This is my 3rd MP3 player in my lifetime. My first was a cheap 10GB mp3 player from TigerDirect that was as big as my palm (and my palm is pretty big). It was about the same size as the Xbox 360's "brick". My second MP3 player was a cheap 1GB Flash Drive/MP3 Player, which many companies nowadays brand their own like Centon, and sell it. It was terrible, and had only 2-3 hours of battery life. This was my third player which I had bought about 3 years ago and it's still working like a charm!

MEMORY: This player only packs in 64MB of space. Worse, is that they take about 2-3MB off after you upgrade the firmware to version 2.03 (which is a must in my opinion since it unlocks some new features the old firmware didn't have). HOWEVER, Rio includes a free 32MB MMC card with the player. Now that may not be alot and MMC cards are long gone, but one can easily buy SD Cards to replace it. I just ordered a 1GB Kingston SD Card for $4.47, and from other reviews, it seems it will work without any issue. So the memory issue is really nothing.

CONTROL: The controls on this thing is very straight forward. You have a four way button for playback, a enter button, menu button and the volume buttons. Locking the controls is as easy as holding the menu button and pressing enter.

USER INTERFACE: The UI is pretty good aswell. What this means is that its very straight forward and one can easily get into tuning the player without much difficulty. For example, to get into a playlist you've created on the PC and uploaded to the player via Rio Music Manager, simply press Menu -> Play Music -> Playlist. Also, it has a beautiful blue backlit display which is helpful for viewing in any environment (night or day).

BATTERY LIFE: The battery life on this thing is by far better than what I'm used to. But there's a saying that you get what you pay for so I guess I deserved that. This player's battery however was much better, giving me about 10-12 hours of continuous playback with a regular AA battery. One could easily use rechargeable batteries and get more juice out of this thing. Be warned though, when you put in rechargeable NiMH batteries, to go into the Menu -> Power and change the battery type to NiMH from Alkaline.

CONSTRUCTION: The body of the player is very durable. I've dropped mines maybe 10 times in its lifetime and I still have yet to put a noticeable dent or scratch on it. The sides of the player is rubberizedwhile the plastic body has a hard but smooth finish. It's not noticeable by the Amazon.com image, but the blue casing has white/grayish particles to give the player a good texture. And if this isn't enough, Rio was also nice enough to include a case/clip with it so it makes for a perfect gym player that can easily stick to your clothing.

SOFTWARE: The software for Rio S10 is the Rio Music Manager. For those that may have lost the original CD, you can grab the Driver and the Rio Music Manager through: http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/support/rio/product.asp?prodID=71 . Install the driver and then the Music Manager. The Rio Music Manager is very straight forward and you simply browse to your music and then click the arrow to transfer to the player.


CONCLUSION: This is a pretty inexpensive, sturdy, and GREAT player! I bought mines when it was coming down in price and at $45 at the time, I had bought 2 of them. The battery life is great and while I do wish it had a built in battery, I am grateful that I can change the batteries if there were ever an issue (with built in battery, it would be much more difficult). Besides, disposable batteries cost about $1 (for 2 AA) at the local grocery stores here in NYC, and I can buy rechargeable batteries if needed. If the memory size is an issue, one could easily spend $5 and get more storage. I just wonder if I could buy a 2GB SD card or more and have full access to it. If it was possible, this would be competing with the likes of SanDisk's players.

I just put in a 1GB SD card and works!!! (I used to have a 512 MB Card) Great upgrade at the time I was thinking of getting another player with greater capacity.

I thought this could use another fairly recent review (happened to come across the page when I was checking to see if there is another case i can buy for mine...there's not).

I got this at least 2 years ago, maybe 3. It still works great. The only problem I have is that I lost the original software disc, and the one i downloaded from the manufacturer site (after a windows reformat) is a major downgrade from the original one i had. I have a 512MB card in mine and have had no problems, and I'm tempted to try a 1GB based on a review I just read.

I don't use the playlists (you have to create them on the player, I believe, which is much too tedious for me), and have not used bookmarks (although this is a nice feature for audiobooks). I primarily use mine at the gym and sometimes in the car with an iRock fm transmitter. I have had no problems. I use rechargable batteries and have to switch the battery out every few weeks or so, so battery life isn't super (about 12 hours?), but it does just take one AA.

All in all, it's been a great player. I boughy my hsuband an ipod for xmas, but at this point i have no real reason to upgrade to one myself, as this little baby still does the job. comes with a ghetto padded belt clip (my original reason for coming to amazon today).

4 stars because it works great but lacks many features of many other players.

**NOTE: after reading another review, I purchased a 1GB memory card from Amazon for like $12 to see if it would work in here. It does! Now I can hang onto this one happily for a little while longer before upgrading.**

after reading many of the reviews here before buying, i'd like to correct a couple of out of date info that were posted before:

1. the s10 can definately take a 1gb secure digital card and recognize the card's full capacity. didn't encounter any problems with playback.
2. it does support playlists, which can be setup w/ rio music manager software.
3. rio music manager software is very easy to use, if you goto the company's website and download the latest version. it's not as full featured as musicmatch but it does upload music just fine.
4. it does offer bookmarks, great for audio books.

the first thing you should do after buying this is update the firmware and software to the latest version from the company's website: www(dot)digitalnetworksna(dot)com(slash)support(slash)rio(slash)product.asp?prodID=71
sorry about the (dot) (slashes), it wouldn't let me post the url in its original form.

I like this little thing but the play button went wack and turned into the fast forward button so i had to pop the plastic button thing out and touch the sensors it looks so weird. When i bought it i thought that 64mg would be enough memory but it wasnt i always had to delete my songs all the time just to get another song on it. But i love the software that comes with it, its so easy to use, but i reccomend that you bye something better.