Rio Forge Sport (512 MB) MP3 Player

After a short time with an MPIO (sucks) I stepped up to the Rio Forge 512.
My requirements were something small, all flash (SD media), ease of operation and good sound quality.
I have read reviews that knocked this thing because it frequently "shut off" at random. It does this when battery gets low, and batteries do not last the listed spec of "Up to 20 hours of battery life". It might come close if you only use the radio since this would obviously require less power. But you can count on getting 10-12 hours on a single AAA battery using the embedded or SD flash memory. I bought a 1GB SD card and with my internal 512MB I have more than enough music for my work outs, dirt bike rides and snow skiing sessions.
Ease of use? If you can't navigate the menus on this thing then you're probably not even able to read this review... they're simple!
The arm band, belt clip and size make this as portable as anything out there.
The Rio met all my requiements plus I get AAA battery compatibility (that was huge and I never even considered this as a plus when looking to buy). I have friends that need to recharge built-in bats... sucks to be them. I can stop at a 7-11 and be back in business.
If you want small, portable, easy to use, SD compatible, AAA power, good battery life and a great sound (improves with aftermarket phones), this is your baby.

This is a neat little mp3 player, I would most likely recommend this to a young teenager or someone who wants an mp3 player that won't break easily, and without the investment of an IPOD.

The forge has an easily readable screen, so its very easy to see when it's dark out, or even with the screen scratched badly. The forge has a well designed screen setup so its not too cluttered when trying to find music, the time, or other various information.

The shape of the Forge makes it very easy to hold and hard to drop, but just in case, it comes with clips for clothing and an arm band. If you absolutely insist on dropping the player it is shock resistant and will withstand drops for a while, but every player does have its breaking point.

Spacewise, this player is pretty good, 512mb will get you about 160 songs. The great thing about this player is that it has the option to have more memory, you can add up to 2gb of extra memory with an SD card. Due to this feature you can buy the player now for low cost then later if you want, you can make if hold more.

The sound quality of this player is superb, personally i would say there is no difference in the sound quality of this versus the sound quality of a 300 dollar ipod, its all in the headphones!!!

This player is very durable, as i mentioned you can drop it, but you can do other things as well. I have stepped on my Forge, and it still works. Best of all I left it in my pocket and it took a ride in the washing machine; lo and behold it still worked, although the battery needed to be replaced.

Now lets discuss this devious battery, luckily for me the battery is a AAA, easy to replace and cheap to buy, much better than sending it away to get a silly rechargeable battery. In terms of battery life, I don't believe over the course a month of listening I have had to replace the battery (Thats about 40 minutes a day of listening).

This player is loaded with special features, such as a radio, a radio recorder and of course the expandable memory. The Radio is good quality nothing to great, but then this isn't a radio, its an mp3 player. The radio recorder has come in handy several times, i have recorded several songs on the spot that i just love. Of course the expandable memory option makes this player all the better, you can turn this 160 song holding player into a 900 or more song holding player.

I feel it necessary to mention how great the headphones are, although i have since moved on from this player for sheer reason of my geeky-ness i have held on to these headphones, unlike most earbuds that come with players, these didn't break! They have gone through the wash and been stretched and they still sound great.

Now let's talk cost, the Forge, as you can see is very cheap now, you can pick it up for 50 dollars here on ebay or a mere 75 in stores. If you are interested in more memory you can grab a 2gb SD on zipzoomfly.com for 20 dollars or here for 30. All in all in terms of cost, you could have this player as good as a IPOD Nano, or mini for a mere 70 dollars, well worth the cost.

Since I am running out of characters to tell you how great this mp3 player is, you can go to:
http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/
for more information. In the end, i would most certainly recommend this player to anyone who just wants a good entry level player. Even if you have an ipod, this is a good one to take to where an IPOD can't go.

Hope it helps!
-Jack C
http://www.R