Diamond Rio PMP300
Table of contents
About
The Diamond (a.k.a. SonicBlue / Rio / RioPort?) Rio PMP300 was one of the first
portable MP3 players. The data is stored in flash RAM (32MB internal + addon
on Smart Media card, 32MB here) and is transfered via the parallel port of a
PC. There were different versions including a very cheap bulk version. Today,
the refurbished players are very inexpensive.
Since 1998 I own one of those. It is a nice thing, but some issues with it
took a lot of time. Before I found information about the memory expansion by
chance and an application that co-operated nicely with my PC the player was
not used very often.
This page contains my experiences and (biased) opinions regarding the Rio PMP300
used in a Windows NT 4 environment. You might call it folklore, but I use this
one almost every day and I prefer it to all the modern players.
What it's all about (doesn't show the headphones shipped with device)
Pros
- Connects to the Parallel Port:
- As I still use Windows NT 4, this is a pro
(yes, still true. See edition date below on this page). I don't even think
about upgrading my OS (up and running since 1996) to link a MP3 player
via USB.
- Regarding the maximum memory size of 64MB, data transfer speed is okay
(~200kB/s).
- Size (approx. 9 x 7 x 2cm³):
- The third killer criteria for me - if the player would not fit in my
pockets, it would be of no use.
- Plays all MP3s up to 256kBps, works fine with variable bitrates (VBR) from
the LAME Encoder.
- "Hold" feature.
- Price:
- Even years ago when I bought my player (used) it was dirt cheap.
- Check out the prices in a local ads magazine, the USENET or in auctions.
Be amazed. Add some € for addtional memory.
Cons
- Connects to the Parallel Port:
- Bad, bad software from manufacturer:
- Small memory:
- Ships with only 32MB, expandable to 64MB max.
- The memory expansion does not bond, i.e. you can't upload a 4MB file
starting at an offset of 30MB using any space of the built-in RAM.
- No firmware upgrade, i.e. you will not get it to work with .ogg files unless
you are really geek and hardware-freaked.
- Small display:
- Does not display track information, but only the track number on the
player.
- Unreliable battery meter.
- Low output levels:
- If you like to listen to music really loud, you should buy
headphones with high efficiency. Get some Koss stuff.
- Some features of no use to me:
- Leave the built-in equalizer in "Normal" mode, everything
else is terrible.
- "Menu" button doesn't seem to do anything.
- I don't use the features "Random", "A->B", "Repeat"
and "Intro", and their availability makes the hold feature a
must. Anyway, I hate that dumb shuffle modes on any device, and I suppose
the artists do, too.
Rio PMP300 and Windows NT 4
I still stick to my old Windows NT 4 as it is the most reliable and least time
time consuming Operating System for my purposes.
Diamond / SonicBlue / RioPort offered the software Audio
Manager which could be used with the PMP300 and Win NT (many sites
state that there is no "official" software for Win NT. Plain wrong).
At least sometimes, as it was very unreliable in my configuration (see Cons).
But then, they don't provide any support for this software when used with a
PMP300 (Remember: that's still IT industry, not consumer industry. Believe me).
I tried a lot of different management software for the Rio and Windows NT,
including command line software and shareware, but nothing really worked - until
I found a free tool with the strange name Dreaming of Brazil.
Dreaming of Brazil
Harald coded this software
on top of the The Snowblind Alliance
code and did a great job. It comes with the DEV_DirectNT device driver (directnt.sys)
- which is started dynamically - to talk to the Rio. Dreaming of Brazil
even sports an installer.
Dreaming of Brazil works great and reliable. It's a piece of no-fuss-software
with standard GUI elements as I like it the most. One can use Drag and Drop
to upload tracks chosen in Windows Explorer. In fact, any files can be uploaded
as there is no file type check, if you should ever need a portable 32MB backup
media. Re-sorting of the files is not possible, but I never needed that.
I use version 3.0 beta 6, the software is available under the GNU Public license.
Great.
Main window
The "Hardware Info..." button doesn't show the installed extra 32MB
in my Rio, but that doesn't matter as the upload / download works fine (IT again).
An additional tool in the Dreaming of Brazil package detects the expansion.
Hardware information
Tips
Memory Expansion
- The PMP300 uses Smart Media Cards for expansion, 3.3 volts work
fine for me. Pretty cheap (see auctions).
- Some people said that 32MB is the only size that works. But Jevin
writes: "I am successfully using a 3.3V 16MB SmartMedia card with my
Rio PMP300." - fine!
- The card will be formatted in a proprietary format:
- You will not be able to use the card in other devices (such as digital
cameras or memory card readers) without re-formatting it in advance (sometimes
referred to as "initialization").
- SonicBlue / Diamond offers a Windows
9x tool as a workaround (Rio Diagnostic Tool).
- Dreaming of Brazil features a tool to do
the job and other Smart-Media-related tasks, too.
- Remember: when Diamond shipped the first PMP300s, Smart Media was not
yet a standard.
Batteries
- Pick up really good rechargeable batteries, it's worth it. I picked up a
pair of good rechargeable batteries with 1800mAh capacity. They work about
one week without recharge for me.
Driver Issues (NT 4)
- A device driver is needed within Win NT to access hardware (your parallel
port) directly.
- A nice software to manage device drivers is the Service
Manager NT by Falk Schmal and Torsten Sprejz. It's much better than
the "Devices" and "Services" applets shipped with Windows
NT.
- Make sure the devices of the "Parallel Arbitrator" group are running,
set them to start type "automatic":
- Make sure that other Rio software did not leave device drivers on the system
after installation.
- If you run into trouble, try to stop other device drivers accessing the
parallel port:
- External ZIP drive
- Parallel Port scanner (boo)
- Fragments of printer drivers (e.g. HPxxx)
Errors while uploading songs
- If you do not use Dreaming of Brazil yet, do
so.
- Read its documentation.
- Set the parallel port mode in the BIOS to EPP (Direct memory access
has always been a bulky feature, simplex data transfer will not do the job)
as noted in the documentation you already read.
- Power up the device before sending data by pressing "Play" once,
then "Stop" once. This might be eVoodoo, but might as well help
to keep signal levels up.
High system load during data transfer
- Is no application design flaw, but related to something called Deferred
Procedure Calls (DPCs). Basically, a data transfer via the parallel port
results in a lot of interrupts used for the communication between hard- and
software. Your OS must dispatch those interrupts, and this involves a lot
of overhead and waiting cycles.
Links
Hardware trouble
Once my player stopped working (did not respond anymore to anything). I already
checked the prices at eBay for a 'new' refurbished device, but then I sat down
and looked at the inside.
The Rio is easy to open - just three screws, but remember to take out the battery
and the memory card first. The design is pretty straightforward: one circuit
board in the lower shell with the battery holder, one in the upper shell with
the display on it, two connectors in between.
There was a problem with the small connector that links to the battery anode
(see pic): the locations of this small piece of metal and the plastic clip that
holds it didn't match. Okay, fixed.
Lower part of the circuit board.
Blue circle marks the area you might have to look at.
Just for those who are interested in such stuff:
the upper part, parallel connector on the right side.
Damn hardware, but at least it works again.