Rio S35S Sport Digital Audio Player

• 128 MB on-board memory; expandable up to 256 MB via MMC cards
• Supports MP3 or WMA files; upgradeable for future music formats; PC and Mac compatible
• Integrated FM tuner, clock, and stopwatch; water and impact resistant
• Up to 10 hours' playback on one AAA battery; accepts NiMH rechargeables
• Includes earbuds, carry case with clip and armband, AAA battery, USB cable, and music management software

I've been running for about a year now and have found that my endurance has increased throughout the months. This meant that my time spent running became longer, which then lead to a need for keeping my mind busy with music. In the past I've used several methods of listening while running (holding a cd player, making mixed tapes, radio sets) and they all failed miserably. So I forked out the money to purchase this little guy because it was right up my alley: a. 128mb is more than enough music for me and b. my computer is my home jukebox, w/all my cds ripped to my hard drive.

Pros:

-rubberized casing that is part of the player (practical and stylish)

-came with an arm strap and belt clip, I prefer the belt clip

-pretty small for an upgradeable device

-added feature of a stopwatch

-single 'AAA' battery

-nice integration with XP

Cons:

-stopwatch is a little difficult to access.

-"lock" requires holding two buttons...not that bad

-bundled software (Rio Music Manager) is not that great

-could've done without the display to make it cheaper

Bottom Line:

It's a great player for exercising, but I'm sure Rio could've abandoned the need for a display and backlight. Personally, I feel there's no need to display the song title because I remember what I uploaded to the player. But I'm happy because I have the opportunity to upgrade it in the near future!

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I love my new SonicBlue Rio! After having read every user review ...I had some reservations with the key complaints (which were relatively minor to begin with): FM radio, software use/compatibility, and headset comfort. But given Amazon.com's competitively low price by far, I went ahead with the purchase.

When I received it (approx. 2 days using regular shipping), I had prepared myself to encounter problems with the aforementioned. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find the FM stereo feature not only works very well, but it did so both at the office (inside a 5-story building) and at the gym (converted industrial steel & concrete building). While the FM radio feature is usually not the reason one buys an MP3 player, it does come in handy when tuning into the TV monitors at the gym.

The software installed quickly and is very user-friendly. The downloads only take a matter of minutes for an entire playlist.

The earphones/headset is not only comfortable, but fits securely in both ears. The overall quality of sound is quite good, but as other users have mentioned, if you're a real audiophile, simply invest in a better headset that provides the heavy bass, etc. Otherwise, I doubt one would notice the difference much.

The unit itself fits ergonomically in either hand. The backlighting in the display is very useful, but the text can be too small to read when engaged in rigorous workouts, but that's somewhat expected in such a compact device anyway. The option to wear it on your arm or use the belt clip is also a big plus.

I don't know if it helps to lower one's expectations, but this unit worked out very well for me. After thoroughly comparing it to others in and out of it's class, I'd highly recommend this product. It's well worth the small investment! The only thing missing is a "free set of Ginsu Knives" to accompany it!

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I was getting fed up of the talkshows in the morning and the advertising tirades in the evening on my sony tuner while working-out. I depend on music quite a lot for my running, so finally had to break down and buy an mp3 player. I am so glad I chose S35S, because it fits everything I had in mind. Light, tough, efficient and trendy. I upgraded to 256MB about a day after the purchase. The 128MB MMC (card) is about 80 bucks, but a good investment as it doubles the song numbers. I have about 100 songs in .WMA(the only way to go, since mp3 is usually about double the file size as wma) saved with some space left over, and with the shuffle mode on, working out to music is a breeze. Battery life is very good, about 10-12 hours on 1 AAA. I also upgraded to a Sony streetstyle (MDR57 ??) headphones which are much better than the supplied ones. The back-lit display and menu options are very easy to learn and operate.

The set up software couldn't be easier to use, with downloading and managing the songs the fastest I have seen.

There is a mail-in rebate offered by SonicBlue till January 03, so go for it right now, if you're in the market for a mp3 player for the fitness minded folks, or anyone for that matter.

The only negative is an abysmal tuner that fails to do anything, and will probably recieve a signal if you operate this inside a radio station. So that is a waste. And hence the 4 stars.

Counting that out, this is a great product, and since I am not missing the tuner at all, I would highly recommend this product.

An Update: After about a couple of months, I managed to crush my precious lil mp3 player under my truck tires in a freak accident. May be this would be an attestment to it's toughness, the display was broken, but the lil thing has refused to quit playing..Lets see your cd player beat that.

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I bought this mp3 player and I am extremely satisfied with it. The player has a lot of functions including a stopwatch, FM radio, equalizer, etc... There are definitly no bugs in the program and very easy to use.

PROS:

1. Small (very small!!!), durable and handy

2. The software was excellent, no crashing, no stalling, and a fast transfer too! The program split the window into two parts, one is my library and the other is the files on the player. All the ID3 tags (tags that display the name, author, etc of a song)should be automatically added if you label them in Musicmatch, Real jukebox, or any other player.

3. Water and compact resistant (extremely durable, i even dropped it a few times on concrete and it still worked!)I ran in the rain once, it was working perfectly

4. Big LCD screen to display time, battery level, song title, song artist, album, a location thingy to display how far u are into the song, volume indicator, how much time left, how much time already past, and date. The resolution is very fine so the date and the time is not all distorted.

5. There are amazing functions including a treble/bass equalizer that doesn't distort the quality of the sound

6. The stopwatch includes laps, an average time, and the difference between each lap

7. The radio has a search option with 3 savable channels

8. A power saving capability to save power (cutting off backlight time and a saving power mode that acts like a screen saver)

9. A menu option to browse all the songs

10. Light and handy, i ran with it and almost forgot it was still clipped on my shorts

11. The cd also comes with iTunes and RealOne, both really nice music managing programs

CONS:

1. The big round set that has the Play, FF, RW, and Stop is easy to hit so you can't walk around with it in your pockets, on the other hand it is a good thing for running because no one would like to struggle pressing the FF button while keeping a even pace =)

2. The earphones aren't as comfortable

3. There is no remote control...

4. It uses an MMC card for expansion and MMC cards are usually 10 more bucks than Smart Media

5. It's a little thicker than most mp3's players (u can check up the dimensions) and its round shape looks a little babyish & toyish...

6. SONICblue boasts up to 10 hrs on one AAA battery, I only get around 5 hours....

7. no microphone...

8. there are no detailed instructions, just a quick start. The detailed instructions are found in the CD program

Overall this player is outstanding and I think that SONICblue has hit the target. As a runner, no other mp3 player would match this player's size, weight, and ease of use!!! The package comes with an armband, a belt clip, a pair of earphones, a cd software, and of course, the mp3 player! Again I would definitly recommend this for runners, or people who do sports. I would not recommend this for people looking for an mp3 player that is cute and small with advance features.

So three days before the Tucson marathon my Sony NWS-4 died on me. I was about to buy the Nike sports mp3 player when I saw a pretty good review for the S35s. Amazon.com overnighted it to me in time for the run. Within 30 minutes of receiving the package, I had the player loaded with music and ready to go. The PC interface and software are very easy to use; and unlike the Sony, they rip your CD's to mp3 not some propietary format.

The headphones are comfortable and didn't bother me at all for the duration of my run (over 4 hours). But, I found the controls a bit lacking. Buttons that I'm often searching for while running were hard to find (like volume). Others, like play and pause, were not recessed and were far too sensitive to the touch. So, any amount of bumping and you can start skipping or fast forwarding. And forget about trying to switch from mp3 to FM radio while running. You have to use the tiny little plasma display and start scrolling through the menu. Maybe on a long walk or a treadmill you could do this. But not while engaged in something highly strenuous. I couldn't even read the display with the player strapped to my arm. I tried taking it off and switching, but I only succeeded in turning off all music.

Basically, this is a very good item that could use some work on the look and feel of its controls. The Sony was a much better engineered package but it cost more and had only half as much memory. If you have time to figure out the controls it will probably serve you quite well. I cannot comment on the reliability, as I've only had mine a short while.