Rio S50 User’s Guide
Contents
Welcome
Index
1
Welcome
Thanks for your purchase of the Rio S50 digital music player. The S50 portable player supports MP3 and
WMA playback, and features a built-in FM radio. With 128MB memory — expandable with optional external
memory cards — the S50 holds hours of your favorite music. The S50 comes equipped with a rechargeable
battery to supply up to 20 hours of continuous music playtime. Use the music management software
included on the software CDs to:
• Organize digital audio tracks on your computer
• Encode your audio CDs into compressed digital audio format
• Download tracks to your Rio player
• Search for tracks on your computer or on the Internet
• Create custom CDs — if you have CD burning hardware and your computer supports it
Contents
Navigating the User’s Guide / Using Acrobat
Tour of the Rio Player
Getting Started
Playing Music
Using the Stopwatch
Setting and Releasing Hold
Setting Shuffle and Repeat Play
Setting the Equalizer
Listening to the FM Radio
Advanced Features
Using the Music Management Software
Contents
Welcome
Index
2
Glossary of Digital Audio Terms
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and Troubleshooting
Warranty Information
Regulatory Information
Customer Care
Index
To learn more:
• Refer to the Quick Start poster for the basics on how to set up and start using your Rio player.
• Refer to the complete music management software online Help for step-by-step instructions on how to
use the software to convert CD tracks into compressed digital audio formats, download tracks to your
Rio player, or get audio files from the Internet.
• Visit the SONICblue Web site.
Navigating the User’s Guide
The User’s Guide is in Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) file format.
Important: We recommend that you use Adobe Acrobat Reader version 4.0 or higher to view
and print the Rio User’s Guide. Acrobat reader 4.0 is available on the software CDs.
Click blue, underlined text links to jump to another location in the document or to a location on the Inter-
net.
Click the Contents link at the top of any page to go to the list of User’s Guide contents.
Click the Index link at the top of any page to go to the alphabetical Index of topics. Click page numbers in
the Index to jump to a topic.
Using Acrobat
Click the navigation buttons
next page, or last page of the User’s Guide.
Click the print button
in the Acrobat toolbar to go to the first page, previous page,
in the Acrobat toolbar to print the User’s Guide.
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Click the show/hide navigation pane button
in the Acrobat toolbar to show a list of bookmarks. Book-
marks are links to the contents of the User’s Guide. Click any bookmark in the list to jump to the page in
the User’s Guide that contains the topic.
Legal Notices
Legal Notices
Contents
Index
3
© 2002 SONICblue Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.
SONICblue Incorporated shall not be liable for any errors contained herein or for any damages arising out
of or related to this document or the information contained herein, even if SONICblue has been advised of
the possibility of such damages.
This document is intended for informational and instructional purposes only. SONICblue reserves the right
to make changes in the specifications and other information contained in this document without prior noti-
fication. SONICblue disclaims any obligation to update the information contained herein.
Rio is a registered trademark of SONICblue Incorporated. SONICblue is a trademark of SONICblue Incorpo-
rated.
This product is iTunes ready. iTunes is provided by Apple Computer, Inc. © 2002 Apple
Computer, Inc. All rights reserved. iTunes is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Mac
and the Mac logo are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. registered in the United States
and other countries.
Microsoft, Windows Media and the Windows Logo are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
All other product names may be trademarks of the companies with which they are
associated.
First edition, June 2002
S50 P/N 75510395-001
Tour of the Rio Player
Display (LCD)
ENTER
Press to cycle through
the player’s various
screens;
Press while pressing
and holding MENU to
put the Rio player into
or out of Hold mode;
Press and hold to set a bookmark;
In Menu mode, press to select
Menu options;
In Stopwatch mode, press to move
lap times down on the LCD; if the
timer is running, press to capture a
new lap time without stopping the
timer; press and hold to reset all
lap times to zero;
In Tuner mode, press to switch
between Manual and Preset
modes; press and hold to store a
preset station
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Tour of the Rio Player
Contents
Index
4
PLAY/PAUSE
Press to play or pause playback;
In Menu mode, press to navigate to the previous Menu
option;
In Stopwatch mode, press to start and stop the timer;
In Tuner mode, press to mute/unmute radio output
REVERSE and FORWARD
Press to skip to the start of the current or next track —
if less than five seconds have elapsed, REVERSE skips
to the start of the previous track; Press and hold to
scan backward or forward within the current track;
In Menu mode, press FORWARD to select or execute a
Menu option;
In Tuner mode, press to manually tune to stations or
cycle through presets
STOP
Press to stop playback;
In Menu mode, press to navigate
to the next Menu option;
In Stopwatch mode, press to
reset the timer to zero
Battery compartment cover
Remove cover and insert the supplied
battery and optional external memory
cards here. Insert external memory
cards before inserting the battery.
Tour of the Rio Player
Contents
Index
5
VOLUME + and -
Press to adjust vol-
ume level up or
down on a range
from 0-30;
When the player is
turned OFF and
back ON, the vol-
ume level automati-
cally resumes at
70% of the previous
level
Tour of the Rio player (continued)
LANYARD HOLDER
Fasten optional cords
here to wear your Rio
player
OFF (0) / ON (1)
Slide to turn your
Rio player OFF or
ON;
When the player is
turned OFF, the
current mode and
user preferences
are saved and
resume when the
player is turned
back ON
MENU
Press to display the main
Menu system; If a Menu is
already open, press to close;
Press to cancel before select-
ing or executing Menu
options;
Press and hold, then press
ENTER to put the Rio player
into or out of Hold mode —
locking the Rio player but-
tons to prevent accidental
operation
MULTIFUNCTION port
Connect supplied earphones, USB
cable, optional headphones, or
optional accessory remote control
here
LCD Overview
Player Mode
Repeat
Indicator
Shuffle
Indicator
Clock
Volume
Indicator
Track Timer: Time
Elapsed or Time
Remaining
Playback
Mode
Indicator
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Tour of the Rio Player
Contents
Index
6
Hold Indicator
Battery Indicator
Battery Indicator
Track Title (from ID3 tag info)
Artist (from ID3 tag)
Album (CD) (from ID3 tag)
Progress Indicator
Track Number of Total
The Battery Indicator
graphically shows
the power level:
Empty to
Full.
The Battery Indicator
flashes when the
power level is low.
Press ENTER to cycle
through the player’s
various screens
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Date Information
Track Information: Codec,
Encoding Bitrate and Stereo/
Mono Mode Indicator (from
track ID3 tag information)
Tour of the Rio Player
Contents
Index
7
Stopwatch Mode
Timer
Lap Times
Lap Statistics: Average Lap Time
Lap Statistics: Current to
Average Lap Time Difference
FM Tuner mode
Frequency Scale
Currently Tuned
Frequency
Strong
Station
Indicator
Stereo/
Mono
Indicator
Mute
Indicator
Tuning Mode
Indicator
Tuning Mode
Tuning Mode
Indicator
Indicator
Press ENTER to switch between
Manual and Preset FM Tuner modes
Preset Station
Frequencies:
Currently
selected preset
highlighted
Preset Scroll
Indicator
Getting Started
Please refer to the Quick Start poster for complete
setup instructions, including information on con-
necting the Rio to your computer.
Step 1: Unpack
Make sure your package includes the following:
• Rio player
• Earphones
• Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable
• PC and Mac Software CDs
• Quick Start poster and other printed materials
• Carrying case
• One 1600mAH NiMH rechargeable battery
• AC Adapter
Step 2: Charge Battery
1 Slide open the battery compartment cover on the
back of the Rio player.
Tip: Insert optional external memory cards
into the memory card slot while the battery
cover is off — before you insert the battery.
2 Insert the supplied NiMH rechargeable battery.
Ensure the battery is inserted properly by match-
ing the + symbol on the battery with the symbols
in the Rio player battery compartment.
Getting Started
Contents
Index
8
TIP: You can also use one regular AA-size
alkaline battery with the Rio S50. Of course,
never attempt to charge a non-
rechargeable alkaline battery.
3 Replace the battery cover.
4 Connect the supplied AC Adapter into the DC
CHARGER port on the side of the Rio player.
DC CHARGER port
Connect the supplied AC
adapter here to charge
the battery.
NOTE: Do not connect
the AC adapter to the
MULTIFUNCTION port
on the top of the
player.
5 Connect the AC Adapter power cord into an elec-
trical outlet. You can charge the battery while the
player is turned OFF or ON. Let the batteries
charge for at least five hours before using the
player. The battery icon on the display animates
as the battery charges. When the battery is fully
charged, an AC power “plug” icon
replaces
the battery icon on the display.
6 When the battery is fully charged, unplug the AC
Adapter and disconnect it from the player.
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