2) I tried version 2.0b3 of the software and it doesn't seem to work, it starts up and finds the Rio on 192.168.1.200 (I made it static through the Rio car software version 1.02a). But when I click OK or double click the icon it says "Operation Completed Successfully" and that's it, it does nothing else. Do I have to upgrade the firmware to get it to function?

You chould be using the latest and the same version of software on the player and on your computer. 2.0b3 emplode wont work correctly (if at all) with 2.0b3 player and vice vera. make sure you have downloaded the same version of each, either 1.03 public or 2.0beta3, and install them appropriately.
1.03 is the most stable release. 2.0 is still a beta and you should read the release notes before installing it. If things go seriously wrong, the official line will be to revert to 1.03.

That said, 2.0b3 is quite stable. I haven't had any catastrophic failures yet.