I initially LOVED it. It looked well built (nice and heavy), the screen was VERY nice, it had a nice backlight, clear lettering, nice ID3 display. I loved the scroll wheel on the side, and I practically never used the joystick in the front. It had a good organization system of the music that was uploaded into it, and it had many cool options, such as a timer, a clock, and even a 5-bar equalizer that you had complete control over. However, my pleasure with this player didn't last forever; I was skeptical from the beginning because I had done my homework before buying it, and read MANY problems that people were experiencing with this product, and I tried it out at Future Shop only because I had the freedom of return, and if I had really liked the player, I would have paid 29.99 for an extra two years' extended warranty, and would have been a happy man.

However, on the second day of owning this player, I noticed that a button (specifically, the volume+ button) had started going weird on me. I had to press it two or three times to get the player to respond, and even when it responded, I couldn't hold the button to continuously raise the volume (like the volume-down button allowed), and the button had lost contact again. A few hours later, the button had stopped working completely. I contacted Rio via email and they were not helpful at all. They told me to return the product, and I didn't even get an apology.

So before you buy the product, consider the following:

A LOT of people are having problems with this player.
Rio gives it a mere 90 day's warranty. Why, do you ask? Because they have no confidence.
If you want a good player, get the Sony NWE99, 1GB storage, 70 hour battery life, it's much much much better and more reliable than the Rio Nitrus.

Nitrus - BE VERY WARY
Review date: 2005-01-08 Rating: 2 out of 10

I purchased a Nitrus in August last year, and was initially delighted with it - it had excellent sound quality, long battery life, easy to use, and my only gripe was that the player paused for a few seconds between tracks. Now, 5 months on in January, the player has broken. It attempts to play a track and clicks, then crashes. Luckily, I was able to return my product and exchange it for a different model, but be very careful.

very good
Review date: 2005-01-06 Rating: 10 out of 10

ok so the ipod has more memory in every other way the nitrus is superior

it has a great software package that is easy to use (most of the people i know who have tried itunes ended up with little hair) it has excelletn sound quality and will quite easily deafen you given half a chance

its very small and light and it looks very nice

i ahve had this and an ipod and so far i rpefer this in evryway