People familiar with the introduction of the Sony walkman series of portable audio players in the early 80s remember back fondly to what were essentially players that were marketed not on their audio quality merits, but on their ability to fit the buyers lifestyle.
The Diamond Rio PMP300 should also be looked at in the light that it provides a nice ability to provide music to anyone under any situation (even jogging where the Rio's non-skipping qualities stand out over other portable audio formats). In that light it shines supreme, save for the limited amount of storage space within the unit.
Where the Rio leaves much to be desired however is in its overall music playback quality. Even when the MP3 files are encoded at their maximum quality level (128kbps, which sound exquisite on our standard Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Theater speaker/subwoofer setup), the Rio fails to impress. Bass reproduction is nonexistent, sounds using treble are somewhat flat, and the midrange is relatively muted. It's not "AM Radio" bad, but it isn't the level that readers are used to hearing from their portable CD players either. The Rio does includes a button to change its internally preset equalizer to one of four modes: Normal, Classic, Jazz, and Rock. The problem is that the unit's sound reproduction is so limited that the EQ settings don't make a whole lot of difference to the overall listening experience.
We suspect that most purchasers of the Rio PMP300 won't be too concerned with its audio clarity however, as the unit is well suited to environments where sound definition isn't as important. Thanks to its size and complete lack of skipping, the Rio makes for a perfect companion in the gym, while out running, passing time on long plane flights, and in other applications where the crispness of Beethoven's "9th symphony" or the heavy bass of LL Cool J's "Phenomenon" aren't the top priority. It also skimps on battery power, includes a relatively feature rich control set, and does introduce the buyer into the world of MP3 audio.
Obviously the Rio PMP300 is the first step along what will hopefully be a long journey of MP3 playing portables. As such, it scores points for allowing something that was never before possible, along with its ordinary merits. Sharky Extreme cautiously recommends the Rio PMP300 with the understanding that buyers recognize its two major negatives: The unit's maximum 64MB of ram and the unimpressive audio quality. If those two barriers aren't high on your list of "reasons I won't buy a portable audio solution" then we give the purchase of a Rio the green light.
