Rio Volt SP100 Personal CD Player

Pros: Audio quality and maybe the upgradeable firmware
Cons: Everything else.

I spent a whole day researching which MP3 cd player is the best out there. From what I read, Rio Volt and TDK Mojo seemed to be the major contenders. But the Best Buy I went to was selling only the Volt. So, I get it and I was so disappointed with it...

Pros: It is not really all that big. Batt life is not bad at all.
Cons: Skip protection on MP3 format is WAY OVERRATED!(WHAT SKIP PROTECTION?) Even with updated firmware...

I was originally in the market for a portable cd player with good skip protection in order to use while walking/jogging. When checking different reviews on various websites, I saw some reviews which steered me toward purchasing your riovolt. I thought...

Pros: A reasonably cheap way to listen to your MP3s
Cons: Everything else

I hope this helps in your decision:

The Body:
The player is constructed of lightweight plastic that feels flimsy and looks cheap. I fear that without extremely gentle care, the casing will break.

The Display:
The display...

Pros: Not bulky, pretty easy to use, no CD burn format problems
Cons: LAME handheld remote

One of the latest comers to the CD-based MP3 player game is, oddly enough, Diamond Multimedia (now S3-cum-SonicBlue), the first company to produce solid-state MP3 players after extensive court wrangling.

I recently spent a weekend with...

Pros: UPGRADEABLE FIRMWARE
Cons: DANCING FIGURES ON SCREEN

9/13 I bought this 3 days ago at Circuit City for $149. Not a bad deal for all the great things you get with this gem of a player.

But why buy a mp3 CD player? It is so darn practical that's why. Imagine stuffing about 200 songs on a single CD...

Pros: Over 200 songs on one CD; upgradable firmware; "Indiglo" backlight on display; competitive price
Cons: "Titanium" plastic feels cheap; initial firmware (1.1x) buggy

NOVEMBER 2001 UPDATE:
One of the "cons" I listed when I originally wrote the review of the Rio Volt player was that it "feels cheap." I suppose that feeling was more than skin deep. Yesterday my Rio Volt stopped working, just four months after it...

Pros: Good sound quality, does not skip a lot
Cons: I haven't found any yet

This past Friday I went on a weekend trip to another state. On Thursday I decided I wanted a portable MP3 player to take along. After consulting Epinions.com to find out about some of the models out there, I went to my local Best Buy to see what they ...

Pros: Hours and Hours of music. Catalogs categories of songs.
Cons: Expensive, tiny LCD display

As Napster faces it's dying days, we of the mp3 ilk must quickly download and burn our favorite songs before there's nothing left to download but polka tunes from a starving musician in Akron. While a lot of us have been able to download hundreds of...

Pros: Up to 10 hours of music! Ability to play mp3s or CDs. Song title listings.
Cons: Poor shock capabilities, wasted space at bottom of display.

I have an extensive library of over 1500 mp3s on my computer, mostly from Napster, but was frustrated by my inability to take this music with me anywhere. My boyfriend got the Sony MS Walkman, but you have to reprogram the Memory Stick everytime you want...

Pros: Great remote, very stylish, great sound
Cons: Skips way too much, horrible ear bud headphones, included case isn't useful.

I was looking for an MP3-CD that I could use for working out, jogging, etc. Over a period of two months, I tried out a Compaq iPaq, RioVolt, Philips Expanium, and Rio 600. The iPaq and Rio 600 obviously didn't have any skipping problems, but they also...

Pros: 20 plus CDs per disc, CDR-CDRW compatibility, sound, playlist support
Cons: Little flimsy feel to the case, carry pouch

When the first generation of CD MP3 players came out, I was ready to jump onboard. I mean, who could resist? You can pile entire collections onto one CD and be off. Those first generation players had drawbacks though, so I decided to bide my time....

Pros: Reads 80 min discs, remote, ID3 tag, battery life
Cons: ear buds, no battery recharger, carrying case

I had a solid state MP3 player (Nomad II MG, but sold that to get the Rio Volt. The Volt has great options that anyone would love. As long as you have a CD writer, this player is great. It takes about 20 minutes to burn a 80 minute CD. After the CD is...

Pros: Easy to use. Most cost-effective player if you look at dollars per minute of music.
Cons: Finicky about CD formats.

My main requirement in an MP3 player was a lot of storage. I go on long drives and I wanted to get at least 4 hours of uninterrupted play. That steered me away from solid-state players, so I looked hard-drive based players instead.

Before I...

Pros: Upgradeable, fair battery life
Cons: dearer than cheap SP90, no radio like sp250

The original SP100 was ground breaking, and had the advantage of being flash memory based and therefore upgradable.

There's now an SP90 which is much cheaper but isn't software upgradable, however, they've had the time to sort out lots of...

Pros: Inexpensive, Support CDR/CDRW/MP3(VBR)/WMA/Audio/Playlist
Cons: Looks cheap with plastic case, very Low LINEOUT level, no browse by genre

First of all, I recommend anyone who already purchase this unit (or plan to get one soon) to upgrade the firmware to the most recent one (V. 2.10). It solve many operating problem such as slow reading time, mechanical noise during skip time, very low...