Rio Forge 256MB Sport MP3 Player Review! - Page 6

betterdays · 25th Jan 2005, 06:00 PM

Hello from France
Great review indeed! I have a few questions as this Rio seems VERY tempting...

can it load and follow m3u playlists?
can you store several radio presets? or do you have to dive through the whole band everytime?
are the earbuds orientable so that they face the ear holes like this Sony model?
isn't the battery/card cover a bit flimsy, easy to pop off while the player is in your pocket? and the latch prone to break? I have the gut feeling that some manufacturers have problems with designing proper door hinges (or even putting one on the device) that have a chance to last more than 1 year before wearing off!!
and that usb cover sure looks fragile and easy to lose (why oh why didn't they make it a sliding door?).
not vital, but can you record more than one song from the radio? I know, it might sound silly but I ask anyway, as my mobile phone has a vocal memo that can only record 1 memo!
how is the quality of the recordings (44kHz/16bit cd quality)? are they done in mp3 or some weird ADPCM with weirdo quality like the Muvo V200?
can you turn off the backlight to save juice? does it have an auto off?
fingerprints apart, does the shell look fragile enough to get scratched and lose the silver paint or is the plastic of a solid color? because I'm thinking of buying the 128MB version which comes in RED only and could be a problem if it starts to reveal the colorless shell plastic... from the review it seems that the interior of the 256MB version is of the same grey as the outside? that would be good news.

thanks in advance for shedding a light on my doubts... this little thing sure looks interesting, kudos to Rio for continuing to make memory-card based mp3 players (too bad they don't use CF which are quite cheap and I have several of these already). I just can't justify the purchase of a non-upgradeable memory non-USB key mp3 player with 1GB of fixed ram!! but with this Rio, I go for the smallest onboard ram and get myself 1 or 2 1GB cards... which I can use in my camera when I need storage

bye all

hyper_raider · 25th Jan 2005, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by betterdays

Hello from France
Great review indeed! I have a few questions as this Rio seems VERY tempting...

can it load and follow m3u playlists?
can you turn off the backlight to save juice? does it have an auto off?
fingerprints apart, does the shell look fragile enough to get scratched and lose the silver paint or is the plastic of a solid color? because I'm thinking of buying the 128MB version which comes in RED only and could be a problem if it starts to reveal the colorless shell plastic... from the review it seems that the interior of the 256MB version is of the same grey as the outside? that would be good news.

thanks in advance for shedding a light on my doubts... this little thing sure looks interesting, kudos to Rio for continuing to make memory-card based mp3 players (too bad they don't use CF which are quite cheap and I have several of these already). I just can't justify the purchase of a non-upgradeable memory non-USB key mp3 player with 1GB of fixed ram!! but with this Rio, I go for the smallest onboard ram and get myself 1 or 2 1GB cards... which I can use in my camera when I need storage

bye all

I can answer a few of your questions
1)yes it can load m3u playlist
2)Yes you can turn the backlight off
3)No this Rio player is design for sports so i would say that it is a pretty solid player therefore it wont be fragile..although u shouldnt just go dropping it all the time

Its a good idea to get a flash card to increase memory storage...but you would wanna check out the Rio website to see what is the maximum amount of storage that it can take for the flash drive slot....

I hope this helps

PsYkHoTiK · 26th Jan 2005, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by betterdays

Hello from France
Great review indeed! I have a few questions as this Rio seems VERY tempting...

can it load and follow m3u playlists?
can you store several radio presets? or do you have to dive through the whole band everytime?
are the earbuds orientable so that they face the ear holes like this Sony model?
isn't the battery/card cover a bit flimsy, easy to pop off while the player is in your pocket? and the latch prone to break? I have the gut feeling that some manufacturers have problems with designing proper door hinges (or even putting one on the device) that have a chance to last more than 1 year before wearing off!!
and that usb cover sure looks fragile and easy to lose (why oh why didn't they make it a sliding door?).
not vital, but can you record more than one song from the radio? I know, it might sound silly but I ask anyway, as my mobile phone has a vocal memo that can only record 1 memo!
how is the quality of the recordings (44kHz/16bit cd quality)? are they done in mp3 or some weird ADPCM with weirdo quality like the Muvo V200?
can you turn off the backlight to save juice? does it have an auto off?
fingerprints apart, does the shell look fragile enough to get scratched and lose the silver paint or is the plastic of a solid color? because I'm thinking of buying the 128MB version which comes in RED only and could be a problem if it starts to reveal the colorless shell plastic... from the review it seems that the interior of the 256MB version is of the same grey as the outside? that would be good news.

thanks in advance for shedding a light on my doubts... this little thing sure looks interesting, kudos to Rio for continuing to make memory-card based mp3 players (too bad they don't use CF which are quite cheap and I have several of these already). I just can't justify the purchase of a non-upgradeable memory non-USB key mp3 player with 1GB of fixed ram!! but with this Rio, I go for the smallest onboard ram and get myself 1 or 2 1GB cards... which I can use in my camera when I need storage

bye all

Hi betterdays! Welcome to ARP forums!

Apart from what hyper raider has answered, the stock earbuds are flexible and will fit any ear.

The battery cover isn't flimsy at all. In fact, I find it kinda tough to get the darn thing off sometimes...

You can set the presets on the player.
The FM recordings are ADCPM WAV files and you can have more than one recording..
I totally agree with you on the USB plub...

By the way, the 128mb version doesn't come with FM tuner.

The plastic bezel looks good. Its scratched already

but I don't see any discolorations.

I hope that helped you.

betterdays · 27th Jan 2005, 02:59 PM

thank you both for the answers...

I went to a shop yesterday and touched some mp3 players... I was first amazed at the general "cheap" look/construction most of these players have... I mean, who knows what they will look like in just 1 year, after spending their life in a pocket... all this painted plastic, fake chromes, all those flimsy doors... how sad. When I grabbed the Forge I had that same feeling... so I asked the vendor if that was a fake demo unit (you know, with no working LCD and fake buttons etc like in phone shops) and GASP it wasn't... it sure felt cheap, to my greatest pain. Maybe it's because it's so small and light. I was worried by the "chromey" 4-way pad, sure nice when new but how does it survive the wear?
has anyone here owned the Forge long enough and noticed the shiny covering wearing off and revealing the red backlight? what about the markings on it, can you still read the symbols?

isn't the screen surface easy to scratch with its bump?
why oh why didn't they make it flat, recessed into the chrome plate protected from damage?? yes I know, I should look into working at Rio's design center. No, I just want acceptable quality for my Euros!!

sadly, I'm currently looking hard at the Thomson Lyra range... terrible looks, but seem less prone to scratch and wear out... No radio either, but hey, does it even work in the Forge?

Also looking at the ST Lab "smallpod" and its minimalist liliputian OLED display
http://www.sunsway.com.hk/photo/a8-2.jpg

I'm puzzled. HELP!!!

hyper_raider · 27th Jan 2005, 03:17 PM

Oh darn i didnt own a forge...i used to own a Nitrus though...

casiomp3 · 18th Dec 2005, 04:06 AM

I have only just read the review but there are a few questions I would like to ask about this player.

1) Does the player , when switched off, remember which track it played when it is switched back on?

2) When switching the player on does it play the music straight away or has this got to be started manually?

Regards

CasioMp3

25th Jan 2005, 06:00 PM	#51 (permalink)
betterdays Newbie Join Date: 25 Jan 2005 Posts: 2 Reputation: 0 Rep Power: 0	Hello from France Great review indeed! I have a few questions as this Rio seems VERY tempting... can it load and follow m3u playlists? can you store several radio presets? or do you have to dive through the whole band everytime? are the earbuds orientable so that they face the ear holes like this Sony model? isn't the battery/card cover a bit flimsy, easy to pop off while the player is in your pocket? and the latch prone to break? I have the gut feeling that some manufacturers have problems with designing proper door hinges (or even putting one on the device) that have a chance to last more than 1 year before wearing off!! and that usb cover sure looks fragile and easy to lose (why oh why didn't they make it a sliding door?). not vital, but can you record more than one song from the radio? I know, it might sound silly but I ask anyway, as my mobile phone has a vocal memo that can only record 1 memo! how is the quality of the recordings (44kHz/16bit cd quality)? are they done in mp3 or some weird ADPCM with weirdo quality like the Muvo V200? can you turn off the backlight to save juice? does it have an auto off? fingerprints apart, does the shell look fragile enough to get scratched and lose the silver paint or is the plastic of a solid color? because I'm thinking of buying the 128MB version which comes in RED only and could be a problem if it starts to reveal the colorless shell plastic... from the review it seems that the interior of the 256MB version is of the same grey as the outside? that would be good news. thanks in advance for shedding a light on my doubts... this little thing sure looks interesting, kudos to Rio for continuing to make memory-card based mp3 players (too bad they don't use CF which are quite cheap and I have several of these already). I just can't justify the purchase of a non-upgradeable memory non-USB key mp3 player with 1GB of fixed ram!! but with this Rio, I go for the smallest onboard ram and get myself 1 or 2 1GB cards... which I can use in my camera when I need storage bye all

27th Jan 2005, 03:17 PM	#55 (permalink)
hyper_raider shutdown -h now Join Date: 15 Aug 2003 Location: in front of my pc Posts: 6,001 Reputation: 1078 Rep Power: 22	Oh darn i didnt own a forge...i used to own a Nitrus though... __________________ "God does not play dice with the universe." - Albert Einstein (1879-1955) http://edward-lim.blogspot.com

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27th Jan 2005, 02:59 PM	#54 (permalink)
betterdays Newbie Join Date: 25 Jan 2005 Posts: 2 Reputation: 0 Rep Power: 0	thank you both for the answers... I went to a shop yesterday and touched some mp3 players... I was first amazed at the general "cheap" look/construction most of these players have... I mean, who knows what they will look like in just 1 year, after spending their life in a pocket... all this painted plastic, fake chromes, all those flimsy doors... how sad. When I grabbed the Forge I had that same feeling... so I asked the vendor if that was a fake demo unit (you know, with no working LCD and fake buttons etc like in phone shops) and GASP it wasn't... it sure felt cheap, to my greatest pain. Maybe it's because it's so small and light. I was worried by the "chromey" 4-way pad, sure nice when new but how does it survive the wear? has anyone here owned the Forge long enough and noticed the shiny covering wearing off and revealing the red backlight? what about the markings on it, can you still read the symbols? isn't the screen surface easy to scratch with its bump? why oh why didn't they make it flat, recessed into the chrome plate protected from damage?? yes I know, I should look into working at Rio's design center. No, I just want acceptable quality for my Euros!! sadly, I'm currently looking hard at the Thomson Lyra range... terrible looks, but seem less prone to scratch and wear out... No radio either, but hey, does it even work in the Forge? Also looking at the ST Lab "smallpod" and its minimalist liliputian OLED display http://www.sunsway.com.hk/photo/a8-2.jpg I'm puzzled. HELP!!!

18th Dec 2005, 04:06 AM	#56 (permalink)
casiomp3 Newbie Join Date: 18 Dec 2005 Posts: 1 Reputation: 0 Rep Power: 0	I have only just read the review but there are a few questions I would like to ask about this player. 1) Does the player , when switched off, remember which track it played when it is switched back on? 2) When switching the player on does it play the music straight away or has this got to be started manually? Regards CasioMp3