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Full user review
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3 out of 4 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"A couple of bugs but works fine"
Pros: lightweight, sleek, compact, good sound quality, large enough HD for people who don't need 5000 songs in an mp3 player
Cons: HD is too sensitive, medium battery life, no belt clip
Summary: Ok, I've actually had my Rio Nitrus for a solid 8 months of constant use. I've bought it blindly without reading reviews because my last mp3 player was a RioOne and that little thing lasted me 2 yrs, and it's been through a lot. To have something last that long, I don't think I could go wrong with the Nitrus.
As far as I'm concern, I'm pretty happy with my nitrus. I've read bad reviews, but people fail to take in mind that a HD based mp3 player is not something you should carelessly toy with, by shaking it around, dropping it, sitting on it, stepping on it, whatever. You paid good money for a product, then take better care of it.
This product is basic and to the point. It has a nice digital screen that has the name of the song, artist, volume, battery life, etc. The software is easy to use, and you can make playlists. I love music, but I don't like having to browse through 1000 different artists or 5000 tracks to play one song. I'm a "one song on repeat forever" type of listener, and nitrus is just big enough for my music needs without making me feel guilty for not using the remaining 19.5GB if I were to have an iPod.
The cons, there are a few. First of all, after about 6 months, many said their nitrus simply died. Well I'm proud to say that mine has survived that deadline and works. Only about the same time, I've noticed that it made a unsettling shrieking noise in my earplugs if I started running with it, it prompted the HD to shake, so it messed up the song I was listening to. Luckily the shrieking can be stopped by pressing stop. So I try not to shake the HD. That's what I dislike about these new mp3 players, HD drives are highly sensitive to movement, so you have to be really careful how you handle it, while a flash-based memory card was way more durable, you could shake as much as you want and it's still play fine. On occasions for some unknown reason, it may bug during a song, but nothing serious.
Battery life was longer when I first charged it for the first time, but now I'd say the battery life is about 5-6hrs of music and takes about 3-5hrs to charge.
The final and very minor gripe, no belt clip!! I think a belt clip feature would've been great because the nitrus looks great. But I can understand that due to the shaking involved when walking could disrupt the HD.
I've used the Rio300, the RioOne and now the Rio Nitrus, all 3 products were great. I love Rio, and though Nitrus is more sensitive than my flash-based Rios, I think it's still a great product if you take care of it. This product is not for very active people or people who put it through durability tests! Because remember, this thing isn't made of steel, it's made of plastic.
