Rio PMP 300 MP3 Player
Product Description
(Cannot ship outside of USA)
$50 In-box rebate coupon
Plays MP3 music off the Web
Palm-size design, weighs under 3 ounces
No moving parts; won't skip
One-hour play at 64Kbps, 30 minutes at 128Kbps
Near-CD sound quality
Makes MP3 files from your own CDs
Includes stereo headphones, pass-through parallel PC connector, cable, and Windows software
One-year warranty
Product Description:
Taking the Rio to the Next Level! For the true MP3 fanatic, Diamond is proud to offer the Rio PMP300, the player that puts the Internet music into the palm of your hand. With a cool case and a whopping amount of onboard flash memory, it has all of the functionality you could wish for. Forget about the troubles or inconveniences; just enjoy MP3 music with the Rio PMP 300.
Average customer rating: 
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Rio PMP 300 Special-Edition MP3 Player
Manufacturer: Rio ProductGroup: CE Binding: Electronics  CD Players & Recorders
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| Hard Drive-Based
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ASIN: B00000JHYS |
Product Description
The Rio PMP300 player stores your favorite MP3 files in its flash memory so that they can be played anywhere you want to go. Rio's solid-state design makes it impervious to the skipping and jitter experienced with portable CD players. Rio is lightweight, and about the size of a pager. It is perfect for activities like 2 jogging or walking, hiking - just about any activity you like to do.Amazon.com Review
The next generation of digital music players has arrived. This special-edition Diamond Rio comes with an impressive 64 MB of storage, which holds about two hours of music copied from your favorite CDs or downloaded from the Internet. This lightweight unit can be easily upgraded to hold 96 MB of your favorite tunes.The only real improvements over the original Diamond PMP 300 are in storage capacity and cosmetic appearance. Diamond has enhanced the case design of this compact unit with a stylish, transparent teal that distinguishes it from the stodgy, solid-black or metallic design of other portable players. As with the original Rio 300, this special-edition Rio plays MP3-encoded digital music, the open Internet standard that's shaking up the music industry.
This special-edition Rio stores your music files in 64 MB of RAM instead of on CD or tape, so it has no moving parts and won't skip during playback. About the size of a deck of cards, the Diamond Rio weighs under three ounces and can store up to two hour's worth of music encoded at 64 Kbps or about an hour's worth of files at 128 Kbps. The supplied Windows software and PC-connector cable let you upload new selections, delete old ones, change the playback order, and even create new MP3 files from your own CDs.
What about sound quality? MP3 is a compression technique that discards a lot of the information captured by normal CD encoding. True audiophiles will hear the difference. But the overall effect is surprisingly clean, and the Diamond Rio's extreme portability more than makes up for the subtle degradation.
Using the Diamond Rio is fairly simple. You connect the Rio to your PC via its connector cable, which passes through an included parallel-port adapter to your computer. The parallel adapter has a pass-through connector so that you can use the port for your printer or other parallel device. You can easily disconnect the Rio when you are ready to take it on the road. A single AA battery (included) supplies power for the device, which is amazingly lightweight.
We found software installation to be a snap. The default installation puts two applications on your system: the Rio Manager and the MusicMatch Jukebox. These are the same software programs included with the standard Rio PMP 300. You use the Rio Manager to download new selections to the Rio player, delete selections from your lineup, or clear all memory so you can start with a fresh slate. It also lets you view the size of each selection, control the play order, and see how much RAM remains for storing music.
The supplied software also lets you make MP3 files from your own CDs using your computer's CD-ROM drive. You can select 128 Kbps, 80 Kbps, or 64 Kbps encoding. The highest-quality encoding (128 Kbps) will give you the best listening experience, but it comes at a price. MP3 files created in 128 Kbps are twice as big as those encoded at 64 Kbps. If you have plenty of hard-drive space to spare, this may not be an issue. However, storage space for the portable flash-media cards can be somewhat expensive. A 32-MB flash-media card generally sells for about $100.
While this second-generation Rio from Diamond is not a groundbreaking improvement over the original, it is a cool alternative. If you are looking for the largest built-in storage capacity possible in the current wave of MP3 music players, this is the unit for you.
Pros:
Cons:
Amazon.com Product Description
Taking the Rio to the Next Level! For the true MP3 fanatic, Diamond is proud to offer the Rio PMP300 Special Edition. With a cool transparent teal case and a whopping 64MB of onboard flash memory, it has all of the functionality of the original Rio PMP300 plus an additional hour of digital-quality audio.Customer Reviews:
waste of money!.......2005-01-27
I love it, but..........2003-11-13
As many have mentioned, it holds about 30 minutes of music, unless you can find a memory card (I'm not sure if they are even made anymore, but I have seen them for sale) which will give you a whopping hour. If you're just going to use this for walking the dog around the block, or standing in line, or a quick run in the morning, this isn't such a big deal.
The USB-type cord is primitive and weird, so you'll probably be using the parallel port adapter, which isn't really a problem, but can be an inconvenience if you have a lot of things that use your parallel ports.
I'm pretty sure the company no longer supports this device or its software, since they have gone on to bigger and better things since its debut. Caveat emptor.
Also, it is not compatible with anything after Windows 98, but you can get around that easily by downloading the free program "Dreaming of Brazil" which works with XP, NT, and 2000. (Google search for "Diamond Rio mp3 player" or "Dreaming of Brazil.")
A few pointers from my humble experience with the Rio PMP300:
If the headphones it comes with break, you can replace them with any headphones that fit the headphone jack. You should also take the battery out of the Rio when you aren't using it-- it sucks energy when it's idle. If you happen to need a little bit of misc. storage space, you can use the Dreaming of Brazil program to transfer any items that will fit, which can be handy.
I imagine this is not the best mp3 player you can buy, but if you can get it cheap, it's still a pretty good one. The main problem I have is the tiny amount of storage space and compatibility issues. Shop around for an iPod or a newer Rio or something if you're very concerned with absolute top quality.
The Diamond Rio PMP300.......2003-07-12
rio mp3 player pmp300.......2003-03-20
Piece of [junk] if you ask me.........2002-10-12
But then, after about a year, my Rio failed me. The battery compartment flap came loose and refused to stay closed. I tried taping it shut, but as I usually clipped the Rio to my pocket, gravity worked against me to keep the battery continually falling out of the bottom. Every time I so much as shifted in my chair, the song would restart because the battery had gotten loose and caused the Rio to power off.
What's worse is that SonicBlue blatantly refused to replace the player even though it was clearly a product defect and though I had a warranty. Their reason is that this product is a "legacy" product now..so even though they're apparently still manufacturing this thing, they won't do anything to fix it. I'm never buying from them again.
Average customer rating:
|
Rio PMP 300 MP3 Player
Manufacturer: Rio ProductGroup: CE Binding: Electronics CD Players & Recorders
| Audio & Video
| Categories
| Electronics
| CD Players
| CD Recorders
| DJ CD Players
| Portable CD Players
Up to 64 MB
| Flash Drive-Based
| MP3 Players
| Audio & Video
| Categories
| Electronics
MP3 Players
| Portable Audio & Video
| Refurbished & Used
| Special Features
| Electronics Features
| Electronics
Audio & Video
| Refurbished & Used
| Special Features
| Electronics Features
| Electronics
Portable Audio
| Rio
| Brands
| Electronics Features
| Electronics
Accessories:
Product Features:
ASIN: B00000JBAT |
Product Description
Taking the Rio to the Next Level! For the true MP3 fanatic, Diamond is proud to offer the Rio PMP300, the player that puts the Internet music into the palm of your hand. With a cool case and a whopping amount of onboard flash memory, it has all of the functionality you could wish for. Forget about the troubles or inconveniences; just enjoy MP3 music with the Rio PMP 300.Amazon.com Review
Welcome to the future of personal audio. The tiny Diamond Rio player plays MP3-encoded digital music, the open Internet standard that's shaking up the industry. It stores your music files in 32 MB of RAM instead of on CD or tape, so it has no moving parts and it can't skip.About the size of a deck of cards, the Diamond Rio player weighs under three ounces and can store up to an hour's worth of music files encoded at 64 Kbps or half an hour's worth of files at 128 Kbps. The supplied Windows software and PC connector cable let you upload new selections, delete old ones, change the playback order, and even create new MP3 files from your own CDs.
What about sound quality? MP3 is a compression technique that discards a lot of the information captured by normal CD encoding. True audiophiles will hear the difference. But the overall effect is surprisingly clean, and the Diamond Rio's extreme portability more than makes up for the subtle degradation.
The Diamond Rio connects to your PC by a parallel-port adapter. In our tests, hardware setup consisted of nothing more than plugging the supplied parallel adapter into our PC's parallel port, attaching the connector cable, and dropping a single AA battery (supplied) into the Diamond Rio unit. The parallel adapter has a pass-through connector so that you can use the port for your printer or other parallel device.
Software installation under Windows 98 also went without a hitch. The default installation puts two applications on your system: the Rio Manager and the MusicMatch Jukebox. You use the Rio Manager to download new selections to the Rio player, delete selections from your lineup, or clear all memory so you can start with a fresh slate. It also lets you view the size of each selection, control the play order, and see how much RAM you have left for storing music. We downloaded a bunch of MP3 music files off the Web to the Windows desktop, dragged them into the Rio Manager, and clicked on Download. Approximately three minutes later, we had stored 30 minutes of digital music.
The supplied software lets you make MP3 files from your own CDs using your computer's CD-ROM drive. You can select 128 Kbps, 80 Kbps, or 64 Kbps encoding. The highest-quality 128 Kbps encoding is definitely worth using for music you really care about, but it creates files that are twice as big as those encoded at 64 Kbps. This means you'll be able to store only about 32 minutes of music at a time.
The Diamond Rio is a computer peripheral, and, as such, it's not quite as easy to install or use as a conventional portable audio gadget. But it delivers great sound, extreme portability, and access to the wealth of MP3 music on the Web. It's a trailblazing technology that's a pleasure to experience.
Pros:
Amazon.com Product Description
Internet Music in the Palm of Your Hand! Diamond's Rio PMP300 is the first portable MP3 music player for under $200 that stores up to 60 minutes of digital-quality sound. It's smaller than an audio cassette and has no moving parts, so it never skips. Powered by a single AA battery, Rio provides up to 12 hours of continuous music playback.Customer Reviews:
waste of money!.......2005-01-27
I love it, but..........2003-11-13
As many have mentioned, it holds about 30 minutes of music, unless you can find a memory card (I'm not sure if they are even made anymore, but I have seen them for sale) which will give you a whopping hour. If you're just going to use this for walking the dog around the block, or standing in line, or a quick run in the morning, this isn't such a big deal.
The USB-type cord is primitive and weird, so you'll probably be using the parallel port adapter, which isn't really a problem, but can be an inconvenience if you have a lot of things that use your parallel ports.
I'm pretty sure the company no longer supports this device or its software, since they have gone on to bigger and better things since its debut. Caveat emptor.
Also, it is not compatible with anything after Windows 98, but you can get around that easily by downloading the free program "Dreaming of Brazil" which works with XP, NT, and 2000. (Google search for "Diamond Rio mp3 player" or "Dreaming of Brazil.")
A few pointers from my humble experience with the Rio PMP300:
If the headphones it comes with break, you can replace them with any headphones that fit the headphone jack. You should also take the battery out of the Rio when you aren't using it-- it sucks energy when it's idle. If you happen to need a little bit of misc. storage space, you can use the Dreaming of Brazil program to transfer any items that will fit, which can be handy.
I imagine this is not the best mp3 player you can buy, but if you can get it cheap, it's still a pretty good one. The main problem I have is the tiny amount of storage space and compatibility issues. Shop around for an iPod or a newer Rio or something if you're very concerned with absolute top quality.
The Diamond Rio PMP300.......2003-07-12
rio mp3 player pmp300.......2003-03-20
Piece of [junk] if you ask me.........2002-10-12
But then, after about a year, my Rio failed me. The battery compartment flap came loose and refused to stay closed. I tried taping it shut, but as I usually clipped the Rio to my pocket, gravity worked against me to keep the battery continually falling out of the bottom. Every time I so much as shifted in my chair, the song would restart because the battery had gotten loose and caused the Rio to power off.
What's worse is that SonicBlue blatantly refused to replace the player even though it was clearly a product defect and though I had a warranty. Their reason is that this product is a "legacy" product now..so even though they're apparently still manufacturing this thing, they won't do anything to fix it. I'm never buying from them again.
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