[Apple Pro Underwear]

Wallstreet Journal:

Sonicblue's Rio Riot Can't Beat
Apple iPod on Speed, Ease, Size

By WALTER S. MOSSBERG

If I had never seen Apple Computer's revolutionary iPod portable music player, I would think the new Rio Riot music player from Sonicblue was pretty cool. But I have seen the iPod, and so the Riot looks and works like a larger, slower, predecessor product, when in fact it has just gone on sale this week, nearly four months after the iPod.

Like the iPod, the Rio Riot is a $399 high-capacity, hard-disk-based digital music player, which can copy a huge number of MP3 files from a computer and allow you to carry them around.

The Riot does have a few advantages over the iPod. First of all, it works right out of the box with both Windows PCs and Macintosh PCs. The iPod only works with Macs, though Apple should have a Windows version by the summer. For now, some small third-party companies have add-on software that will allow an iPod to work with Windows.

Sonicblue's Rio Riot

Second, the Riot connects to a PC or Mac using the common USB port, while the iPod uses the faster, but rarer, FireWire or 1394 port. So the Riot works with more computer models.

Third, for the same price, the Riot offers four times the storage capacity of the iPod -- a 20-gigabyte hard disk that holds more than 5,000 songs at typical quality, compared with the iPod's 5-gigabyte hard disk that holds about 1,300 songs at the same quality.

Lastly, the Riot has a larger screen and uses it, in part, to show which songs are coming up in a playlist. The iPod doesn't. And the Riot lets you create playlists right on the device, while the iPod requires the playlists to be created on the computer.

But I still prefer the iPod.

One reason is size. The iPod is the only hard-disk-based portable player small enough to fit in a pocket. The Riot is much larger. It has more than double the iPod's footprint, is nearly twice as thick and is more than 50% heavier. It can't fit in a pocket, and must be held horizontally and operated with two hands, like a Gameboy.

Another factor is transfer speed. The Riot's USB connector is more common than the iPod's FireWire connector, but it is painfully slower. When I tested the iPod, I transferred 763 songs into it from a Mac in well under 10 minutes. In testing the Riot, it took over three hours to transfer just 526 songs from a Windows 98 machine.

Also, the Riot can't synchronize its song collection with your collection on a computer, as the iPod does. And despite its larger screen, the Riot only displays the title of the song being played, while the iPod displays title, artist and album. You have to press a button on the Riot to view the rest of the information.

The Riot's controls are fairly clear and simple but more complicated than the iPod's. There are 10 buttons and a wheel, compared with six buttons and a wheel on the iPod.

To navigate through a long list of songs on the iPod, you just turn a big wheel that speeds up as it plows through a long list. On the Riot, you have to alternate hitting buttons and turning a nonaccelerating wheel, and you must pick the first letter of the song title before scrolling through the choices.

Sonicblue touts a number of automated playback features on the Riot. For instance, it can quickly create a list of your most-played tunes, or of songs from a certain decade. But I found these things to be gimmicky, and they don't work well unless you first run your song collection through a piece of add-on software called MoodLogic, which isn't included.

The Riot purportedly has a battery life of at least 10 hours, which might put it close to the iPod's 12-hour battery life. But I couldn't test this, because the evaluation unit Sonicblue sent me wouldn't hold a charge. In fact, my test Riot, a production-level unit, was plagued with defects.

Over the course of two days, the Riot froze up on me at least six times. It wouldn't install on Windows XP, wouldn't transfer some songs on the two PCs where I did get it to work, and wouldn't play a significant minority of the songs I did manage to transfer.

Sonicblue concluded that I must have a "lemon." So the company rushed me another unit, which I received just before my deadline for this review.

In the brief time I had to test the second unit, I discovered that it did work with Windows XP, and that its battery seemed to charge when the unit was plugged into an electrical outlet. It didn't freeze up. But of the 41 songs I transferred to the second test unit, six wouldn't play, and these were from several different artists and albums. And several songs couldn't be transferred at all.

Sonicblue says it will fix all the problems I encountered before shipping any Riots to customers, and I take them at their word.

Still, if you have a Mac, or a Windows machine with a 1394 port, I suggest you get an iPod, or wait for the official Windows version of the iPod. If you only have a USB port, and don't mind lugging around a large device, or really need to carry 5,000 songs, the Riot is OK -- provided its maker fixes its problems.

my ipod is the best thing i ever bought. well worth the money.

[scaught]

agreed.

[Mac Zealot]

And the ipod looks much cooler, the riot looks like a hoard of crap just like all other wintel junk

[CharlesS]

I wish the iPod had a line-in port to connect a microphone. It would be a great gadget for recording music and then transferring it quickly via FireWire to a Mac to burn to CD. I currently use MiniDisc for this, but MD has several problems:

1. The thing is noisy, and consequently if the mic is too close to the MD unit, noise from the unit gets into the recording and messes up the sound quality. Anything made by Apple would be an ideal solution to this.

2. For some reason, I sometimes get intermittent hissing noises on MiniDiscs that I record...

3. My MD player doesn't even have a digital out port. Has a digital in, but not out. An iPod would allow me to use FireWire to transfer the files to my computer, instead of having to use my school's inflexible music library, which doesn't even give me any way to get the original files back to my own computer instead of burning the CD's there, at the library. It would be faster, too.

4. An iPod would get the attention of my fellow music students. MD doesn't, because everyone already has one.

The iPod could be an MD killer if they included a microphone port. As it is, the thing is only good for listening to pirated MP3's...

[DaedalusDX]

Originally posted by Mac Zealot:
<STRONG>And the ipod looks much cooler, the riot looks like a hoard of crap just like all other wintel junk</STRONG>

Agreed. No beating the iPod in terms of style. Still workin on the $400 for one.... If they update the iPod any time soon, i'll definitely shell out the money.

I understand the 10 GB version of the iPod's hard drive is in production now... could fare well for rev. 2.

[DaedalusDX]

Originally posted by CharlesS:
<STRONG>I wish the iPod had a line-in port to connect a microphone. It would be a great gadget for recording music and then transferring it quickly via FireWire to a Mac to burn to CD. I currently use MiniDisc for this, but MD has several problems:

1. The thing is noisy, and consequently if the mic is too close to the MD unit, noise from the unit gets into the recording and messes up the sound quality. Anything made by Apple would be an ideal solution to this.

2. For some reason, I sometimes get intermittent hissing noises on MiniDiscs that I record...

3. My MD player doesn't even have a digital out port. Has a digital in, but not out. An iPod would allow me to use FireWire to transfer the files to my computer, instead of having to use my school's inflexible music library, which doesn't even give me any way to get the original files back to my own computer instead of burning the CD's there, at the library. It would be faster, too.

4. An iPod would get the attention of my fellow music students. MD doesn't, because everyone already has one.

The iPod could be an MD killer if they included a microphone port. As it is, the thing is only good for listening to pirated MP3's...</STRONG>

don't forget to mention that an MD takes 1x the time of the Music to get your songs on there...

Pain in the ass when you have one of those 5 hour MDLP ones.

[scaught]

Originally posted by DaedalusDX:
<STRONG>
I understand the 10 GB version of the iPod's hard drive is in production now... could fare well for rev. 2.</STRONG>

while im dubious that they would do such an update so soon, it wouldnt hurt to wait until after MW tokyo

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by DaedalusDX:
<STRONG>

don't forget to mention that an MD takes 1x the time of the Music to get your songs on there...

Pain in the ass when you have one of those 5 hour MDLP ones.</STRONG>

Yeah, that's why I mentioned how the FireWire connection would be a lot faster.

I know of no other music device that connects via anything near as fast as FireWire. If they put a microphone port on the thing, it would kick so much ass. I have to transfer music digitally at my school's library. They have FoolProof on the computer, which means I have to burn the CD's there, and I can't bring up file sharing to transfer the originals to my machine. I tried downloading MacSFTP to the machine, and the protection software blocked that from running, too. It sucks - I can't even have the original files on my machine. Not to mention they kicked me out of the lab because it closed at 10:00 and they couldn't wait five minutes for the thing to finish playing and recording... argh.

Hey Apple, let's look at it this way. You have a lot of market share with creative types, right? You like things to stay that way or even improve, right? So make the iPod the ultimate device for musicians to record recitals, audition tapes, etc. If only a few music students buy it, they can show it off to their fellow music students, showing them how quiet it is, how fast it transfers data, how convenient it is, and how well-manufactured its Apple quality is. Other music students will be compelled to get it, and then of course they'll need a Mac to take advantage of its full potential. These music students go on to become the next generation of music teachers, performers, etc. and voila - even better market share in the creative industry, more cash, less media types proclaiming "Apple is doomed!"

[segaslave]

i hate all of you, arg i want an iPod!!

; P

[Jerjerrod]

Well, I can name one big feature of the RioRiot which, had I a glimpse of the future back in October, would have prevented me from getting an iPod: the warranty.

RioRiots carry a 1 year warranty, while the iPod only has 90 days. I've had my iPod since early November (you do the math) and it recently died. Here I am, left with a $400 paperweight, and screwed by Apple.

That RioRiot is looking like quite the smarter buy right now.....

[macthelastredman]

Another factor is transfer speed. The Riot's USB connector is more common than the iPod's FireWire connector, but it is painfully slower. When I tested the iPod, I transferred 763 songs into it from a Mac in well under 10 minutes. In testing the Riot, it took over three hours to transfer just 526 songs from a Windows 98 machine

ouch 3 hours...i did about 1000 onto my ipod in less then 10 minutes...and considering how big the Riot player is you may as well just carry around an ibook