RioVolt SP90 Portable CD-MP3 Player with 120 Seconds Anti-Skip
[Archived in MP3-CD Players, Products, RioVolt]
Manufacturer: RioVolt
Price at amazon.com:
New from $89.99List price $99.99
- Plays standard audio CDs as well as MP3- and WMA-encoded discs (potential for over 20 hours of music on 1 disc)
- Electronic shock protection up to 120 seconds
- Supports ID3 tags and audio CD title display (CD Text)
- 15-hour battery life using only 2 AA batteries
- Easy navigation on large LCD. Resume Play feature.
Product Description:
Average Customer Rating:
Comment: SP-90 player, the best thing that I have ever bought Rating:
Ok let me break this down for you who are considering purchasing this.
1. The firmware is not supose to be upgradeable, but it is. Download the firmware upgrade from riovolt.com for the SP-100, this is the medium range model that is upgradeable. Look for instructions on how to make a hack for the .hex file.
2.When upgraded their is no gap in between two songs if u dont skid ahead.
3.My cd player does not skip.
4.The navigation button
5.A line of text taken up for a person dancing (ok thats kind of stupid, but that's no big deal)
6. New version of firmware loads much faster and supports multiple M3U files
7. The battery lid is not as loose as eveyone says it is. I think mine holds fine ( if you didn't say that others are loose, I would not have even considered mine to be loose)
8. The new firmware lets you turn off the cd player, open it up and it will still pick up back where it was at!
9.The 2.10 firmware lets your music fade in when you start it up so it isn't to loud at the second you turn it on.
10. Everything is great about it, no skipping and the upgrade makes the player even better. If you need any cd player, then I would HIGHLY recomend this one (1 year parts and labor warrenty).
By the way, do not buy sony cd players, they are great, but if the product breaks, they do not stand behind their warrenty. I know this from experience. The spindle shattered on it and they wouldn't help me at all. So if u buy any Sony product, then don't be suprized if it will cost as much or more to have the product fixed, they are a buy-at-your-own-risk company.
Go with Rio, they have a one year parts and labor, Sony just has 3 months on labor.
Comment: Cheaply Made, Sounds Very Good Rating:
I bought this back in late May of this year using the pick-up from Circuit City option here on Amazon (this works extremely well) because I wanted a relatively inexpensive MP3 CD player. Overall I am happy with it, but the build quality and not-so-good anti-skip are somewhat big drawbacks.
First of all, the firmware that comes on the unit stinks. It produces good sound quality but lacks a lot of features. As is common with owners of these units I followed instructions on how to install the version 2.04 firmware for the RioVolt IMP100. With this firmware this unit is quite nice. It has very little delay between tracks and allows for Winamp playlists among other things. The firmware, either original or upgraded, is quite easy to use once you get used to it and works well enough.
The display is only 2 lines with a rather stupid-looking dancing figure on the bottom half. But that 2-line space is used very effectively by the firmware.
As for sound quality, it is very good. It is a step above my SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 sound card in my computer for both MP3s and regular audio CDs. The equalizer isn't anything to brag about, but it is quite effective for getting the most out of small portable headphones. The earbuds that come with this thing are pretty decent, especially if you add some foam pads to them. But I highly recommend some Sony MDR-829LP earbuds instead, as these will provide far superior sound quality and good bass, especially if you double up on the foam pads with them and adjust the EQ a bit.
As for build quality, it stinks. Quite cheaply made and I doubt that I will be able to use this thing for more than a year or two without it falling apart. And the anti-skip function is not very effective if you have the CD player in a pocket in your jacket and are walking at anything but a snail's pace. Otherwise, the anti-skip works fine and should work flawlessly in a car or other place where it is sitting flat.
For the money this is quite a nice MP3 CD player especially in the sound quality department. But you get what you pay for in build quality, though. Maybe a little less.
Comment: Good deal at first....until it breaks Rating:
I got this player about a year and a half ago, used it mainly for travelling at first, then around the apartment instead of stereo (nice especially when you want to listen privately or not wake up neighbors). BUT, after fairly light use during this time, it now doesn't work....most of the time I'll pop in an mp3 cd, and it will 'choke', and display will read "no disk" error message. Sadly, this appears to be a common problem with this model (search the net and rio forums). So, until it happens, it's a great player for the money...but be aware, it's NOT a long-lasting player...moderate usage will get you 12-18 months, I think, and heavy usage, mmmmaybe a year.....me, I'm replacing with a Sony ;)
If you do buy one, batteries in mp3 mode last about 10 hours in my experience, and only a few hours for normal cd's (2-4hrs). I used NiMH rechargables with no problem. ALso, there is a 'hack' on the web where you can update the firmware of this model with a version 2.10 which gives you more options....intended for the SP-100, I think.
Posted at November 11, 2003 07:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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