the Rio SP90 (possibly previous version of this one) about six months ago, it didn't last long due to an accident, but i was so pleased with it i decided to stick with Rio, despite it being one of the less known companies, compared to your Sony's, Phillips etc.

Once it arrived i was surprised to find that it was not the same blue as is advertised with the product, it is more of a dark purple, which i was a little dissapointed with but thought none-the-less of it and carried on. It claims on the site that it has 16 minute "steadyplay" which i guessed was anti-shock. Once open it turned out that it only goes up to 3 minutes anti-shock, which is easily sufficient, i haven't had a single skip in a week and i use it all the time, to play football etc.

There is a track list you can scroll through whilst the song carries on playing, but the list allways starts at the begining, the older SP90 would start on the track you are currently listening to with the option to return to the top. In the week i have had it, the screen has turned off randomly once, just plain turned off countless times, and once restarted it tries to tell me there is only 16 tracks when i know there is 100+. It has also flicked from one song to a totally random one, between two and three times. The track order is slightly out from place to place according to alphabetical (or atleast compared to the way i was taught)

The backlight is an excellent addition, and you can independantly alter the bass and treble which is handy, whilst also having presets for everyones music taste. Another useful option is to skip back ten tracks aswell as forward.

This cd player to be honest has been so dis-satisfying that i am almost certainly returning it due to the continous problems. after this one i'm considering another brand from Rio, but will probably get the SP90, which is by far the better MP3-cd player.

(5 out of 5)

Beware of critics!!

Search the RioVolt SP150 in GOOGLE and like me, you'll find lots of US sites selling this product with lots of bad comments about it!
I've done it too in the past and was terrified to see so many unpleased users. They are all gonna tell you that it's cheap, crap, plastiki... Please, do not listen to them!!
My Rio Volt SP150 has been one of the best buy in the past few months. It really does what it says on the tin! It looks gorgeous, it's made of good quality plastic BUT they are right on one thing: It will maybe break if it falls! For God sake, any similar kind of devices dropped will probably break but remember that it's meant to play CDs not being dropped on the floor!!
Buy it for its price and quality. I've tried other players in the past and was chocked that they were skipping too easily or did not want to play cheap CDS.... This RioVolt is playing the cheapeast CDs around (I'm talking of £0.12 cds!!)and it's not skipping at all, carriing it with me everywhere I go!
So, do not listen to the bad comments around and please yourself!

(5 out of 5)

Fantastic mp3/wma CD player - buy one now!

Perhaps I'm a tad slow at times, so it was only last week that I heard what an excellent idea mp3 CD players were.

Like solid state and hard disc players they will allow you to store hundreds of songs with a file directory to let you sort and play them; unlike such players they come at a fraction of the price.

So, to the Rio Volt 150. I bought this rather than its cheaper sibling so I could play my .wma files (using a variable bit rate at that). I stick to .wma as (a) I can easily rip files with Windows media player without paying extra and (b) the quality is better than mp3 and they take up less space.

The player itself looks flash but feels a bit tacky - no brushed aluminium, just blue plastic. However, the build quality must be pretty good because within hours I'd dropped the thing onto my stone kitchen floor, and it bounced without a scratch. In fact, it kept on playing without a hitch - the shock protection with mp3/wma files lasts over 5 minutes! It was only two tracks later that the music stopped. It took me a while to find out why - the CD had jolted out of the holder when I dropped it and must have stopped at this time.

Ideal for the car then.

Using a variable bit rate .wma file giving almost CD quality sound I can fit 15 full CDs onto one CDR. As the battery life is quoted at 20 hours you should just about be able to play them before you run out of power.

Downsides are the earphones (not stunning) and the manual - you have to download it from the website. WHY?? An in-line remote would be useful too. Perhaps amazon will decide to sell them at some point.

In summary - forget all other forms of music playback. This is the future. Aand it plays your old CDs too.

(3 out of 5)

Buy it, but be warned!

I read all the previous reviews of the Riovolt SP150, but decided it couldn't be as bad as everyone said....it was though! I am not only referring to the reviews on Amazon.co.uk though, but also I read reviews on Amazon.com in the US...which were a bit more numerous..balanced...and revealing!

The main problem I have found is with the build quality and with the reading of CD-Rs...I have some pretty cheap CD-Rs which are read on everything else..and on the Riovolt they were ok for the first couple of times...ever since though..READ ERROR every time! I think maybe it is just due to the quality of the CD-R though, as I have a more expensive brand and every one of those works ok.

As I also said, the build quality is not really up to scratch. It looks and feels a bit 'cheap'...like if you even dropped it or banged it slightly it would fall to pieces. There is also very poor and little documentation that comes along with it...just one page basically...which tells you no more than you can figure out for yourself anyway.

These are the main problems....As a straight forward CD player though..and when it plays MP3s on CD-Rs...it is pretty good..the sound quality is good, and it is all that you'd expect.

To sum up...it's an ok player when you take into account the price and when it's working ok....everything is fine then. Be warned about the problems though, and I have read from the US reviews that it's virtually impossible to get through to technical support for this product. Maybe that's just a US problem, but be warned again!

The only other thing I will say is that for just a little bit more money...say £10-15...you can get a player which does everything the Riovolt does, but has much better quality and support. I have just purchased the Sony Atrac NE-511 MP3/CD player for example...and given the Riovolt to my girlfriend! It is much better quality...you can programme track lists...and it also comes with CD burning software and a AC/DC adaptor. I guess you pays your money and takes your choice!

(4 out of 5)

Aditya

I am having excellent experience listening to my MP3 collection after a while whether I am travelling or relaxing.

-The best part about the player is its efficient power consumption rate.
-The design also looks really cool.

A definite god deal.