I’d already read a number of very positive reviews of the RioVolt MP3 player, so when I happened across one in Best Buy the other day, I grabbed it on impulse. For the most part, the RioVolt lives up to the hype.
Unlike MP3 players that rely on flash memory, the RioVolt plays CDs burned with MP3s (it can also play regular CDs as well). Unlike some of the first MP3 CD players, the RioVolt makes it relatively easy to navigate through a CD that might contain hundreds of songs.
The big advantage it has over something like Philips Expanium MP3 CD player is that the RioVolt can recognize and display ID3 tags which means that when you’re navigating a subdirectory you see something like “U2 – Beautiful Day” rather than “Directory 3 – Track 5.” Currently the RioVolt supports up to 999 tracks on a single CD. The navigation buttons are relatively straightforward and navigating through CDs with hundreds of MP3s is easy.
I burned several different CDs containing MP3s encoded at 128kbs through 320 kbs, and the RioVolt handled them fine. The one disappointment I had on playback was that the much-touted skip protection wasn’t really that effective. I had no problem making the player skip routinely at even low encoding rates.
The buttons on the unit and the included remote control are also extremely sensitive. A number of times I was listening to music with the unit in my coat pocket when slight pressure on the exterior of the coat caused the unit’s Pause or Stop buttons to engage. RioVolt has the standard “Hold” switch feature, so there is a workaround.
The player’s software is also upgradeable. Just copy the latest firmware release off the RioVolt web site, burn it as the only file on a CD-R, put it in the player and turn it on.
Battery life is excellent. It’s rated to play for about 15 hours on two AA batteries. I didn’t actually test the unit to see how long it would last before going dead, but my rechargeables were still going strong after 10 hours of use.
At only $170, as long as you’ve got a computer with a CD-R/W drive and are comfortable burning MP3 CDs, at the moment the RioVolt offers what I think is the best combination of features at a reasonable price.