I have just got an Rio hsx109 off ebay. It seems to work,recourds from cd to hd, plays but how do you hook it up to a pc. Any chance of manual out there. HELP

I believe the only way to hook the Central up to a PC would be to get an approved USB to Ethernet adapter, plug it into the Central, then access it through emplode over your network. I remember there being a list of compatible USB to Ethernet adapters available in the Central's menus somewhere.

Well, I think it was *MEANT* to be connected directly via USB... you don't necessarily need the ethernet adapter. But it sure makes things convenient.

By the way, if using Emplode, don't use the Alpha versions. Use 2.0 final.

Also, if trying to use USB, make sure to read the release notes about the USB driver install. I think (not sure) those notes might apply to the Rio Central as well as the empeg car.

Also, if you want to grab the ripped songs off of the Rio Central, I think (not sure) that Emplode specifically disables that feature for the Rio Central, while still allowing it on the Rio Car. In that case, give Jemplode a try.

Jemplode is also nice because it has full support for hierarchical playlists on the Central, something that's disabled by default in Emplode (if I recall correctly). In fact, once you start using Jemplode and making hierarchical playlists on the Central, you can't synch with Emplode any more because it will suddenly orphan your playlists if you do.

Me personally? I use one of the supported ethernet adapters, and Jemplode, for everything I do with the Central. It's still my main network music server (for my Rio Receivers) and still my main ripper machine. New CD's get shoved into the Central and then I use Jemplode to copy them over to the PC and to the Empeg Car player.

By the way, to find out which ethernet adapters are supported on the Rio Central, I think you can go into its "ABOUT" menu on its front panel, and it will tell you the model numbers of the supported ethernet adapters.

I think they're pretty old and might perhaps be hard to find these days. Anyone have any knowledge in this area?

Hello,
There's probably a few places to get the manual from online, but here's a link to an old Amazon page that still has a good link to the manual for the Rio Central...

http://www.amazon.com/Central-Advanced-Digital-Audio-Center/dp/B000067JZA

I've used the Belkin F5D5050 10/100 USB/Ethernet Adapter successfully, as well as the Linksys USB100TX. There are currently Linksys units on eBay for $10 and $15 BIN.

When you get ready to configure the Central to connect via Ethernet to your PC running Emplode or jEmplode, let us know how it goes. It can be tricky to configure. Don't forget the password that you put in both at the Rio Central setup and also the PC software for connecting...

Like Tony, I also use my Centrals to rip CDs and then use the jEmplode software to copy the songs over to the PC for safekeeping and eventually copying over to my Rio Car players.

You can install a larger hard drive than the stock 40GB model, up to 120GB. Larger than that and the unit won't boot correctly. But the performance of a unit with a full 120GB hard drive can be less stable (since the RAM and configuration is really geared for a 40GB setup).

At any rate, I hope you enjoy the Rio Central, and let us know if you have more questions....

Randy

MUCH THANKS TO EVERY ONE FOR THE GOOD AND USEFUL INFO