Rio Nitrus - Is It Really So Troubled?

[vranswer]

Hi all!

Had a crazy notion about buying the Nitrus which the local Wally World has for $149. Went over to Riovolution and was treated to volumes of complaints/posts about problems with the player. Anyone have any input, either positive or negative, about the Nitrus?

Thanks!

 

[austonia]

never had a problem with mine. it's just the right size, and its cheap. the only thing i don't like is 2-second gap between songs and it doesn't load as fast as other USB2 devices. battery life is great. strong output. sound quality is average. GUI is very simple.

 

[vranswer]

Don,

I've read your posts about the Karma... is the Nitrus an OK step-down from its big bro? I have a 3G Ipod and an Ipod Mini, and thought a Nitrus would provide a nice longer-battery-life option for those rainy days. Some concern about the inability to pick the song from the artist. Has that proven to be an excessive pain in the *****?

 

[mojoman]

I bought a Nitrus last November and I've had no issues with it at all and I pretty much abuse it. It's my sole portable player that I grab whenever I want music to go. I use it working in the yard, at the gym, at work, walking the dog, etc. It get's used almost everyday. It's a great player to just put in your pocket and go. I've dropped it many times. Twice I've dropped it on a moving treadmill, it hit the track and shot off the back of the treadmill. Both times I just picked it up, plugged the headphones back in and keep on going. I should add that it has locked up on me twice but a simple reset fixed the problem each time. My experience with the Nitrus will probably lead me to buy a Karma 2 when they come out.

As for you question about picking songs, I don't really my Nitrus that way. I just fill it up with music, hit random play and let it go. Perhaps Austonia will have better observations about song selection.

 

[austonia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vranswer Don, I've read your posts about the Karma... is the Nitrus an OK step-down from its big bro? I have a 3G Ipod and an Ipod Mini, and thought a Nitrus would provide a nice longer-battery-life option for those rainy days. Some concern about the inability to pick the song from the artist. Has that proven to be an excessive pain in the *****?

it's not in the same class as a full-featured player but it works well enough considering how portable it is. not being able to drill down from artist to song is a major issue, but i've adapted, and its not such a big deal considering the limited capacity. same with playlisting. i use it to play albums instead of individual tracks. i use it mostly when doing yardwork or exercise, when I don't want to mess with anything more than picking an album at a time...