Rio Forge
Encyclopedia
The Rio Forge is a digital audio player produced by Rio Audio, Inc.
While it competed in the same market as Apple Computer
's iPod mini
, it is considerably different as it plays from internal memory, SD
card, or FM broadcast and runs on a single AAA battery.
There are three main models with either 128, 256, or 512 MB of internal flash memory, which can be supplemented with a single MMC
or SD
(non-SDHC) flash memory
card to add up to 4GB of storage. Available colors included blue (512mb), silver (256mb), and red (128mb). The player is one of the few which is light enough to wear with an armband.
A Rio Forge can play MP3
, WMA
, and Audible
audio files, and can receive FM broadcast signals. All except the 128mb model can record from the FM tuner to memory. It is Microsoft Windows
, Linux
, and Macintosh compatible since it is usable as a USB mass storage device
. The included management software runs on Windows and Mac.
The Rio se510 is a 512MB Forge variant without an MMC/SD memory slot nor an FM tuner, with a light blue case.
D&M Holdings, Inc.
, which owns the Rio brand, announced its exit from the portable MP3 market on August 26, 2005. The players are still supported and the most recent official firmware is still available on the corporate website. Replacement parts, accessories, and factory renewed units are also offered for sale via the Rio website.
, the Forge is popular with international travelers and backpackers who do not wish to be burdened with battery charger
s and voltage converter
s. Furthermore, there is no downtime where the player has to be attached to the wall for recharging, allowing continuous use even on transoceanic flights. The Forge also has a power setting which enables operation with rechargeable AAA-size NiMH batteries
.
The player also supports .m3u playlist files, which saves the user from having to continuously select the next .mp3 file to play. As some audiobooks may consist of up to 500 files, this feature saves a lot of time. Playlists may be generated with WinAmp.
Firmware revisions:
Rio Forge units suffer from a design flaw where the case-mounted controls operate switches which are surface-mounted on the internal PCB
. If the player becomes damaged, taking either out of tolerance, the control (usually the volume) will not operate. It is recommended to replace such a player, which are still available online. Another option for players with volume control failure is to use headphones with an in-line volume control.
Rio (digital audio players)
Rio was the brand name of a line of digital audio players, best known for producing the "Diamond Rio" model that was the impetus for a lawsuit in 1998 by the Recording Industry Association of America...
While it competed in the same market as Apple Computer
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
's iPod mini
IPod mini
The iPod Mini is a digital audio player designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It was the midrange model in Apple's iPod product line. It was announced on January 6, 2004 and released on February 20 of the same year. A second-generation version was announced on February 23, 2005 and released later...
, it is considerably different as it plays from internal memory, SD
Secure Digital card
Secure Digital is a non-volatile memory card format developed by the SD Card Association for use in portable devices. The SD technology is used by more than 400 brands across dozens of product categories and more than 8,000 models, and is considered the de-facto industry standard.Secure Digital...
card, or FM broadcast and runs on a single AAA battery.
There are three main models with either 128, 256, or 512 MB of internal flash memory, which can be supplemented with a single MMC
MultiMediaCard
The MultiMediaCard is a flash memory memory card standard. Unveiled in 1997 by Siemens AG and SanDisk, it is based on Toshiba's NAND-based flash memory, and is therefore much smaller than earlier systems based on Intel NOR-based memory such as CompactFlash. MMC is about the size of a postage...
or SD
Secure Digital card
Secure Digital is a non-volatile memory card format developed by the SD Card Association for use in portable devices. The SD technology is used by more than 400 brands across dozens of product categories and more than 8,000 models, and is considered the de-facto industry standard.Secure Digital...
(non-SDHC) flash memory
Flash memory
Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
card to add up to 4GB of storage. Available colors included blue (512mb), silver (256mb), and red (128mb). The player is one of the few which is light enough to wear with an armband.
A Rio Forge can play MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
, WMA
Windows Media Audio
Windows Media Audio is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs...
, and Audible
Audible.com
Audible.com is an Internet provider of spoken audio entertainment, information, and educational programming.Audible sells digital audiobooks, radio and TV programs, and audio versions of magazines and newspapers....
audio files, and can receive FM broadcast signals. All except the 128mb model can record from the FM tuner to memory. It is Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, and Macintosh compatible since it is usable as a USB mass storage device
USB mass storage device class
The USB mass storage device class, otherwise known as USB MSC or UMS, is a protocol that allows a Universal Serial Bus device to become accessible to a host computing device, to enable file transfers between the two...
. The included management software runs on Windows and Mac.
The Rio se510 is a 512MB Forge variant without an MMC/SD memory slot nor an FM tuner, with a light blue case.
D&M Holdings, Inc.
D&M Holdings
D&M Holdings is a Japanese corporation that owns several audio and video brands. It was formed in 2002 from the merger of Denon and Marantz. It has acquired several other companies since that time. In 2008 it was acquired by K. K. BCJ-2, a Tokyo corporation owned by investment funds advised...
, which owns the Rio brand, announced its exit from the portable MP3 market on August 26, 2005. The players are still supported and the most recent official firmware is still available on the corporate website. Replacement parts, accessories, and factory renewed units are also offered for sale via the Rio website.
Quick Feature List
- Up to 4.5 gigabytes of storage with optional 4GB SD card.
- 5-Band equalizerEqualizerEqualizer or equaliser may refer to:*Equalization, the process of adjusting the strength of certain frequencies within a signal*An equalization filter for used audio and similar signals...
with several presets - Plays MP3, WMA, Audible, and FM broadcast
- Built-in mini USB connector
- Mounts as USB mass storage deviceUSB mass storage device classThe USB mass storage device class, otherwise known as USB MSC or UMS, is a protocol that allows a Universal Serial Bus device to become accessible to a host computing device, to enable file transfers between the two...
with a drive letter; users can drag and drop data and music files onto the player in Windows Explorer or included software - Runs on single AAAAAA batteryA triple A or AAA battery is a standard size of dry cell battery commonly used in portable electronic devices. A carbon-zinc battery in this size is designated by IEC as "R03", by ANSI C18.1 as "24", by old JIS standard as "UM 4", and by other manufacturer and national standard designations that...
NiMHNickel metal hydride batteryA nickel–metal hydride cell, abbreviated NiMH, is a type of rechargeable battery similar to the nickel–cadmium cell. The NiMH battery uses a hydrogen-absorbing alloy for the negative electrode instead of cadmium. As in NiCd cells, the positive electrode is nickel oxyhydroxide...
or alkaline batteryAlkaline batteryAlkaline batteries are a type of primary batteries dependent upon the reaction between zinc and manganese dioxide . A rechargeable alkaline battery allows reuse of specially designed cells....
offering up to 20 hours music playback
- Windows and Mac compatible (the player itself is Linux compatible as well, but not the software)
- Includes Rio Music Manager software, used to manage the digital music library
- Audiobook support:
- Playlists - can be used to play the files in an audiobook in the correct order
- Bookmarks - allow the listener to return later to the exact playlist/track/time in the audiobook
Popularity with travelers
Because it is one of the few mp3 players which run on alkaline batteriesAlkaline battery
Alkaline batteries are a type of primary batteries dependent upon the reaction between zinc and manganese dioxide . A rechargeable alkaline battery allows reuse of specially designed cells....
, the Forge is popular with international travelers and backpackers who do not wish to be burdened with battery charger
Battery charger
A battery charger is a device used to put energy into a secondary cell or rechargeable battery by forcing an electric current through it.The charge current depends upon the technology and capacity of the battery being charged...
s and voltage converter
Voltage converter
A voltage converter changes the voltage of an electrical power source. It may be combined with other components to create a power supply.-AC and DC:...
s. Furthermore, there is no downtime where the player has to be attached to the wall for recharging, allowing continuous use even on transoceanic flights. The Forge also has a power setting which enables operation with rechargeable AAA-size NiMH batteries
Nickel metal hydride battery
A nickel–metal hydride cell, abbreviated NiMH, is a type of rechargeable battery similar to the nickel–cadmium cell. The NiMH battery uses a hydrogen-absorbing alloy for the negative electrode instead of cadmium. As in NiCd cells, the positive electrode is nickel oxyhydroxide...
.
Popularity with audiobook users
Because it is one of the few MP3 players to support "bookmarks", the Rio Forge is popular with audiobook listeners. The user can save their place in the track/playlist in any one of up to eight "bookmark" slots. This means that there is never a problem with trying to search for the correct spot in the audiobook. As some audiobooks can exceed 60 hours, this simple feature is a big advantage.The player also supports .m3u playlist files, which saves the user from having to continuously select the next .mp3 file to play. As some audiobooks may consist of up to 500 files, this feature saves a lot of time. Playlists may be generated with WinAmp.
Firmware Upgrades
The firmware on any Rio Forge can be easily upgraded with the Rio Forge Firmware Upgrade Utility v3.04. To complete the firmware upgrade, plug the unit into the USB port of your computer, then run the utility to upgrade the Rio Forge. This 2-minute procedure will fix any software related reliability issues that were present in older firmware.Firmware revisions:
- v1.33 and older: If the version of firmware is older than v1.33 (released in July 2005), the player could lock software-activated controls from operating. The solution is to reset the player with this procedure: remove the battery and let the internal capacitors discharge for several minutes, then connect to a PC by the USB cable and reinstall the firmware. The issue is gone in post-July 2005 firmware, which can be installed by downloading special software from the Rio website.
- v1.66: This unofficial version adds MTP (Media Transfer ProtocolMedia Transfer ProtocolThe Media Transfer Protocol is a devised set of custom extensions to the Picture Transfer Protocol . Whereas PTP was designed for downloading photographs from digital cameras, Media Transfer Protocol supports the transfer of music files on digital audio players and media files on portable media...
) support. - v3.04: This unofficial version, named "The Developers Cut", adds several new features such as large SD card support, and proper support for bookmarks with VBR (Variable Bitrate) .mp3 files. There are no known issues with this version.
Reliability issues
All software reliability issues can be fixed with a firmware upgrade.Rio Forge units suffer from a design flaw where the case-mounted controls operate switches which are surface-mounted on the internal PCB
Printed circuit board
A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board or etched wiring...
. If the player becomes damaged, taking either out of tolerance, the control (usually the volume) will not operate. It is recommended to replace such a player, which are still available online. Another option for players with volume control failure is to use headphones with an in-line volume control.
External links
- Rio catalog page for Forge MP3 players
- Rio Audio Expands its Award-Winning Lineup of MP3 Players - press release
- Rio Forge firmware "3.04 The Developer's Cut" (direct download 1)
- Rio Forge firmware "3.04 The Developer's Cut" (direct download 2)