OK, I did some digging and read all of the posts on this list about the Rio Central in General and Technical. What i want to do is make one post with all of the feature and existing hacks to this product, if that is OK.

1. Hard drive upgrades to 128gb is easy to do by opening case and swapping drives. The Central will see the new drive and ask if you want to "Restore as New" (or something like that). Select OK and the Central will "format" the drive.

Dual drives are impossible to install as there's only one IDE bus on the board.

The drive limit is 127GB and is discussed here.

2. You can upload files from Emplode 2.0 and from the newer versions of Jemplode to the Central. See here. Files cannot be removed or synched to the Empeg yet however, correct? You can copy the FID's over but you do not get the nested playlist support. Info

3. The latest version of the RIO software is 1.04 and there is no other 3rd party server software yet.(?)

Any others???? add them here...

Sean

You can't upload with jemplode.

Outside of upgrading the hard drive I don't know of any "hacks" but for further clarification:

Rebadged rio receivers currently will not work with the Rio Central since the recievers use version 1.04 and the central has never had an "official" upgrade. It works great with the original dell units as well as the original rio receivers. There has been mention of a beta release but rumor has it that it took away functionality of the portables but fixed a few bugs.

This thing only has hpna and usb 1.1 so you need to get a dongle to use it with ethernet and it is EXTREMELY SLOW....

Ripping CD's is MUCH slower than ripping with my new pc.

Streaming of internet radio is not a feature but is a feature of tRio.

The new portable players are not supported. My older Rio 800 works great however.

Transferring files to an empeg is a two step process. First you download the files with jemplode to a pc then you upload the files to the empeg. Very cumbersome.

In multi cd mode it often crashes while ripping your cd collection. Rumor has it that the unreleased beta version fixed that problem though.

I'm not sure if I strayed from what you were asking, but that's my input anyhow....

Will I be purchasing another? No. I was extremely disappointed with the lack of upgrades for this particular product, although it is a third of what I paid. I wouldn't hold your breath for new features or functionality; the empeg seems to be a MUCH better and supported product, however, this new "low" price *may* entice the right people to purchase it but ...I doubt it .

The only feature I wish it had is empeg sync (and karma if the stores get those ever ) I don't care that it rips slower than my pc I like that I can just throw a disk in and if rips it for me and I don't have to worry about managing mp3's on my pc.

The problem of course is that since it doesn't sync with my empeg I still have to mess with the pc. Maybe someday they will make a home, car, and portable player at the same time and make them all sync.

<<<<The only feature I wish it had is empeg sync (and karma if the stores get those ever )>>>>

Yes, I agree.... unfortunately I purchased the Riot about the same time and couldn't sync with it so I wouldn't purchase it based on the hopes of it maybe one day being able to sync with any of the unsupported products since obviously the central has been very quietly discontinued.

Overall, I am very pleased with the unit and feel it was probably ahead of its time as was the empeg. Too bad it didn't share more of the same features as the empeg.

I do still use it at the office and am hoping that Tony will get his web interface working.... that would be way cool. Streaming to other pc's in the office since the pc's already have speakers would be a huge plus for this thing.

Ripping CD's is MUCH slower than ripping with my new pc.

Yeah, but with the central I can tell it "multiple CD mode" and just keep shoving disks into it, and then walk away and it encodes in the background. Amazingly cool. Even though I still use the PC as my main repository of tunes, I prefer to do all my ripping on the central because it's so easy that way.

<<<<Yeah, but with the central I can tell it "multiple CD mode" and just keep shoving disks into it>>>>

Well, if it didn't crash every few cd's in multi cd mode I would agree with you.

With windows media player you can select options to automatically copy the cd that is put in and automatically eject as well (except as I said, the pc is MUCH faster and the picture of the album will show up on the folder).

Well, if it didn't crash every few cd's in multi cd mode I would agree with you.

Oh, that's right, you folks don't have the last internal build that fixed that bug!

Argh, Cambridge folks, please get them to release that build!!!

Hi Tony,
Glad to see this thread going....You know I am always trying to experiment...I see from your post that you rip on the Central and then store tunes on the PC....Does that mean that you move the tunes from the Central to your PC? I'd be interested in how you accomplish that...And I second the thought about getting a software release. The rebooting is getting a bit old when ripping a stack 'o CDs.....

Thanks, Randy

In reply to:

---

Yeah, but with the central I can tell it "multiple CD mode" and just keep shoving disks into it, and then walk away and it encodes in the background.

---

Well, all of us who have *programmable* computers have been able to do that from the start. Even sort out CD's that aren't in CDDB or elsewhere, and flag them for manual processing.

I'd be interested in how you accomplish that...

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

<<<<The only feature I wish it had is empeg sync>>>>

But can you imagine how long it would take to sync 20 or 40 gigs of files [using the central]? I just installed a new 80gig drive into my spare empeg last night it was NICE that I had all of my mp3's on the pc to simply drag and drop about 60gigs of files without first downloading off of the central (of course I had to downgrade to v2.0 because the alpha version kept puking...).

I started syncing about 9:30 last night and it's still going strong at 6:30 this morning and I'm not even half through yet. I'd hate to see how long it would take to do that with the central (even if you could). I believe if I ever bought the Karma I would be taking advantage of that USB2.0 interface

Yeah but I would only be doing 20 to 40 gigs once then it would be a couple of cd's at a time. I don't think the speed of the interface is that big of a deal.

Hi,

Which one is the rebadged rio receiver? Is it the blue and gray or black and sliver. I have a rio central and I'm looking to stream mp3 to a rio receiver. After reading you post I'm kinda of on the fence on getting one.

DAvid

Rebadged rio receivers currently will not work with the Rio Central since the recievers use version 1.04 and the central has never had an "official" upgrade. It works great with the original dell units as well as the original rio receivers. There has been mention of a beta release but rumor has it that it took away functionality of the portables but fixed a few bugs.

The rebadged are the black and silver ones. They look exactly like the Dell ones except they have a Rio sticker over the DELL name on the front face.

I personally prefer the dell receivers over the rio. The dell knob is larger than the rio allowing me to get my fingers around it better and scroll through my playlists much faster.

Get a receiver if you're on the fence they are very cool (even if you can't sync it to play the same song at the same time or stream internet radio with the central).

If I get the rebadged black and silver ones will it work with the central? Is it not better to get the orginal rio or the dell versions?

No, the rebadged black and silver will NOT work.

You can go with either the original rio OR the original Dell (black and silver) ones. As I said, if I were still using my Central I would look for the Dell branded black and silver receivers.

I'm sorry about beating a dead horse, but I just want to be sure. I've included a pic along with this post. This Rio Receiver looks like the one that will not work with the Rio Central. Right?

It is possible to hack this ver of the Rio Receiver to work with the Rio Central?

You are correct, as the central is currently configured, that receiver will NOT work. You'll need to swap it for a Dell branded one which looks identical except says "DELL" on the top right of the faceplate instead of "Sonicblue" (If you look close you can tell that is a sticker covering the old Dell name).
I'm not tech savvy enough to know what to do about hacking the central to get it to work but it has been brought up before. I would have thought that the beta version of the central software would have *leaked* by now but... I haven't seen it yet.

It is possible to hack this ver of the Rio Receiver to work with the Rio Central?

Yes, you simply need one of the more recent builds of the Rio Central software which will correctly serve to that model of receiver. This version also corrects the "reboots-on-multiple-cd" bug.

Unfortunately, this version was only ever released to the beta testers.

ROB: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE POST THIS VERSION!!!!

Wow, that would be great if we could get a copy of that software update for the Central. I would get the Rio Receiver for sure. Do you think that some could post it?

Hey, are there any Beta testers out there?

I'd be willing to kick a few bucks to someone for a "backup copy".

Hi TFabris,

I was reading some of your old post. It seems that you were beta testing for the Rio Central with the new version of the OS. Is it possible to get them to release that copy that you tested.

Is it possible to get them to release that copy that you tested.

I've just spoken to Rob and there hopefully will be an official place to grab this release very shortly.

Suhweet...

Sean in NC

I was hoping for Santa to bring me version 1.04, but I didn't find it under my tree.

Has anyone heard anything?

I, too, expected it to be up by now. I think possibly even Rob may have expected this. I'm checking with him now. I'll let you know what his reply is.

Ah. The reason it's not posted yet is because, in the enthusiasm to get the files posted, we forgot that GPL'd source must be posted along with them. So hopefully after the first of the year, the folks in charge of the source will get those prepared for posting, too.

So, I bought a rio receiver one of the rebadge ones. I'm hoping to get the new software build for the central so I can hook this baby up. However, I've been having trouble trying to get it to work with my PC.

It's up at www.rioaudio.com now, enjoy!

Thanks, Rob!

thank you
thank you
thank you
thank you
thank you

I was able to download, upzip, and install the upgrade without the cddb database files successfully.

However, I am not able to unzip the larger file that does contain the cddb database files. It fails the unzip operation at abour 1/3 of the way in and says that there is invalid data. I even tried to run the PKZIPFIX DOS program and it doesn't fix the file either.....

I'd really like to get the new cddb files installed to help save lookup time...Of course, I'm assuming that the cddb files are updated. If they're the same as the ones originally released, then I guess it's a moot point....

If anyone from Rio sees this post, would it be possible to re-zip the .iso file and repost it on the website? Or perhaps post it unzipped (it's not that much larger)....

Any help would be appreciated....Thanks, Randy

Yup, I ran into the same issue with the bigger file.

That said, the cddb probably wasn't updated. If it was updated, it was likely updated at the time when the "new" software was actually created, i.e., not recently.

I'm even newer to this than Newbie.
I have a significant collection on vinyl that I want to transfer. I've been looking at various machines on web and this looks exciting, but it doesn;t seem to have any possibility to input from analog.
I just recently have seen writeups on this machine, and it sounds really cool, but it appears to be on its way to the cemetery.
At $499 it sounds much more realistic than $1499, but when the price goes down like that...
Is it a viable machine?
Is there something much better coming?
Is there a way to get analog vinyl into it? I see no mention of analog input?
Thank you all for help and suggestions.
Mike Brown

Hi Mike,
I've had a Central since they first came out and have been enjoying it for about two years now...It was expensive at the time of release at $1,499, but it was the first of its kind in the market place. I bought it because I wanted a solution to fit in my stereo cabinet that was self-contained (hard drive, could play on the stereo, or stream over the network). With my very large CD collection, the Central has made it so much easier to access and listen to my music collection. I used to have to hunt for particular CDs, and now I can play the music from the Central. It's as easy as playing all music by an artist, playing an album separately, or playing a pre-generated playlist with favorite songs...

Now that Overstock is selling the units for $499, the price is a little bit more reasonable for the Central. What I find very interesting is that in the two years since the Central came out, the industry seems to have gone in a different direction. Consumer-priced players for the most part are now made to attach to a PC or some sort of file share where the music is stored. So these players just stream the music from the PC to their outputs (the Central actually stores the music).

You can get one of these "Streamer" players for about $2-300 or so. No problem, if you have a PC running most of the time that you can store the tunes on. I wanted to get away from that, and get a self-contained solution. So when I saw the Rio Central at the Consumer Electronics show, I ordered one right away. My serial number ends in "019", so maybe I have one of the first ones... While it was pricy, I use it everyday. If something else comes out that can match the Central's features and improve on them, then maybe I'll consider making a change. But the Central is doing the job for me right now...I'm listening to Pat Benatar streaming from the Central right now as I type this...(!)

The machine isn't supported any more, so the features it has are the features you'll get. A software update was released a few months ago that fixed a bug or two, so that's nice.

It doesn't have any analog inputs, so getting your record collection into the central would not be a turnkey operation. You'd have to copy the album songs onto a standalone CD burner to transfer to the Central or you'd have to copy your album tracks onto a computer with the right soundcard to digitize and then you could copy them up to the Central via the LAN connection...

There's always something better coming, but whether it will do what you want is a different matter...I have never regretted my Central purchase, as it does exactly what I want. I have a larger removable hard drive in it and can store large amounts of music on different drives. I even have a small drive filled up with Christmas music and a few other favorites to play around the holidays...

Let me know if you have any questions, as you can see I am a cheerleader for the Central....Thanks, Randy

Hi Randy,
Thanks for the info.
I think I'm goiung to end up buying one...
I'll let you know.
Thanks,
Mike

Hey, Randy, thanks for pointing me to Overstock.. I'm ripping all of my Alan Parsons Project albums right now .. my Rio Central arrived three hours ago

Great, no problem....Did you already upgrade the hard drive? That's a decision you may want to make now before you get too many songs copied over the 40 GB drive.....

Enjoy the Central,

Randy

120GB Maxtor drive arrives tomorrow.. as for copying over the songs.. I'll just rip them over. Is the zipped CDDB ISO file of 1.10 ever going to be replaced with a copy that can be sucessfully unzipped? (just a question....)

Please see my thread about this right below this one. The file has been replaced and now does upzip. An error message comes up at the end for me, but the file does burn to CD okay. The CDDB files are not updated, so there's little value in this file. One of my Central's updated fine, and the other one won't update...Not sure what that is about, but you should try it and see if it works for you...Worst case you'd have to initialize the new drive with the original CD and then apply the upgrade separately...

Let us know how it works...

Thanks, Randy

I installed 1.10 on the orginal drive, got a Rio Receiver in the kitchen playing off of the Rio Central. The 1.10 CDDB didn't work out, and I ended up, just as you said installing the 1.10 NON-CDDB.. It is sweet, however, some time is spent waiting on "lookups". Tomorrow the new drive goes in and I waste some more of my valueless time, relaxing to music.

Installed Maxtor 4R120L0 120GB hard drive, add this drive to the list, using your outline on Hard Drive Upgrades made everything so easy. Thanks, again, Randy.

I am also thinking of upgrading my hard drive. Is the outline on Hard Drive Upgrades that you used posted anywhere on this BBS?