"Don't buy anything from RIO" Bought this unit in October 2002. Out of the box, the FM tuner was extremely noisy, the unit crashed often when changing settings. Complaining to SonicBlue, a rude technical support person told me that the unit was not broken, but just needed a software upgrade. (Why would they put a product on the shelf that they know is not finished?) At that moment, the latest version was about v1.2. Upgrading the software did not solve the crashing problem although the FM tuner got a little better. The process of upgrading the software detroys all your settings, preferences, and any music you have stored. So you don't want to do this often but, unfortunately, you must because as of today (4/5/03) the unit still has major software bugs.
In April of 2003 the software verion is v1.65, the unit still crashes when changing seettings or if the audio is too loud. I gave up on using the FM tuner; just listening to MP3 music. The Bass/Treble controls must be reset every time the unit is turned on. (Otherwise, clicking and popping is inserted into the audio tracks.) Even so, the Bass/Treble digital filters overflow occasionally causing pops in the audio. The unit cannot repeat a track without a pause in between. Changing the volume while a track is playing causes zipper noise to be inserted into the audio. The unit cannot change tracks without clicking and popping in the audio. This is a noisy unit.
The S30S unit does not reproduce low frequency content well (the Bass). One must boost the bass artificially by using the digital filters. I suspect the reason for this is because the reproduction of the bass consumes much power, so they've biased the unit on the "tinny" side. This wouldn't be a problem if the Bass/Treble filters actually worked. The filter controls are not montonic; I mean, for example, that increasing the Bass control knob from 7 to 8 does NOT give more bass response, where as increasing from 8 to 9 does, and so on.
To download new tracks to the unit, Sonic Blue recommends the RealOne Player that is free software available on the internet. The user interface is practically impossible to use. It will take you at least 30 minutes to an hour to figure out how to get music from the RealOne player to the S30S. After you figure it out, you'd better write it down because I guarantee the next time you try, it will take another 30 minutes to figure it out. The problem is that they use the DISAPPEAARING CONTROLS paradigm; i.e., the buttons you want to push are invisible unless you are in just the right state. So finding your way through the RealOne control maze is impossible because the metaphorical lights are off.
In short, go somewhere else to buy your MP3 player unless you want a real frustrating audio experience that lasts a long time.
Jon Dattorro,
Stanford California From Jon Dattorro, April 05, 2003
"Don't buy anthing from RIO - amendment" I agree with Sylvanus (review below); it is actually the headphones that come with the unit that cannot reproduce the low frequencies (Bass) well. That is the reason the unit sounds "tinny". Boosting the Bass setting will consume more power, so you really need to buy better headphones for this unit. From Jon Dattorro, April 05, 2003
"Great sound and organized controls" I love this product. Ever since I have had it since Christmas, I have been listening to constant mp3's. The controls are very good and the level of oranganization is spectacular. Also, Rio does a great job on keeping up with the updates. About a week ago I updated the S30S so that there was better FM tuning and faster-everything. Good job Rio and Sonicblue! From Jonathan, January 18, 2003
"Small compact, but problems w/ buttons..." I bought this for Christmas.
It great sound quality and average battery life though I went through 5-6 AAA batteries during the holidays.
Annoying buttons, hard to skip songs and tell the difference between the buttons. Always forgot to turn it off and although it has a auto power save.
64 mb is not enough, barely 14 songs.
I like the how it is compact and fits in my pocket, but the cons outweigh the pros. Returned the product and am looking for a new mp3 player. From Hung L, January 10, 2003
"S30S poor reliability" The sound quality drops off when running or even walking.
It dropped off so badly that very often it would stop all together (freezes).
The customer support from RIO is so poor, my e-mail requests have only generated automated responses about rio volts and one non automated response asking what battery I was using. (The answer to which was the battery it came with).
I like the idea of the MP3 player "desgined for the athelete in mind." However one that works I think is also quite important. From Chris V, November 08, 2002
"Easy Interface" I bought the S30S based on its look and iTunes compatibility for Mac, wanting a more portable unit than my iPod. The downfall I noted is you seemingly need to install the iTunes that comes with the unit, which is an old version. iTunes is on 3.0 now. Once you get around that and procure the driver through the link (I use OS X). Just download the driver and use it with 3.0 - they should make the driver for OS X downloadable from the Sonic Blue site, but are known for being deficient in service and accessibility. Once the unit is up, it rocks, has great interface, nice navigation. Easy downloads, create a playlist and dump the tunes to the players internal or external memory (you add), and that's it. Sound quality is great, use better headphones than what comes with the unit. Higher capcity models are available: S35S and S50S. Rubber housing on all units prevents them popping out of your hands. This is a good unit for those who want ease of connection and use. From Sylvanus, November 01, 2002
We're currently upgrading our user review system; so we won't be accepting new reviews for now. Rio S30S Specs
Interface(s)
Original USB
Released date
September 2003
Platforms
Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, MacOS 9.0, MacOS X
Dimensions
2.9 x 2.6 x 1.0 in.
Weight
--
Natively supported music format(s)
MP3, WMA
Signal to noise ratio
Battery life
15 hrs.
Storage
64MB built-in flash memory
Storage expansion type
1 MMC memory card slot
FM tuner
Yes
Voice recording
No
Software
Rio Music Manager, RealOne, MoodLogic
Remote included?
No
Inputs / outputs
Headphone jack
Extras?
Clock, stopwatch, carrying case with belt clip, adjustable armband
