The Rio PMP300 Player is about the size of a cassette tape case and very light. Installation is very easy and a battery is even included. In a test version of the software bundle, MusicMatch Jukebox is included to provide an all in one solution for encoding, ripping and playing songs. The Rio Manager is very easy to use and has a slick interface. It can play MP3 files and easily create Playlists that you can download to your Rio unit. An important component is the Internal Memory window, where you download the songs into the unit, and it displays how much memory is available, name of the songs, size, date etc. Everything is controlled by five different buttons, Open, Download, Refresh, Delete and Initialize. The file downloading process is really easy. Click Open, select the song you wish to download and in a couple of seconds the song has been transferred to the Rio.
The design of the unit is very simple and easy to use. The standard buttons, Volume, Play/Pause, Stop, Forward, Rewind, Next/Prev. Track are all there. Random, Intro and Repeat buttons are also available, just like a normal CD player. The LCD panel displays pertinent information when the player is in use: time elapsed, quality of songs, track number and battery indicator. A basic Equalizer is also available and there are four different presets available: Normal, Rock, Jazz and Classical. The only things it's missing are song names and a backlit LCD.
Overall it is a very cool product, easy to use, good sound quality and a high "wow-factor". But is it worth the $200? If you are a real MP3 fanatic, you will probably love this player, it is a really great feeling to be able to rewrite the data and add or delete songs in just a couple of seconds. With 32 MB of storage space standard, you will only be able to fit in about 8-10 high quality songs. There are extra memory cards at 16 MB available for $50 each. In the future the Rio might support 64 MB or even 128 MB memory cards. This is, after all, one of the first portable hardware MP3 players. How good was the first CD player? The first VCR? If you are a true fan of MP3, have 200 bucks to spare and just can't wait to listen to your MP3s while you're jogging, go for it!
Pros:
- Shock insensitive
- Extremely small and light
- Long battery life
Cons:
- Limited storage space
- Expensive memory cards
