Once you get your audio files onto the player, things
are rosy indeed. Audio quality is top notch, with no audible hiss, and only
minimal distortion (primarily of lower audio frequencies, which are beyond the
capabilities of the earbuds). Loudness is also quite good. One of my particular
dislikes of some portable audio products is a lack of volume, but the Rio is all
good here. As mentioned before, battery life is excellent, and being a solid
state device, it's smaller and lighter than the new MP3/CD players. It is more
convenient than the CD based players, if only in the fact you can quickly
"jack-in", transfer a few songs, and go with little fuss.
Overall feature-wise, the Rio PMP600 is jam packed. Bringing in customizable EQ settings, playlists, a VERY LEGIBLE and bright backlit display, ID3 tag as well as filename display, along with it's superb audio quality make this a nice device. I still feel that the software needs a rewrite, and it's disappointing that it only comes with 32megs of RAM (most people would consider 64megs the sweet spot for a solid-state player), and utilizes proprietary, more costly memory upgrades, in comparison to other players that use standard memory devices.
My personal preference is for CD based players, due
primarily to the cost factor, but these aren't as simple to deal with, or as
convenient as a solid-state player. The storage size advantage the CD based
players have, is also a DISADVANTAGE, as I've yet to see a CD based player that
can adequately manage 150+ mp3's in an easy and meaningful way. The download and
go convenience, and the feature-set of the Rio 600 are very compelling!
If you, or someone on your Christmas list, is an MP3 nut, I'd put the Rio PMP600 on your short list of goodies to consider!
Pros:
Outstanding feature set.
It's a Rio! They invented the category!
Cons
Only comes with 32megs of RAM
Rioport software needs a little work.
Rating: 8/10