Rio Forge 256 MB Sport MP3 Player

Average customer rating:

Nice product, really use full

Poor until Software Upgrade - Now Great ! ! ! Best for books, podcasts, travel.

Not so good...

It's good enough for me

Best sport player I've found

Rio Forge 256 MB Sport MP3 Player

Manufacturer: Rio
ProductGroup: CE
Binding: Electronics

Gadgets for Fitness Fanatics | Gift Ideas | Gift Ideas | Specialty Stores | Electronics Features | Electronics
Under $100 | Gifts by Price | Gift Ideas | Specialty Stores | Electronics Features | Electronics
MP3 Players | Portable Audio & Video | Refurbished & Used | Special Features | Electronics Features | Electronics
Audio & Video | Refurbished & Used | Special Features | Electronics Features | Electronics
Up to $75 | by Price | Gifts | Specialty Stores | Computers Features | Electronics
MP3 Players | by Type | Gifts | Specialty Stores | Computers Features | Electronics
128 MB to 512 MB | Flash Drive-Based | MP3 Players | Audio & Video | Categories | Electronics
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Product Features:

Sports-oriented digital audio player with stainless steel faceplate and protective rubber grip

256 MB of flash memory for up to 4 hours of MP3 and 8 hours of WMA storage

Includes stopwatch, laptimer, and FM radio

SD expansion slot of up to an additional 1 GB of memory

Up to 20 hours of battery life

ASIN: B0002UB2PU

Product Description

Rio Forge 256MB Sport MP3 Player 90260558 - The Rio Forge series is our latest generation of flash based sport players. The Forge was designed for people that like to play hard and use music to play even harder. The new design integrates the grippy, protective rubber from previous models with a new shiny stainless steel face plate for added durability. Up to 20 hours of battery life allow you hours of non-stop work out time. Comfortable Sport Clip earphones and a newly designed case with armband keep your player and music secure and accessible. Simple menus and intuitive controls make for easy one-handed operation. Stopwatch and Lap Timer make the Forge the ultimate gym or running companion.

Customer Reviews:

Nice product, really use full.......2007-01-09

I bought this mp3 player, for some personal reasons, the 1st, was cause I wanted to train on the gym, no need of too much songs, and a good look cause I dont like the slim actual mp3 players, it's a little tough look, good for a big strong gym trainer :p

Well, only thing, take care your screen, it could get broke ;)

Poor until Software Upgrade - Now Great ! ! ! Best for books, podcasts, travel. .......2006-11-15

I feel bad so many have had bad experiences with the Forge. I've had mine since October 2005. It locked up at first, and Rio's phone-support folks directed me to firmware upgrade instructions. All has been near-perfect since then.

The expandable memory is perhaps the best feature. I load a few spare 128-meg cards with books and music, and use the on-board flash for daily podcasts.

You don't need to use Rio software, as your PC will recognize the unit as a new drive. Track play order is by ID tag data - delete all that if you want tracks sorted by file name. You can also select by artist, album, etc. Even play only internal or only MMC/SD .

The unique shape and raised button profile let you wear it in a shirt pocket and work the controls without looking. Perfect for the gym and outdoor work.

It's very podcast / audiobook friendly. Pause-to-powerdown lets you come back to the same part of a track. Same if the battery runs out. 9 bookmarks stay memorized even through a battery change. (although for some reason the date reverts back to 2005 when you replace the battery. I've given up setting the time and date for that reason. ) The search mode speeds up as you hold down the ff / rw button. You can speed through long tracks that way.

On the whole, it's very good and I'd buy it again. Can't find anything else that combines so many features for podcast, audiobook and music listening.

Not so good..........2006-08-25

I got this player as a present and ever since, I have had alot of troubles with it!

First of all...within the same month, the player got so hot and the battery was scalding hot...and it melted parts of the plastic on the player!!! I NEVER throw away warrantees, but I must've thrown it out with the bag...so that was my horrid mistake! But I didn't expect it to get so hot that it melted plastic! I still do not know why it did this...

I was still able to play it however..but over time, it would shut off like others have said, and it would freeze and it would do weird things. I had to be a magician to get the dang thing to work!~

If I could just reiterate, I would not recommend this product due to product defects and the way that mine almost caught fire a few times!! Rio is no longer around...please take this as a clue in case you want to buy a used one!!!

It's good enough for me.......2006-07-02

My first mp3 player. Well, I love it, i feel i have to, but only about 50 songs fit!!! and it is in black and white!!! well,might as well go into pro's and con's:
PRO'S:
Radio
Stopwatch
Software's good
Very affordable
Pocket-shaped
It's never given me problems, it's just inferior to others
CON'S:
Not much memory
Takes aaa batteries
Everytime the battery falls out/dies the clock resets
Black and white
Earphones broke in less than 6 months.
Weird shape
Conclusion: Good first time mp3 player, but you need lots of batteries, patience, and your own earphones.

Best sport player I've found.......2006-06-27

I bought the rio forge over a year ago for motorcycle riding when my hard drive 5GB model trashed the hard drive. I wanted flash memory, and an expandable slot for at least an extra GB of memory, and mp3/wma file playing capability.

I use it riding notorcycles offroad, desert, major dust, hard knocks and a tough life clipped to my jacket pocket with the belt clip.

Controls are a bit small but can be used even with gloves on when it's where I can't see it. Kind of important when riding.

The only real issue is the battery cover came off somewhere in the Texas desert aroud the mexican border, riding in heavy dust gets it ffiled with so much dust without the cover that it dusts up the inside glass so I can't read the display. So far just taking it apart and blowing it out has been fine. Still works like champ.

I do have to hold down the center control button while starting it now and then if doesn't want to recognize the expansion card, that's the method for resetting the unit, making it reinitialize from scratch, works every time.

Good sound (I use custome molded ear buds), and the 1GB SD card I use makes for around 270 songs which gets me through a 2-3 day adventure ride.

So far it's the only thing I've found that works for me, and has been through thousands of miles of rough offroad in Wyoming, Colorado over 13k foot jeep trail mountin passes, Texas, Carolinas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico and elsewhere as well as thousands of miles of touring on a street bike clipped to my jacket.

Just came by here to see if I can still buy another one before they are discontinued so when mine finally does get trashed I'll have another one.

Remanufactured Rio Forge 256 MB MP3 Player

Average customer rating:

good for short term without spending a lot of money
Good MP3 Player
A great Mp3 Player
Good for the money
Not Functional

Remanufactured Rio Forge 256 MB MP3 Player

Manufacturer: Rio
ProductGroup: CE
Binding: Electronics

Portable Audio & Video | Outlet | Specialty Stores | Electronics Features | Electronics

MP3 Players | Outlet | Specialty Stores | Electronics Features | Electronics

Audio & Video | Refurbished & Used | Special Features | Electronics Features | Electronics

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Product Features:

Remanufactured to like-new condition; includes 30 day warranty
256 MB of flash memory for up to 4 hours of MP3 and 8 hours of WMA storage
Includes stopwatch, laptimer, and FM radio
SD expansion slot of up to an additional 1 GB of memory
Up to 20 hours of battery life

ASIN: B00092CZ8E

Product Description

This product has been Refurbished to perform as new. It includes 90-Day Warranty Coverage. Rio Forge 256MB Sport MP3 Player 90260558 - The Rio Forge series is our latest generation of flash based sport players. The Forge was designed for people that like to play hard and use music to play even harder. The new design integrates the grippy, protective rubber from previous models with a new shiny stainless steel face plate for added durability. Up to 20 hours of battery life allow you hours of non-stop work out time. Comfortable Sport Clip earphones and a newly designed case with armband keep your player and music secure and accessible. Simple menus and intuitive controls make for easy one-handed operation. Stopwatch and Lap Timer make the Forge the ultimate gym or running companion.

Customer Reviews:

good for short term without spending a lot of money.......2007-09-05

This was a good MP3 player if you don't want to spend a lot of money at the time but only lasted about a year so if you want something now and will get something better when you have money then this is pretty good. After about a year it kind of just slowly died but overall can't beat it for the price.

Good MP3 Player.......2006-12-31

I've had this mp3 player for a year and really like it. It has performed well for playing mp3 and wma files (I haven't really used the FM feature). I really like the sound and the feel of the headphones that came with the unit. In fact my only problem is that I loaned my unit and the headphones got lost. Does anyone know where to get replacement headphones?

A great Mp3 Player.......2006-09-16

I bought two re-conditioned RIO's almost a year ago and they work great! They have features that many of the other MP3 players do not have. It supports playlists, it remembers exactly where you left off in a song and allows you to skip forward or back in the middle of a song (I've not seen that anywhere else). The FM receiver doesn't work very well, but I didn't buy it for that so I'm not downgrading the review based on the FM reception. All and all a it's been a great player and I woud certainly buy one again.

Good for the money.......2006-03-16

I was just looking for an inexpensive mp3 player to give me something to listen to when I was running. What attracted me to this one was the small size, the sport armband, and the fact that I wasn't spending tons of money on an iPod...not a big iPod fan. The software is easy to use and the player has worked great so far. I'm not thrilled with the headphones it came with...I'm looking for better ones that don't shake loose out of my ears when I run. All in all it was a good $50 spent.

Not Functional.......2006-02-25

I purchased 2 Rio Forge MP3 Players. One of them worked for about 2 weeks, then went out. I returned it to you and you sent another. This one worked for about 2 weeks. The other MP3 Player worked ok for the month. I have returned both of them for a refund, since it was stated that there were too many problems with these particular products.

Product Description

Let the Linksys USB VPN and Firewall Adapter protect your PC and your communications wherever you go. This easy-to-pack, lightweight, network interface with advanced safety and security features connects you to the Internet through any broadband connection (cable, DSL, or your hotel's fast Internet service), and protects your PC from most known Internet attacks with a powerful Stateful Packet Inspection firewall. You can also optionally block Java, Active X, and Cookies - known points of entry for hackers.The Adapter connects to virtually any PC through the USB port, and requires no external power supply. Once you're connected, you can establish a Virtual Private Network tunnel from your PC to a corporate network using the popular IPSec VPN standard, and your transmitted data will be protected by government-spec DES or Triple-DES encryption.It's also a perfect traveling companion to the Linksys Firewall Router (BEFSX41) or VPN Router (BEFVP41) on your home or small office network. You can securely connect to your home resources to retrieve files, or check your local email. Once you're connected over VPN, it's just like being attached to the local network.With the Linksys USB VPN and Firewall Adapter protecting your PC and communications, you'll have one less thing to worry about when you're traveling.

Customer Reviews:

Linksys USBVPN1 USB BPN and Firewall Adapter.......2007-01-11

Easy to setup, personal firewall. Tunnel was easy to setup and utilize. Works with the older and newer Linksys VPN products.

Would like to see the device made smaller but still easy to port.

Amazon.com Product Description

The innovative, sleek VDR-M30 DVD camcorder records high-quality digital video and still images onto removable 8cm DVD-RAM and DVD-R discs, offering the ability of non-linear editing of home videos right in the camcorder. Other features include a color viewfinder, 10x optical/240x digital zoom, digital electronic image stabilization, and compatibility with Secure Digital memory cards for storing still images.

DVD Format
The VDR-M30 combines all the technological benefits of the rewritable DVD-RAM format with the compatibility of write-once DVD-R media. DVD-RAM offers the highest quality in digital imaging, huge storage capability--capturing up to 120 minutes of digital video and 1,998 still images to DVD media--and rewritability up to 100,000 times, with virtually no degradation of picture quality no matter how many times the disc is played back. The DVD-R format offers the ability to record onto affordable DVD-R discs for sharing with friends and family, and archiving memories for everyone to enjoy.

With the DVD-RAM format, you can access recorded scenes without the hassles of searching, fast-forwarding or rewinding. Indexed thumbnails are displayed on the 2.5-inch color LCD. In addition, the camcorder will automatically find blank space on the DVD-RAM disc whenever a recording begins, eliminating the possibility of recording over what you've already shot. Camcorder editing features include delete, rearrange, fade in/out, wipe, divide, and splice.

Recorded video and still images captured by the VDR-M30 can be played back on DVD-RAM and the majority of DVD-R compatible MPEG2-conforming devices. Just slide the disc out of the new disc cartridge and place it into the DVD recorder or player, or into a PC or laptop computer equipped with DVD playback. The camcorder has a USB port for easy direct connection to a PC.

Optics
The VDR-M30 is equipped with a 12x optical zoom, and also features a 240x digital zoom that allows you to zoom in on incredible close-ups.

Digital Stills
In addition to moving pictures, the VDR-M30 can record still images (640 x 480 pixels) onto a DVD disc or SD Memory Card. A DVD-RAM disc can store JPEG photo data and video together on the same disc. The VDR-M30 lets you keep family memories, in both still and moving pictures, on a single disc. You can also save still images to an optional Secure Digital (SD) memory card

More Features
The XTRA mode uses an advanced MPEG2 data compression technology called VBR (variable bit rate) to record high-quality images. Real-time VBR controls the rate of MPEG2 compression in real time, depending on scene complexity, varying it to enable more efficient recording. In XTRA mode, the VDR-M30 can record continuously for 36 to 120 minutes on both side of an 8cm DVD-RAM disc.

Other features include:

800K pixel resolution
2.5-inch LCD screen
5-mode Program auto-exposure (AE)
USB 1.1 connectivity
S-Video and A/V output
Stereo microphone

Size and Contents
The camcorder measures 2.25 x 3.5 x 5.3 inches and weighs 1.1 pounds (without battery). This package includes the VDRM30 camcorder, AC adapter, battery pack, shoulder strap, A/V cable (M3-RCA), lens cap, USB cable, DVD-R disc, and video editing software.

Customer Reviews:

Very good camcorder.......2005-09-07

I have owned this camera for about 1 year, and it has performed very well and is fully compatible with Windows XP. It produces very good quality and has been completely reliable.

I suggest that you should buy wide-angle and telephoto accessory lenses. These cost me about $100 CAD (they are "no-name", so I can't give you a specific recommendation). These increase its flexibility and improve quality by extending the optical zoom instead of using the digital zoom.

To address some of the issues raised in earlier reviews:
- Most camcorders do not include an accessory light, to reduce the initial purchase cost. There are various aftermarket choices available.
- The DVD is in DVD-RAM format. If your DVD-ROM drive does not support this format, it won't be able to play it. This is hardly Panasonic's fault. Although DVD-RAM is not widely supported, you can find drives that support it.
- The camcorder provides 3 levels of quality. Make sure you choose the Xtra setting; this gives a very good picture.
-(...)

Great Camera, but the software is horrible........2005-05-30

I bought this camera during xmas of 2003. The camera is really easy to use, but you need a Master's degree in computer programing to get the software to work. I have had little success in getting the usb connection to work. Still after struggling with this thing for over a year I discovered that you can use the dvd ram in a drive eliminating the need of the usb. A prior review suggests that you have to load the dvdram driver to make the transfer to the computer easier. In the configure menu you have to tell the software to read the disc in your dvdrom drive. The transfer is still slower then XMAS, but at least I don't have to pray to the electronic's gods to get my videos transferred. One last thing, the manual for the software is completely useless.

crashes and destroys everything I've recorded.......2005-05-19

After less than two years, this recorder crashes and destroys everything I've recorded every time I try to record on a 60 minute DVD for more than 55 minutes. It works fine as long as I remember to stop it before 55 minutes, but losing everything seems like an awfully big price to pay for losing track of the time. I've called customer support and they say it shouldn't do this and they don't know why it does, and there's nothing to be done about it since it's not under warranty anymore. (They'll fix it for $300 + parts, but I'm reluctant to pour more money into this piece of junk.) For $700, I expect a product that will work reliably for more than a year!

what happened.......2004-03-12

I bought this video camera to record the birth of my child. I got it and immediately checked it to make sure that everything was in working condition. It worked fine. Several months down the line I took the camera out to make sure what kind of card I needed to purchase for taking still photos. When I turned it on and tried to use it, I got the recording of sounds in the room but no picture. Now keep in mind I thought that I was maybe looking at the lens cap, but it was no longer covering the lens. I adjusted everything pertaining to the darkness of the screen and was still unable to get anything other than a black screen on the LCD or through the view finder. Thank goodness it is still under warranty or I would just be out $800.

Don't buy this product!.......2004-03-04

I have had my Panasonic VDR M30 camcorder since Christmas, 2003. I have made five calls to their tech support line, where their technical people admit there is a problem and tell me they are working on fixing the drivers for the camcorder's software to make it work with Windows XP. They refuse to return my telephone calls, and they refuse to exchange my camcorder for another model. They treat their customers very poorly. I would give this product, and this company, zero stars if that were an option.

Average customer rating:
Lancast E3 BNC TO BWDM 1310TX-SA CONVRT MOD ( 2175-2Y-01 )

Manufacturer: Lancast Inc.
ProductGroup: CE
Binding: Electronics

Networking Kits | Wireless | Networking & Online Communication | Computer Add-Ons | Computers & Add-Ons | Categories | Electronics
ASIN: B0000C5FN6

Product Description

The Radiance T3/E3 interface provides cost effective high-speed integration and conversion of T3 (44.736Mbps) or E3 (34.368Mbps) serial copper telco communication lines to fiber optic links. The T3/E3 interface line card can connect to PBXs, multiplexers, ATM/Frame Relay devices, routers, network servers and video CODECS achieving extended distances, high density, high quality of transmission, and improved security.Regardless of line codes or framing, the copper data stream is converted to optical signals for greater noise immunity and longer transmission. The T3/E3 interface line card supports remote fiber optic links up to 2km over multimode (1310nm) and 100km over singlemode fiber (1550nm).The T3/E3 interface card operates seamlessly with low bit delay, and all signal activity is converted ensuring accurate communication within connected segments.The T3/E3 Interface Line Cards provide independent copper and fiber loopback modes to isolate problems within a specific segment of the network. Management options for Radiance line cards are accomplished through Metrobility's GUI-based NetBeacon or WebBeacon Element Manager, any standard SNMP application, or through terminal console commands (CLI). This ability provides management control over the line card's configuration and immediate notification of a problem to a management station.

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