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Diamond were one of the first market names to show their hand with the Rio last year and it seemed peerless at the time. Supposedly able to handle hours of music and offering skip free performance, I was quick to slap my £200 on the table. However I have been far from happy with it.
Andy, ... Read review
Advantages: Plays the songs Disadvantages: Skips,doesnt hold the music
...show their hand with the Rio last year and it seemed peerless at the time. Supposedly able to handle hours of music and offering skip free performance, I was quick to slap my £200 on the table. However I have been far from happy with it.
Andy, what is MP3?
Well its a digital format of music that allows the compression of audio without losing quality. This allows many hours of music to be kept in a relatively small space. It ... ...within a sleek case, the Rio looked the part. However, the performance failed to live up to its boasts. Perhaps the haste of its entry to the marketplace lead to some overlooked audio errors.
Although it claims to be skip free, I have had more than a couple of occasions where its advanced "future sound" storage has come a cropper. A sudden jolt or tug leaves it forgetting where it is during a track. It then stops and starts like ... more
MP3 technology is still in its infancy. still, not one to shy away from the advances of science, i went out and jumped head first into the revolution that is portable digital music. Diamond were one of the first market names to show their hand with the Rio last year and it seemed peerless at the time. Supposedly able to handle hours of music and offering skip free performance, I was quick to slap my £200 on the table. However I have been far from happy with it.
Andy, what is MP3? Well its a digital format of music that allows the compression of audio without losing quality. This allows many hours of music to be kept in a relatively small space. It also makes it electronically "portable" between technology such as Computers, MP3 players, etc. The Personal MP3 was destined to become the next generation Walkman. However, Walkmans start at £10, not £80!
Whats it like? Well its a great concept. Offering hours of storage space and a skip free playing system all contained within a sleek case, the Rio looked the part. However, the performance failed to live up to its boasts. Perhaps the haste of its entry to the marketplace lead to some overlooked audio errors. Although it claims to be skip free, I have had more than a couple of occasions where its advanced "future sound" storage has come a cropper. A sudden jolt or tug leaves it forgetting where it is during a track. It then stops and starts like a jumping CD. Not good. Since buying my model, they have improved this skip protection so consider that when buying one.
Next the storage capacity comes under scrutiny. There is no way that you can store 2 hours of music at a decent kilobyte rate on a 64Mb memory stick. The Memory stick replaces the Tape in a walkman or CD in a discman and holds the audio data. When you consider a kilobyte rate of at least 128 to be substantial to not loose any quality, you are looking at only over just 1 hour of music or roughly 16 songs. So One Memory stick is the equivalent to 1 album at decent quality. you can cram loads of songs onto the memory stick if you want at a lower Kilobyte rate but this will then sound like its being played under water.
While on storage, you must remember this: Memory Sticks are NOT like CD's. They are not easily interchangeable media like CD's. You can only change the music you are listening to by downloading new tracks directly from your PC or some other form of media. So you could soon get bored with the same songs on a long journey.
It is also a very expensive device. I dont think the price has come down by much (still retailing at £150) and you can buy one with similar features for about half of this price. Something else to consider when buying!
I think I have slated it enough now. Lets talk about its good points.
Firstly is its compact design. Its small enough to fit in any pocket and light enough for you to not even There are also a few good things about it. It is notice it. That can be a problem if you are forgetful and lose it somewhere. However, I consider lightness and small size to be a plus point with an MP3 player.
The design of the headphones allow them to fit snuggly inside your ears without them being too obtrusive. A design feature that compliments the sleek compact design of the product.
It is also very light on power consumption. CD Discmans will chew through a set of batteries after spinning an album once. The MP3 player will pump out your tunes for up to 12 listens on one Pencil Battery. The lack of moving components meants it is not so power hungry.
Overall it is not the first choice in MP3 player due to its performance and price but it is still a match for most on the market.
Advantages: Very light, Easy to use, Easy to install Disadvantages: Battery run-down even when turned off meaning battery has to be removed when not in use, minimum computer specifications not guaranteed to work
The RIo Diamond PMP300 mp3 player is one of the most effective and price-efficent I have ever come across. I purchased mine about 6 months ago for a cut down price of £65 and my PC at the time was just about better than the ''required specifications''. However, after about a week or so, my mp3 player refused to be recognised by my computer, but this is all ok now as I have since acquired a new computer. So a word of warning to all those who may be ... ...this mp3 player is to try out somebody else's first if you can! This player holds up to 32 MB of mp3 files (I find this is usually around 9-11 songs) and can be upgraded to 64 MB (18-22 songs) for around 70 quid. The software is fairly easy to install and comes with a copy of MusicMatch Juke Box so that you are able to record CD's on to an mp3 format. It also comes with a few test mp3 files so that you are able to test if your mp3 player works. The ...
n1ck_01 23.07.2001 (12.08.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Rio PMP300 32 MB
Advantages: Simplicity, Very light & quite durable Disadvantages: Can give fake reports on battery power.
Rio Portable MP3 Player (32MB memory) - around an album & a half at 96KBPS (mp3 quality) Portable MP3 players have always seemed a good idea to me, with most PC music applications offering features to allow the recording of CD's to mp3 format. Portable CD Players were a good idea but forced you to walk gently down the street in order to avoid the skipping! MP3 players give CD quality without the hassle of large players & fragile discs. The actual ... ...The battery life of Rio (takes 1 aa battery) is quite impressive - 1 battery outlives 2 or 4 in my Walkman & CD player respectively. I have been won over to mp3 by this product, as I was initially sceptical - but providing you have the CD's you want - this is a very easy way to listen to music on the move. Getting mp3's on the web can be quite expensive and is more difficult than you would think though. Links to 2 particular companies come with Rio ...
Gary_Jones 20.12.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Rio PMP300 32 MB
Advantages: cheap, does its job Disadvantages: bit naff looking
...looked much better than the Rio 300, sadly it didn't work with my computer (which is only two years old). It seems that quite a few mp3 players do not like the parallel port software used by the mp3 players, I spent a whole morning in PCworld with my laptop trying out all of the MP3 players before finding the rio, the only one in the shop that worked. So sadly I was forced to get this, but it really isn't as bad as people seem to say, I liked the ... ...nice easy controls and the rio manager software is dead easy to use, and the new upgrades on the internet are very funky. If you have an older computer you may not have much choice, but if you want a good MP3 plaer which is expandable should you be in need of an x-mas present. It doesn't eat up batteries like walkmans and runs on one AA battery. Its pretty drop proof (I tend to drop it all the time, it doesn't complain that much). Tip-get some better ...
onlyme 21.10.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Rio PMP300 32 MB
Advantages: Easy to use, good quality Disadvantages: Expensive
...are effective!
The Diamond Rio PMP300 is a great portable player
It allows one to store up to 64mb (with a extra flash memory card) in one go, and plays with amazing quality
The features are good, and most importantly it is easy to use. Hats of to Diamond for this electronical masterpiece!!!
Lets look forward to the new future of mp3!! ...
farlin69 16.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Rio PMP300 32 MB
Advantages: See article Disadvantages: See article
...the quality is fantastic. The Rio at its basic model which the 300 is has only thirty two meg of Ram, which works out to eight or none songs. I use mine when I am out walking the dog or on my pusbike, skip nonexistant as there are no moving parts there is no skip as there are in the discman. The sound quality is fantastic as long as you have 128bit then its CD quality. Buy one you'll enjoy although you maybe better going for the 500 which has sixty ...
cicymru 14.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Rio PMP300 32 MB
Battery level indication, hold button, pause function, auto power off
Equaliser
Equaliser Factory Presets
Normal, Rock, Jazz, Classic
Equaliser Factory Preset Qty
4
Digital player (recorder)
Supported Digital Audio Standards
WMA, MP3
Playback Modes
A-B repeat, intro scan, random play / shuffle, direct track access, all tracks repeat, one track repeat
Response Bandwidth
20 - 20000 Hz
Signal-To-Noise Ratio
95 dB
Total Harmonic Distortion
0.01%
Headphones
Headphones Type
Headphones - binaural - vertical
Connectivity Technology
Wired
Sound Output Mode
Stereo
Connections
Connector Type
1 x headphones ( mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm )
1 x parallel
Slot Provided
1 x SmartMedia Card
System requirements
OS Required
Microsoft Windows 95 / 98
Min Processor Type
Intel Pentium
Min Processor Speed
90 MHz
Min RAM Size
16 MB
Peripheral / Interface Devices
Parallel port
Manufacturer's 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.
