Transferring audio files is quite speedy with the included USB cable adaptor. I mention audio files, rather than just MP3's, as the Rio supports not only MP3, but the relatively new WMA Windows Media Audio standard as well. Sporting slightly better audio quality, at a given encoding rate, than MP3, WMA is beginning to gain some popularity.  I don't see it eclipsing MP3 as an audio standard anytime soon, if at all, but it's nice to have the capability. Other audio formats can also be supported via firmware upgrades for the Rio, so it should have some future as a playback device, should something new come along (although I doubt MP3 is going to fade away anytime soon, much to the consternation of the RIAA...but that's a debate I wont start here :D). Transferring audio to the player is done by the Rioport Audio manager software.

Click for full size image.

It's here, where I see that Rio needs to spend some time. It's nice enough software, and supports some very nice features that are easy for the novice to use. Direct from CD encoding in WMA or MP3 format is possible, at up to 160kbps encoding rates. Conversely, writing an audio CD directly from a WMA or MP3 playlist, is also a fairly straightforward affair.  It supports skins, if you're into that kind of thing.

One of the snags in the software that I encountered, are a lack of more specific options to scan your PC for audio content. Rather than selecting storage directories, it just scans the whole hard drive.  Once that process is done, and you switch to the playlist that it generated for you (which will be utterly huge, if you're like me, and have several family members that have their own collections), there is no straightforward way to organize the list at this point. The top fields (TITLE, ARTIST, ORIGINAL ALBUM, ect) are clickable, but nothing happens. In other Windows apps, this is the common method of sorting by field. It's silly that this doesn't work here. 

Another snag, is a lack of proper drag-and-drop integration with the software.  This should be a no-brainer, but it's sorely missing in the Audio Manager.  As much as I deplore Windows Media Player 7, it actually integrates well with the audio player. To someone with my particular minimalist bent, I found it to actually be more useful and convenient than Rio's own software. Rio's software is really quite good, apart from the above mentioned snags, but I feel Rio could go back to the drawing board and fix these few small but significant flaws.

Next page: How does it sound?

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