Volume options range from 1-20, with 20 obviously being the loudest. While the max volume settings won't hurt your ears, they are more than enough to block out any ambient noise. Unfortunately the included headphones are the kind I most utterly hate. Instead of including some nice high-quality foldable headphones Diamond opted for the cheaper, and more portable 'ear phones' as I call them. Sound quality was just OK using these headphones, but spending $30 on a nice pair of digital Sony foldable headphones quickly remedied the situation.

One of my most favorite features of the Rio 500 is the use of a USB connection as apposed to the more traditional and dog-slow parallel port. Being approximately 10-15x faster than the parallel port, I was able to download a 5MB song (about 5minutes worth) in just under 11 seconds. Don't forget the book-marking feature that allows you to save your place in either spoken audio or songs.

What about the software?

The included RioPort Audio Manager lets you rip CDs (into either WMA or MP3s), organize your MP3s, send MP3s to your Rio and connect to rioport.com. The RioPort Audio Manager also includes an MP3/CD audio player, which looks and works much like the infamous Winamp.

Next >>

<< Previous