| Diamond Rio 500 Reviewed by: Michael Flaminio Review Date: 2.14.00 Manufacturer: Diamond Multimedia MSRP: $270 (US) |
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The Rio 500 from Diamond Multimedia is the long-awaiting portable MP3 device from
the company that adds Mac OS support. The portable MP3 player has a USB interface
that links into the Mac and the MP3 software SoundJam MP. With the Rio 500, Mac users
can take about an hour of MP3 tunes on the go.
MP3
MP3 is a practical way to store and playback music on your computer. A standard MP3
file is relatively small and can be stored on storage drives. As a comparison, a
typical audio CD can store a little over an hour of music. On the other hand, a data
CD with MP3 files can store about 12 hours of music. With the MP3 format, Mac users
can easily manage their favorite songs to create the ultimate jukebox.
A typical MP3 song is about 4 MB. Using a standard compression setting, you can obtain
a pretty good time/data ratio. With typical MP3 files, you can generally compress
a four-minute song to about 4 MB. The MP3 format is very flexible, and allows users
to modify the compression to their liking. For example, if you're recording voice,
you can use a much higher compression scheme, which will save on disk space. On the
other hand, if you want a piece of music to sound its best, you can increase the
quality of the sampling and file size.
While not as good as higher-quality CD music, MP3 wins out on convenience. While
for the most part, an MP3 song and its original are very close in audio quality,
there is definitely a difference. In a practical sense however, MP3 files are just
great, especially for computer speaker systems. But what do you do when you want
to play MP3s away from your computer?
Rio: MP3 to Go
The Rio 500 ships with 64 MB of RAM. With this, you can store about hour worth of
music. Again, your mileage may vary, depending on how the MP3s were encoded. If 64
MB is not enough, additional memory cards can be purchased. The memory slides into
an expansion slot, which adds to the total onboard memory, but the Rio 500 can only
be upgraded to 96 MB of RAM. The killer here is that a 32-MB expansion costs $99,
which is a bit to spend for about only a half-hour of additional music.
The Rio is made to go on the run. It's very small and light. Best of all, there are
no moving parts, so you won't have to worry about skipping. Another benefit of its
design, the Rio 500 has an exceptional battery life. It runs off of a single AA battery,
and according to Diamond, can run 13 hours. I burned through my first battery just
last week. It took over two months for me, and while I didn't use it every day, I
did put it through its paces. The promised 13 hours sound pretty close to me.
Another great feature of the Rio is the built in USB interface. The Rio is compatible
with all USB-equipped Macs. With USB, Mac users can transfer files quickly to the
Rio. It took under three minutes for me to transfer a full 64-MB to the Rio. With
the quick transfer, say for example if you're heading out for walk around the block
or a trip on the subway, you can sit down, click and point what you want to listen
to and be on your way in minutes.
Conclusion
I like the Rio 500. I had a portable CD and MD player, and both are now broken. The
Rio 500 looks to be my next step in portable audio. I'm hoping that since it has
no moving parts, it will to be rugged enough to get bounced around a little. Plus,
with its exceptional battery life, I won't need to keep feeding it batteries.
The Rio is the quickest way to compile and transfer audio files on the go. The MP3
format is very compact and convenient, which is great for storing on hard disks or
CDs. The Rio allows you to quickly move specific data off of your Mac and out the
door.
Pros: Light, compact designs. Long batter life. Quick USB transfers.
Cons: Limited RAM expansion. Expensive RAM upgrades.
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