As mentioned previously, the Rio PMP300 comes equipped with 32MB of internal flash memory, which is not removable from the unit. Luckily the Rio does allow for a thin smart media card to be placed in a wafer thin opening in the bottom of the unit to increase its maximum memory amount to either 48 or 64MB of total ram. Diamond has recently announced availability of the 16MB upgrade card (total of 48MB) on their website, it checks in at $49.99 pricewise. The 32MB upgrade card will debut shortly, we estimate its price tag at close to $90.
Several readers that are familiar with smart media flash ram cards are probably already wondering if a 64MB of even a 128MB smart media card could be used to boost the Rio's internal ram limit to larger figures. Unfortunately the answer is no, as the Rio will only recognize up to 32MB of additional ram via a flash ram. Diamond has stated that future MP3 players may be designed to utilize larger amounts of ram, but the Rio will have to get by with a maximum of 64MB. The 64MB total puts the maximum amount of music that the unit can hold at much higher figures than the stock amount of 32MB. Here's the breakdown:
| Internal Ram | MP3 Quality Level | Max Music Storage Amount |
| 32MB | 64kbps | 1 hour |
| | 128Kbps | 33 minutes |
| 64MB | 64kbps | 2 hours, 10 minutes |
| | 128kbps | 1 hour |
As you can see already, certain problems with the Rio are beginning to become apparent.
First, the unit costs $200 right from the get go. For $200 you get about an hour of total music storage capability at the medium quality compression mode. If you kick the compression level downward in order to boost the quality of the music, that figure drops to just 33 minutes. So to really get the most out of the Rio experience, the user just about has to upgrade the unit's internal memory amount to either 48MB or 64MB. This will set the buyer back another $50 to $90. Now the buyer has thrown a total investment of $250 to $300 into the Rio experience, and can now enjoy a full hour of MP3 audio at the highest fidelity level, or a solid 2 hours of medium quality MP3 audio.
The question then must become whether the now $250 to $300 Rio is a superior choice for portable audio player seeking users over a recordable Minidisc player for close to the same size and price….
That's really a debate for the Sharky Forums, but I'll say that it's a tough toss up in my opinion.
