RioPort Audio Manager 3.2
Originally designed to shuttle MP3 files from your PC to your Sonicblue Rio portable player, RioPort Audio Manager 3.2 has evolved into a more full-featured jukebox program with excellent support for file transfers to the Rio 300 and Rio 500. But it still can't match the more robust programs MusicMatch Jukebox Plus 6.0 and RealNetworks RealJukebox 2.
The built-in file manager in RioPort Audio Manager is severely limited and doesn't compete with the more robust file management functions offered by MusicMatch Jukebox Plus 6.0, RealNetworks RealJukebox 2 , or Sonic Foundry Siren 2. You can, however, search for all compatible audio files and then sort them by type, time, size, title, or artist.
Creating a playlist is fairly straightforward -- mainly because there are so few options to get in the way--and you can easily combine tracks from your database and the current CD. Reading from and writing to a CD is also a snap. The program can connect online for automatic album-and song-title information, and can read embedded ID3 tags hidden within MP3 files. You can even edit the track info yourself and associate CD art, artist Web sites, bit rates, and other relevant data. Plus, you can convert CD tracks to either MP3 or Windows Media (WMA) formats.
Among the features that helps RioPort Audio Manager graduate to the next level of audio players is its ability to play secure audio files that use the MetaTrust system from InterTrust, as well as MP3, WMA, RealAudio, QuickTime, and AVI movie files. RioPort Audio Manager also supports skins, visualizations, and audio plug-ins, although the selection consists mostly of skins and is rather limited. One noteworthy exception, however, is the WOW Thing plug-in that adds convincing 3D surround-sound to the RioPort's audio playback.
Another plus to the program is a miniature set of transport controls that are temporally installed into your system tray when you run RioPort. The controls are especially convenient if you like to listen to music files while working in other programs.
The best feature of RioPort Audio Manager, however, is the way the program interacts with a Rio 300 or 500 when it transfers files. You can see the current contents of the player's memory by track title, size of file, and play time. There's also a bar chart that visually displays the amount of memory that's used, selected, and available. Competitors take note: This is how every program should handle file transfers to portable players.
Unfortunately, the free version allows only 50 MP3 recordings and 25 CD track burns. It'll cost you US$9.95 to add unlimited MP3 encoding and US$9.95 to add unlimited CD track burning -- or you can purchase both for US$18.95. With its limited functionality, however, and unless you own a Rio 300 or 500, your money is probably better spent elsewhere.
Company:RioPort
Price:US$9.95 (add unlimited MP3 encoding), US$9.95 (add unlimited CD track burning) OR US$18.95 for both.
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