Rio Riot 20GB

I can honestly say this Diamond Rio Riot 20GB Digital Audio Player is a superb bit of equipment, I did my homework and purchased my Rio Roit on Ebay for £120'ish' bargain!

Campared to most Portable MP3 Players this has an excellent display screen, with a mass of information.

20 Gig storage is plenty. I've only filled about 10 gig of mine and have 160 albums stored.

The only thing missing is a method of uploading from Rio Riot back to a hard drive , because after all the time spent loading it, it would be a shame to loose it all and have to start again.

But never mind.

at the price paid and the quality of sound, excellent menus,etc

It get's my vote

The Diamond Rio Riot 20GB Digital Audio Player has 20gb of storage at a lot less money than an iPod and the DJ function is flexible and quick. The inbuilt FM radio is probably the most distinguishing feature. If you get fed up with your own tracks (and let's be fair, with 20Gig it's gonna take a while) you can just tune in to your favourite preset stations and the internal aerial is surprisingly good for such a little box.

The software that comes with it is the RealJukebox for the PC and I have a problem with the intrusiveness of Real products but it does the job. It is kind of bulky when you use the supplied case but then it has got a belt clip so it's not too bad and the bigger size just presses down on the extra cash I've got in my pocket from not buying an iPod. The playlist creator I find a little fiddly but then I'm just getting used to it.

I wish i knew about the rio riot before i bought my ipod. I could of saved $320.00 if i didnt buy my ipod. To me they are the same things only i think the rio riot is better in the way that it has the rio dj on it. The ipod is cool too in the way that it has a little planer like function. I guess you can say the rio riot is for kids and adults who dont feel like spending $500.00. The ipod is more for the big corprite type person who thinks having an mp3 player that has a little planner is a great thing to have, but thats why we have paper and a pencil. If you are a kid around the age of 14 and love music or think having a mp3 player would be cool, dont go out and buy an mp3 player that is a small little 32,64,128 magabyte one that could get lost or smashed, get the rio riot. For only a little more(or in some cases less) you can have hundreds of little 128 mp3 players in the size of two which will hold more songs then you can think of. I have also found that people all have the ipod and not the rio riot. This is because some other reviews that they have read say the rio riot is trash, but how do they know? they dont even know the people who are telling them this. You also dont know me but if we were friends or knew eachother you would then trust me on this. Go with the rio riot as any mp3 player choice. You wont be sorry.

My first Diamond Rio Riot portable MP3 player would not hold a charge. The battery went dead within a half hour and the charge indicator did not work at all. The second unit had many hard drive errors and I could load only three CD's before it crashed. The third unit works like a charm.

I travel abroad for weeks at a time and the Rio Riot is a wonderful way to pass my time on the trains. The only major negative to report is the lack of quality control by Sonic Blue. Had my wife not insisted on trying the third unit, I would have thrown it in the garbage.

The price averages $349 in the United States. But if you shop around on the Internet it may be up to $ 100 less. At any rate, it is well worth the price. Buyer Beware of rip-offs

Don't belive the reports you may have read about volume. One would have to be deaf to claim this unit does not deliver on sound.

Some people have complained about an ocassional chirp. However, if you record at 196 kbps or better there should be nothing but a smile on your face

The jukebox software works with the internet to provide song and album information. Always be sure to type in the artist with the album name especially on "Greatest Hits" albums. Otherwise your Rio album directory will seem worthless

In summary: The Rio Riot is a wonderful road companion. It sure beats having to listen to your wife nag while you are not out on a trip.