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Diamond Multimedia's Rio line of MP3 players has always been
topnotch--and the latest iteration, the Rio 600, proves no exception. The
nifty-looking Rio 600 also offers detachable faceplates, allowing users to
customize its appearance (although they are a bit pricey).
But it's not the aesthetics of the Rio that we liked so much (although the
?ber-trendy, over-the-ear headphones make another nice touch). What
really makes the Rio unique is just how simple it is to use. From
installation to manipulation of the player interface or the Rio Audio
Manager software, it's as easy as MP1-2-3. Intuitive on all counts, the
Rio rarely forced us to consult the manual--whether we were in the
middle of setup, switching songs on the road, or transferring MP3s.
In addition to the nearly ubiquitous MP3 format, the Rio 600 also handles
the new Windows Media Audio (WMA) format, and Diamond says it will
be software upgradable to upcoming formats. One knock on the 600 is
the fact that it ships with only 32 MB of flash memory. While this can
handle over an hour of WMA-formatted material, it holds only around 30
minutes of MP3 playback. To compensate, the Rio 600 will be
upgradable to 372 MB of total memory, and Diamond offers a unique
upgrade approach. They'll sell the memory enhancements as new backs
to the player, providing different types of memory that users can choose
from and, as Diamond puts it, "future-proofing" the player against
diverse upcoming memory types.
The USB-only interface proves to be another double-edged sword. On
the one side, you need to be running Windows 98 or later to hook up the
Rio to your PC. (For the Mac, you'll need a USB port and Mac OS 8.51
or higher.) On the other, the transfer rate is like a hare compared to
older tortoise players using parallel ports. It took only around 10 seconds
to move a 4-minute MP3 song from our PC to the Rio.
The Rio 600 is not a perfect player--32 MB just isn't enough for taking
songs on the road and it lacks a belt clip--but the other players on the
market aren't earning perfect marks either (yet). And with its unique
format and memory upgrades, the Rio 600 is built to last. ViArt PHP Shopping Cart
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