Rio Volt SP-150 MP3 CD Player

Like solid state and hard disc players they will allow you to store hundreds of songs with a file directory to let you sort and play them; unlike such players they come at a fraction of the price.

So, to the Rio Volt 150. I bought this rather than its cheaper sibling so I could play my .wma files (using a variable bit rate at that). I stick to .wma as (a) I can easily rip files with Windows media player without paying extra and (b) the quality is better than mp3 and they take up less space.

The player itself looks flash but feels a bit tacky - no brushed aluminium, just blue plastic. However, the build quality must be pretty good because within hours I'd dropped the thing onto my stone kitchen floor, and it bounced without a scratch. In fact, it kept on playing without a hitch - the shock protection with mp3/wma files lasts over 5 minutes! It was only two tracks later that the music stopped. It took me a while to find out why - the CD had jolted out of the holder when I dropped it and must have stopped at this time.

Ideal for the car then.

Using a variable bit rate .wma file giving almost CD quality sound I can fit 15 full CDs onto one CDR. As the battery life is quoted at 20 hours you should just about be able to play them before you run out of power.

Downsides are the earphones (not stunning) and the manual - you have to download it from the website. WHY?? An in-line remote would be useful too. Perhaps amazon will decide to sell them at some point.

In summary - forget all other forms of music playback. This is the future. Aand it plays your old CDs too.

The main problem I have found is with the build quality and with the reading of CD-Rs...I have some pretty cheap CD-Rs which are read on everything else..and on the Riovolt they were ok for the first couple of times...ever since though..READ ERROR every time! I think maybe it is just due to the quality of the CD-R though, as I have a more expensive brand and every one of those works ok.

As I also said, the build quality is not really up to scratch. It looks and feels a bit 'cheap'...like if you even dropped it or banged it slightly it would fall to pieces. There is also very poor and little documentation that comes along with it...just one page basically...which tells you no more than you can figure out for yourself anyway.

These are the main problems....As a straight forward CD player though..and when it plays MP3s on CD-Rs...it is pretty good..the sound quality is good, and it is all that you'd expect.

To sum up...it's an ok player when you take into account the price and when it's working ok....everything is fine then. Be warned about the problems though, and I have read from the US reviews that it's virtually impossible to get through to technical support for this product. Maybe that's just a US problem, but be warned again!

The only other thing I will say is that for just a little bit more money...say £10-15...you can get a player which does everything the Riovolt does, but has much better quality and support. I have just purchased the Sony Atrac NE-511 MP3/CD player for example...and given the Riovolt to my girlfriend! It is much better quality...you can programme track lists...and it also comes with CD burning software and a AC/DC adaptor. I guess you pays your money and takes your choice!