The 15-pin cable above is the actual connection that links the Rio with the passthrough device which plugs into the user's LPT-1 port. It features a very small connector, which is the same type at both ends and separated by three feet of cable. Nothing out of the ordinary to report here, the cable performed capably.
The Parallel Port Adapter is the passthrough device we've been talking about, it's about an inch and a half long and has the ability to plug into a user's PC while then allowing the user's printer cable to be plugged into it. It performed without exception, but users who back their towers into tight places won't appreciate the relatively long passthrough-printer cable extrusion that the passthrough creates.
Sofware-wise the Rio bundle shines, as it includes everything a first time MP3 audio user needs to get a fast education in the entire process of encoding and decoding regular song files. Similar to Winamp, the world's most popular MP3 utility, the MusicMatch Jukebox allows for total control over the entire recording, playback, and monitoring of MP3 files. One gripe we've got with the MusicMatch software is that it only allows for three different fidelity settings while compressing the original song into an MP3 file. Options of 128kbps, 80kpbs, and 64kbps are the three available options, even though MP3 files can be compressed at a level that's anywhere between 16kbps and 144kbps without a problem. Other than that singular issue, the software performed well and neophyte MP3 users will appreciate the intuitive and easy to use interface. As far as the time it takes to convert or "encode" a normal audio song into an MP3 file, it depends largely on your own PC's speed and components. On our 32x CD-ROM drive equipped P2-450, a four minute song required roughly one minute and 40 seconds to encode.
The MP3 song samples that are included on the Diamond bundled "Sampler CD" are of a wide variety, offering several different types of modern music and rhythms. The amount of MP3 files that can be stored on a single CD is colossal, since each four minute MP3 song encoded at the highest level of audio fidelity only requires around 4.5 to 5MB of space. Considering that a CD can hold 650MB of total information, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that a single CD can contain over 175 songs. With the proliferation of CD-Recordable drives, we wonder if the direction that Diamond and other companies are taking with portable MP3 players is the right one.
Think about it this way: A user could either download their favorite MP3 songs off the Internet, or encode them from their own CDs into the MP3 format. Then, using their CD-R drive, they could copy or move all of the songs onto a single CD-R disc, up to a total of 150 to 180 full length songs.
