Cali Sport 256MB MP3 Player

"upgrader"

Posted Oct 15, 2005 - When I first bought this I was happy with my purchase. At some point around 9 months into it I got the dreaded "upgrader" error. After talking with their support their only suggestion was to buy a refurbished unit. I am finished with Rio. I can't imagine why there is no fix for this. The tech told me I corrupted it with my music files because they had "degraded". Does that make sense to you? Avoid rio for the potential upgrader problem or until they face some responsibility.

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This is a very nice player. I bought it for mostly ...

Posted Nov 27, 2004 - This is a very nice player. I bought it for mostly for exercising. The only weakness I see is the joystick. It took me at a couple of days to get it down. Also the software that it came with sucks. It will not run with other software such as Windows Media Player, Real One Player and others. If I ever get another player, I'd get this one again.

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I bought my Cali refurbished to save some money an ...

Posted Mar 21, 2005 - I bought my Cali refurbished to save some money and hopefully avoid the reliability issues some users report. So far that has been the right choice. I use mine almost exclusively for running, and it has withstood some pretty harsh conditions (30 mile race in near-freezing rain) and it still looks and sounds brand new. The earbuds that come with are comfortable, but not loud enough and the sound is somewhat muddy. I replaced them with a set of $20 Sennheisers that sound MUCH better and also go as loud as I can stand. The FM reception is pretty much useless for where I live, but I haven't found any portable devices that can pull in a station I like. The joystick can be a bit tricky to manipulate when I'm on the move, but I mostly set it and forget it. All told, I haven't seen a sport MP3 player in the 4 months I've owned the Cali that I would rather have. I would definitely buy this model again, especially if I could get it refurbished.

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Horrible Product

Posted Sep 11, 2005 - After 3 months of use, the device got stuck in "upgrader" mode and basically froze. The company was of no help so I had to send it in and get a replacement for nearly the same cost. Additionally, the sport case may be the worst design ever. When jogging or working out, the device has fallen out of the case countless times cracking the face. Basically, one of the worst purchases I have ever made.

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No problems in the beginning. I used it sparingly, ...

Posted May 25, 2005 - No problems in the beginning. I used it sparingly, but enjoyed its sound. Slight hum in the music but only noticeable in-between songs. Started using it heavily 3 weeks ago(2-4 times a week for 3 to 4 hours). The other day UPGRADER locked the unit up and apparently there is no way to fix it. They recommend to upgrade the firmware, but if the host computer cannot see it, this is useless information. Throwing it away now, and buying an Ishuffle or Ipod. Take your chances with this one

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This product is shown with a red joystick on the m ...

Posted Sep 7, 2004 - This product is shown with a red joystick on the manufactureres site as well on most of the sellers sites. I recently bought one and it had a black joystick. This seems inconsequential but it is very critical as the I have had nothing but problems with the black joystick version. When I contacted RIO (Digital networks) they confirmed that the black joystick version has been problematic. Like the playlist fuction doesn't work properly and you can't reformant the memeory through their program disk you need togo through my computer in windows. Bottom line, these are misleading pictures and you should send the player back if you get a black joystick version

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It is really sad my mp3 player is stuck in "upgrad ...

Posted Jul 19, 2004 - It is really sad my mp3 player is stuck in "upgrader"... hey if you guys do a lawsuit can I join. I enjoyed using it while running, and it was a nice color. this is the first time since I got married that I bought something for myself. I can't believe the "upgrader" thing can not be fixed. Is there a way around it? Let me know if you guys come up with anything.

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I'd like to join that class action law suit. I ha ...

Posted Jun 24, 2004 - I'd like to join that class action law suit. I have to believe that what Rio is doing is against the law in some way. This is a great scam. After the warranty times out, the system shuts down. It's a shame because we have two units & the one that works is a good product. Too bad you can't trust this company.

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a nice player, but after two weeks, the screen no ...

Posted Dec 30, 2003 - a nice player, but after two weeks, the screen no longer shows a song or allows viewing the menu. email support at rio was useless. they sent me a canned email. i had reformatted the player; this didn't work. pc world said that the player had a flimsy feel. they were right. also, the armband came apart after two weeks of every other day use. i need an mp3 player for my running quite badly. I will not buy this player again, and the iFP-599T (1gig flash player is too expensive now at 450$)

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Never before have I wanted to like a product so ba ...

Posted Jun 3, 2004 - Never before have I wanted to like a product so badly, but became so irritated with the device and the company, that I can not recommend this to anyone. At first I loved this unit. It's light weight, small but expandable with great sound with the right headphones. I replaced the headphones that came with my Cali with a Sennheiser MX 500. The included headphones broke only after 4 months of use. I only use the unit on my daily commute to and from work. The included headphones only offered "ok" sound. The problem I have is what is being termed "upgrader of death." What happens is one day you turn on your Cali and you see the word "Upgrader" appear on the screen for no reason. At first shutting it off and turning it back on a few times got it to go away, but now it just stays on "Upgrader" no matter what I do. This isn't a problem with just a few units either. Do a search on Google for "Rio" and "Upgrader" and you'll see what I mean. All customer service will do is offer you a refurbished unit for nearly the same price as a new unit plus shipping and handling. I bet they have tons of refurbs. They only warranty the device for 90 days. (Hmmmm, foresight?) Apparently this problem also occurs with the Rio Niturs and the Chiba as well. How do you initiate a class action lawsuit against Rio for marketing defective products and doing next to nothing to support it? For those with no problems with their Cali units after three months of use...Congratulations. Consider yourself lucky.

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I did a lot of research before making my purchase. ...

Posted Feb 10, 2004 - I did a lot of research before making my purchase. This little unit is suprising. The sound quality and user friendly software make it easy to edit your playlist. I'm not wasting a lot of time maintaining this unit. It's pretty much "load and go". The armband and case are a nice touch. This is a very useful product.

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I've owned this player for almost 10 months withou ...

Posted Mar 22, 2005 - I've owned this player for almost 10 months without a single problem thus far. I mostly use it throughout the day (at work, commute) and occasionally for working out. In contrast to some of the other reviews, I've found my player to be very durable. I've even dropped it a couple of times. But, the fact that my player seems durable and others have examples that are not doesn't speak well to the consistency of build quality. Ditch the factory earphones for a better pair, and invest in a AAA battery charger (it WILL save you money over conventional batteries in the long run!) I've found FM reception to be outstanding, I could get it in the lab located deep inside the university where I used to work. Also, all of my music is WMA on my hard drive, so loading is a snap. Haven't tried expanding to 1GB yet. Overall, I'm very happy with it.

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This is my 3rd Rio Sport (first the S30S, then the ...

Posted Feb 7, 2004 - This is my 3rd Rio Sport (first the S30S, then the S35S), and I would definitely recommend the Rio Cali Sport 256. There is not a lot of improvement between each model, but if you have the spare cash they change just enough to make it worthwill to upgrade. The primary improvements are the sleek design and colouring, as well as the increased capacity to 256MB. With the 256MB SD card I have in my unit, this gives me a 512MB capacity, or approximately 120 MP3's. I have consistently used the Rio Sport for working out and have never had any problems with it. It is a durable rubbery-feel unit, is very small, and has a sturdy included holder that will clip tightly onto your waistband or can be used with the included armband strap. My biggest complaints of the unit and the included head phones, the weak FM Tuner, and the fact that it is only USB 1.1. With the head phones, I find that they constantly fall off of my ears during cardio workouts where a lot of movement is done. I liked the idea of having an FM Tuner included so that I could tune to the TV stations being broadcast in the cardio section of the gym, but the tuner on this is so weak that I usually either pickup no signal at all or a lot of static in the reception. The last area I think this unit is lacking in is the fact that it is NOT USB 2.0 compatible, which makes it much longer to load MP3 files to. I was suprised that Rio stayed with the USB 1.1 format that was on there old sport models, but would release other new MP3 players around the same time as the Cali, such as the Nitrus and the Karma, and would use the USB 2.0 format on them. Overall, I would still definitely recommend this unit over other brands, particularily if the main use of it is for exercise.

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I have been quite please with this player, overall ...

Posted Feb 26, 2004 - I have been quite please with this player, overall. I think it is a product that gives good value per dollar. I purchased the player to use when working out, so I needed something that is weather resistant, shock resistant, and small. I also wanted an FM tuner for those times that I get tired of listening to the WMA files. This player is sturdy, which is a big plus for those that work out. The arm band is comfortable, and the case has a built-in belt clip. The FM tuner has decent reception -- no worse than my old Sony armband FM tuner and I'd venture to say that this tuner even gets better reception. Perhaps the best thing is that I can store lots of music on it. I have 2-3 hours of music on it right now, and it is just over half full. I'm using the WMA 64Kbps, which gives fine sound for listening through standard headphones. Drawbacks? The software is not very intuitive -- it takes getting some familiarization before you get used to it. Also, the software isn't the most stable I have seen -- it has crashed several times. Rio doesn't give you an MP3 encoder, and that stinks. Your only choice is WMA unless you buy an optional MP3 encoder. WMA has been sufficient to meet my needs, though. What I find most annoying is that the software provides several encoders other than MP3 -- such as OGG -- but the player does not support those encodings. I encoded more than an hours worth of songs in the ogg format and then tried to copy them to the player, only to be told that the player does not support ogg! Plan on buying your own pair of headphones, because what they give you I found to be very uncomfortable to wear. I bought a pair of Sony over-the-ear headphones for $9.99 and they work well. The FM Tuner doesn't have presets that I have been able to find. Rio needs to add support for presets, and an easy way to access those presets (such as another button on the device that scrolls through the presets). There is no AM or Weather band tuner, but I didn't see any MP3 player that had those tuners. Finally, the only complaint I have about music playback is that there is a slight, but definitely audible tone/whine when the music drops out, such as between tracks. This player probably isn't ideal for playing some classical music or any other music where the volume/intensity frequently fluctuates between very low and very high. I'm happy with this player with respect to the things that I use it for. I would buy it again. If you are an audiophile, then I'd go with something on the higher end and not this player.

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I WILL GET EVEN IF THEY DO NOT REPLACE MY UNIT FRE ...

Posted Jul 7, 2004 - I WILL GET EVEN IF THEY DO NOT REPLACE MY UNIT FREE OF CHAREGE. YOU CAN TAKE THAT TO THE BANK. they are ripping consumers off. there shoulkd be a recall for this defective product. boycott rio

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