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Rio Forge
Firmware
Firmware is the read-only software that is installed on the player. Like software it can be updated, but unlike
software it can never be deleted from the player.
Gain
Gain is a measurement of the amplitude of frequency ranges. Gain adjustments boost or reduce frequencies to
provide a more desirable audio output.
ID3 Tags
The ID3 tag is the part of the encoded MP3 or WMA file that contains information about the digital music file such
as song title, artist, album title, encoding bitrate, track time duration, and so on. ID3 tag information is displayed
on the Album/Artist/Track title line on the player’s LCD.
Mass Storage Class
Mass Storage Class (MSC) is a transfer protocol that uses USB drivers that are common to many operating
systems and devices. No additional software needs to be installed for the MSC transfer protocol to work because
MSC uses drivers are already on a computer's operating system. Because MSC compatible Rio players are treated
as removable drives, any type of file can be transferred to MSC compatible Rio players using Windows Explorer.
Although any type of file can be transferred, to assure full functionality, playlists and copy protected music using
Digital Rights Management (DRM) should be transferred to Rio players using Rio Music Manager.
MP3
MP3 is short for Moving Pictures Experts Group Audio Layer 3. MP3 is the most well known compressed digital
audio file format. This format allows for near “CD quality” sound, but at a fraction of the size of normal audio files.
MP3 conversion of an audio track from CD-ROM can reduce the file size by approximately a 12:1 ratio with virtually
no perceptible loss in quality. MP3 compression removes the redundant and irrelevant parts of a sound signal that
the human ear doesn't hear. This digital sound encoding and compression process was developed by the
Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits and Thomson Multimedia.
Playlist
A playlist is a custom grouping of tracks that has been saved for later use. Rather than playing every track on the
player playlists can be used to play specific tracks in specific orders. Rio Forge supports .asx, .m3u, and .pls
formatted playlists. Tracks that are referenced by a playlist must be present on the Rio Forge. Tracks stored on
external memory cannot be played by a playlist. Playlists that are transferred to a Rio player by an application
other than Rio Music Manager may not function properly on Rio players.