The effectiveness of any MP3 player depends on the ease with which you can inexpensive sounds. In Diamond's case this is pretty straightforward, and the supplied Audio Manager is all-embracing. The simular application handles recording of CD tracks, browsing the Internet for MP3 files, compiling a database on your hard drive and downloading to your Rio 500. It does all this in a fairly self explanatory way... which is just as well.

Where the software is well designed, the accompanying documentation is poor. A couple of pages of text is all you get, mainly devoted to the PC and Mac software. There's little about the workings of the player itself and some aspects, like the need for folders in the Rio's file structure, are given no explanation at all. It would only take a little extra effort to provide all the necessary details, so why couldn't Diamond manage it?

This niggle aside, the Rio 500 works extremely well, but as with all MP3 players, you have to be quite dedicated to reload it each night with new sounds for the following day. What we need is a Rio with a gigabyte or more of internal storage. That may not be long in coming.

Diamond - Rio 500 features - Verdict

With double the internal memory of the Rio 300, and room for an extra 32MB in a SmartMedia card, the Rio 500 is easy to use and very convenient. Music playback is clear, if a little bass light, and overall Diamond's device shows the way for music on the move.

Diamond - Rio 500 price

£210 inc. VAT

Diamond: 01189 444400