Rio Receiver alternatives
One of the first such devices was the Rio Receiver, released in 2000, which was ahead of its time in many ways but had a small, hard-to-read screen. Consequently, it can’t really still be recommended. I put this page together to keep track of the available alternatives and their features. In the following table, “?” means “don’t know” (do email me if you can help me eliminate a “?”), and “ish” means the feature is available but only in certain configurations, or with certain files, or only at the expense of disabling other features.
| Rio Receiver | Roku Soundbridge | Squeezebox III | Empeg-car RE | Airport Express | Sonos | Netgear MP101 | Linksys WMA11B |
||
| Software features: lossy codecs | |||||||||
| MP3 | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| MP2 | Y | ? | Y | N | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| WMA | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | |
| WMA DRM | N | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | |
| AAC | N | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | N | N | |
| AAC DRM | N | N | N | N | Y | N | N | N | |
| Vorbis | N | ish (2) | Y | Y | N | Y | N | N | |
| Software features: lossless codecs | |||||||||
| FLAC | N | ish (2) | Y | Y | N | Y | N | N | |
| Apple Lossless | N | N | Y | N | Y | N | N | N | |
| WMA Lossless | N | Y | Y | N | N | N | N | N | |
| WAV | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | |
| Software features: misc | |||||||||
| Audible FF/Rew | N | Y | ? | Y | Y (6) | N | ? | ? | |
| Rapid search | Y | N | ? | N | Y (6) | ? | ? | ? | |
| Internet radio | N | Y | Y | N | Y (6) | Y | Y | N | |
| UPnP | N | Y | N | N | N | N | Y | N | |
| DAAP | N | Y | Y | N | Y (6) | N | N | N | |
| Windows shares | N | N | N | N | Y (6) | Y | N | N | |
| Gapless MP3 (4) | N | N | Y | Y | Y (6) | ? | N | ? | |
| Gapless other | N | N | Y | Y | Y (6) | Y | N | ? | |
| Crossfade | N | ? | Y | Y | ? | ? | N | ? | |
| Standalone radio | N | Y | Y | N | N | Y | ? | N | |
| Network control | N | Y | Y | N | Y (3) | Y | N | N | |
| Synchronisable | N | ? | Y | N | N | Y | N | N | |
| Replaygain | N | N | Y | N | N | ? | N | ? | |
| Unicode | N | ? | ? | Y | Y (6) | ? | ? | ? | |
| Hardware features | |||||||||
| Screen | LCD | LCD or VFD (5) | VFD | VFD | N | ish (1) | LCD | TV Out | |
| Amplifier | Y | N | N | N | N | Y | N | N | |
| Speakers | N | Some (5) | N | N | N | N | N | N | |
| Optical digital | N | Some (5) | Y | N (7) | Y | N | N | N | |
| Coax digital | N | Some (5) | Y | N (7) | N | N | N | N | |
| Headphone out | Y | Some (5) | Y | N | N | N | Y | N | |
| Wireless built-in | N | Some (5) | Some (5) | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
| Ethernet built-in | Y | Some (5) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |
Notes:
- There’s a screen on the remote control, but none on the unit.
- Alternative server software is used, disabling some player features.
- Network control only: no screen or buttons on the unit.
- Capable of eliding the inherent MP3 delays, either heuristically or by reading Lame headers. Playing MP3s gapless is harder than with most other formats.
- Varies from model to model.
- The Airport Express can be controlled only from a Macintosh computer, and more resembles a wifi-attached sound card than a standalone player. So many of the Y’s here are capabilities of MacOS or of Itunes rather than of the device itself.
- Third-party add-on available.
Sund. explns.:
- Rio Receiver refers to the supplied software. Various third parties have rewritten the client and/or the server, and these versions may offer different features.
- MP2 is important because ripped DAB and DVB-T radio streams are in MP2 format. It’s not uncommon to find “MP3” files which are actually MP2.
- Rapid search is T9-like or other fast textual searching. Letter pickers à la video game high-score table circa 1980 don’t count.
- Internet radio generally means Shoutcast MP3, though some devices may also support WMA or Realaudio stations.
- UPnP is the media-sharing protocol used by Windows Media Connect and Musicmatch (among others). Strictly speaking, this line should say “UPnP ContentDirectoryService client”.
- DAAP is the media-sharing protocol used by Apple Itunes.
- Windows shares refers to player that need no special server and can read music from shared directories on your PC. If a player doesn’t support UPnP, DAAP, or Windows shares, that means it needs specific proprietary server software, which may be hard to find for non-Windows platforms.
- Standalone radio means choosing and playing Internet radio stations when your PC is switched off.
- Network control comes in various levels of functionality, from simple pause/play to full running-order editing.
- Synchronisable means synchronised playback from several units.
All Rites
Reversed -- Copy What You Like