Written
: 6/21/2000MP3 is bigger than ever. The word MP3 even managed to beat out the word sex as the number one search word entered into all the major search engines. Now that is impressive!
The main problem with MP3's is you can only listen to it while you are at your computer. If you want to take it elsewhere, you had to burn the songs to music CD format. Since most people don't have CD Writers nor the software needed to convert a MP3 to wav format, the idea of a portable MP3 player was born.
Diamond was the first manufacturer to make a portable MP3 player. They got into a big law suit with the music industry over it too. Now the RIAA is going after software providers like the MP3.com and Napster. Diamond is going about their business of selling their newest MP3 players.
The Diamond Rio 500 is smack in the middle of Diamond's line of MP3 players. There is the Rio 300 below it and the Rio 600 above it. The Rio 500 comes packaged in a see though case with 64 Meg of on board memory, plus expansion via Smart Media. The entire unit is powered by one AA battery which Diamond claims can play music for 13 hours non stop.
Unlike the D-Link DMP-100 MP3 player that was recently reviewed, the Rio 500 transfer MP3 using the USB port. This makes transferring music a short wait instead of a 30 minute nap.
The Diamond Rio 500 sells for $229.95. That's $50 more than the D-Link DMP-100. Is it worth it? Let's find out.