Bij de USB Workshop is een review online gezet van de Diamond Rio 500 MP3 speler. Met 64MB aan opslagcapaciteit zou hij zo'n 2 uur aan MP3 encoded audio moeten opslaan. De prijs van 270 dollar vind ik persoonlijk nog steeds aan de hoge kant voor zo'n ding. Anyway, hieronder vast wat info:
Rio 500 is designed solely for one purpose: MP3 music playback. And that's all this player does. Without voice recording and FM tuner that Nomad has, Rio 500 has a hard time to justify the price for all-around users. But it certainly does a decent job for hardcore MP3 fans.With 64MB onboard memory, Rio 500 can save up to 2 hours of MP3 music encoded at 64Kbps or 50 songs or 32 hours of spoken audio content. The 50-songs limitation that does not pose a problem because with the maximum memory available, 96MB, Rio 500 can only save about 40 songs encoded at 64kbps.
Other than MP3 support, the player also embraces other audio formats, such as Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Audible format.
Rio SmartMedia flash cards
Rio 500 relies on SmartMedia flash cards for additional storage; both 16MB and 32MB are available for $60 and $100 respectively. Its SmartMedia cards are the same as the ones used for Rio 300. This saves some money for Rio 300 owners who will upgrade to Rio 500. SmartMedia cards formatted for Rio 500 are not usable in other devices (digital cameras, palm tops) with SmartMedia slots. There is a small utility, still in beta, on Diamond website for those who want their Rio-SmartMedia cards to work with other devices.
