dknight's Journal: Rio Karma Review

Whats that? Reviewing an MP3 player that isnt made by Apple? I know, it sounds crazy, but its true. Today I'll be reviewing the Rio Karma MP3 player. To start out, lets do a quick rundown of the specifications: 20Gig drive, 15-hour battery (non-removable), USB 2.0, backlit display, and a wide arrange of features and codec support. Ok, so the specs are at least decent, but lets really dive into what it all means.

It has a 20 gig drive. When it was released, it was as big as the biggest iPod. Since then, Apple has released bigger ones, but lets face it - 20 gig is still a lot of music (and no, there is no larger version sadly). This is enough for between 5 and 10 thousand songs, depending on encoding and all that. I've got around 5 thousand on mine, and have about a gig left. Also, like the iPod, this mp3 player uses a hard drive - not flash memory. So bear that in mind - you might not want to go running with this thing.

It has 15 hours of battery life per charge. This is huge. 15 hours will cover even the longest trips without having to stop to recharge. Now, of course, 15 hours is the advertised number. Various features will suck the battery life out of it faster (like heavy visualizations, and playing Ogg files). Also, like all rechargable batteries, it will eventually stop holding a charge and die. Like with Apple, you cant just replace this battery when it goes. That said, I've had mine for probably 8 months now, with no signs of trouble yet.

USB 2.0 is, well, USB 2.0. It's good to have, because it makes transferring the music to and from your Karma a much faster process, but really, EVERYTHING should be USB 2.0 by now, so I dont see it as a big deal - just fulfilling the minimum requirements.

Let's talk about the screen for a minute. It's reasonably large for the size of the device (the screen is a little bigger than a square inch, I'd say), but its not gigantic. It's not color - which should also come as no big surprise. It is backlit. This is a very important thing, because it is backlit WELL. You dont want to leave the light on all the time (as that will drain the batteries), but it comes on automatically whenever you hit a button - so you dont have to worry about fumbling around with it in the dark.

It comes with a docking station. The docking station is pretty good. Its a little big, but it looks nice, and has some very useful features. Obviously, the Karma recharges in its docking station. Thats also how it transfers files between it and the computer. The big bonus is, it has stereo RCA Line Outputs. This means you can easily hook it up to your home sound system (or even hook it into your car stereo for MP3 goodness on-the-go). Heck, its even got an ethernet port!

It also supports pretty much every single codec under the sun (except apple's AAC, of course). This includes FLAC and Ogg Vorbis - a big deal for all the audio geeks out there, as very few other mp3 players have such support. This was the big selling point for me.

But ok, enough of all that. Let's talk about how it is to live with.
The bad stuff:
1. It has no carrying case, belt clip, or anything else like that. You can buy them third party - and I highly reccomend you do.
2. It's not as sexy as the iPod. Its black and grey, which I immensely prefer to the iPod, but its thicker and shorter - and it just doesnt look as cool.
3. The menu system sucks. It takes too long to do ANYTHING with this player. There is a rule of website design "everything should be accessible within 3 clicks of the homepage." I think it needs to apply to mp3 player menus as well.
4. The battery. Come on, I cant replace it if it dies? That just sucks.
5. Memory. No, not storage. If I'm in a playlist, and decide to leave the playlist to go listen to one track that I really want to hear, I want to be able to go back to where I was in the playlist when I'm done.
6. Shortened battery life while playing Ogg encoded songs. DRASTICALLY shortened.

The good stuff:
1. Ogg Vorbis support. Oh how I love Ogg Vorbis. Great sound. Great file size. Great everything. Ogg rocks.
2. Interface. While the menus may suck, the buttons dont. The placement and use of all the buttons just makes sense. Way to go Rio!
3. Gapless playback. Last time I checked, even the iPod doesnt have this feature. This means that there is no pause between playing tracks, so you can hear music the way the artist intended!
4. Battery life. 15 hours, I mean... wow. Thats just GREAT.
5. Playback features. EQ, dynamic playlist generation, visualizations, this can do everything. Just want to listen to the songs you havent listened to in a while? It can do it!

Thoughts and comments:
While the Rio Karma is a hard drive based mp3 player, I've never had any problems with skipping or the like, even while running. That said, I wouldnt reccomend it if you're planning on doing a lot of very active stuff with it. Most people complain about the earbuds it comes with. Personally, I think they're just fine. However, its easy enough to get better ones. When I bought mine, I got a refurbished one. This allowed me to get it much cheaper than an iPod would have been. That said, they do seem to run for about the same price, and with the current line of iPods out there, you will get more bang for your buck with one of those as opposed to the Karma. I, however, would still take a Karma over a new iPod. The Karma simply has the features I want, and the iPod does not.