Skip to main content ↑ ↓

Notice

Please note that most of the software linked on this forum is likely to be safe to use. If you are unsure, feel free to ask in the relevant topics, or send a private message to an administrator or moderator. To help curb the problems of false positives, or in the event that you do find actual malware, you can contribute through the article linked here.
Topic: Rio Karma 20... (Read 10317 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Rio Karma 20...

Check it out...
Rio Karma 20

Description...

Quote
The Karma’s many features and small size set a new standard for high-capacity players. Its 20GB* drive can carry over 5,000 songs**. Powerful tools include cross-fader, 5-band parametric equalizer, Ogg Vorbis and FLAC support, and a huge, backlit display capable of visualizations, animated menus, and 16 shades of gray. USB 2.0 provides fast transfers while the included docking station also adds drop-in charging, RCA Line-Out, and an Ethernet port for networking. Simple menus and intuitive controls make it easy to pick up and use. Helpful functions like auto-synchronization with Rio Music Manager, Rio DJ, and dynamic playlist generation make the Karma as effortless as you want it to be.

Karma 20 comes in black on light gray, Karma 40 comes in black on dark gray

Dimensions: 2.7” X 3.0” X 0.9”
Weight: 5.5oz
Battery: 15-hour continuous playback on internal Li Ion battery
LCD: 49mm, 160x128, indigo backlight, 16 shade grayscale

*1 GB equals 1,000,000,000 bytes
**At 128kbps MP3


Features...
Quote
- 20GB* HDD plays back over 330 hours of MP3 or 660 hours of WMA music (over 5000 MP3 or 10,000 WMA songs)**
- USB 2.0 for fast transfers
- Transfer content between multiple PCs
- 15-hour continuous playback with the rechargeable LiIon battery
- 5-Band parametric equalizer with pre-sets
- Dynamic playlist generation
- Auto-DJ intelligently finds, mixes and creates playlists from tracks on command
- Included docking station supports: – Dual RCA Line-Outs to connect to most home stereo components – Ethernet port — Assign an IP address for networking capability – Auto-synchronization with host PC
- Plays Ogg Vorbis

*1GB equals 1,000,000,000 bytes
**At 128kbps MP3, 64kbps WMA.
You smell.

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #2 –
Haha, sorry  B)
You smell.

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #3 –
Only 400 bucks...
Juha Laaksonheimo

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #4 –
Quote
Only 400 bucks...

Still....

Interesting that Rio jumped on this before iRiver. Price will also go down once the new wears off. Or other manufacturers realise what they are missing and start some competition.

I might just have to think about a format change now. Hope Xenno never reads this thread.  >_<

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #5 –
FLAC support? woohoo!  :: cartwheel ::   

20 GB = 60-70 full CDs at full CD quality.  Sweet!

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #6 –
Quote
FLAC support? woohoo!  :: cartwheel ::    

20 GB = 60-70 full CDs at full CD quality.  Sweet!

Lovely, but I'd still need a few gross of them to accomodate my collection. Where are the Terabyte drives? (w00t)

    - M.

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #7 –
Quote
where are the Terabyte drives


Yeah, I have 2 x Maxtor 250 GB in my music server PC so far, but being able to copy & carry 60 CDs without quality loss or needing to rencode would be nice.

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #8 –
Looks like there will also be a 40gb model.

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #9 –
Quote
Quote
FLAC support? woohoo!  :: cartwheel ::    

20 GB = 60-70 full CDs at full CD quality.  Sweet!

Lovely, but I'd still need a few gross of them to accomodate my collection. Where are the Terabyte drives? (w00t)

If you don't mind spending an extra hun, you could always get the 40 GB model to store up to ~120 albums (or a few more) in FLAC..not quite a gross, but almost.

But don't worry, your terabyte drives will come along shortly...technology is a fast moving animal.  Before you know it, we'll have a terabyte of storage with decoder firmware and an integrated (probably crappy) headphone amp/port all of which you can hang from your keychain.  After all, how long ago would someone have looked at a 1 GB Memory Stick and dropped their jaw?  18 months ago?

Edit:  Also...the Karma comes with Sennheiser buds, too!  B)  Beats $8 Fontopias.

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #10 –
Too bad this devices are coming when there is a real possibility of new laws forbiding people from converting their music to the supported formats 
I'm the one in the picture, sitting on a giant cabbage in Mexico, circa 1978.
Reseñas de Rock en Español: www.estadogeneral.com

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #11 –
Hi Resolution pictures here:

http://gear.ign.com/articles/433/433165p1.html

click on the pictures.
WARNING:  Changing of advanced parameters might degrade sound quality.  Modify them only if you are expirienced in audio compression!

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #13 –
Quote
Quote
FLAC support?

20 GB = 60-70 full CDs at full CD quality.  Sweet!

Lovely, but I'd still need a few gross of them to accomodate my collection. Where are the Terabyte drives? (w00t)


If you math is right, and "a few" is 3 or more, it would take several years to go through your collection even listening 24 hours/day, 7days/week.  By that time you would be ready for a new player anyway, so maybe you could settle for only a portion of your collection on the portable?  Or break down and use a lossy format? 

Or was that just the "woe is me,  I bought thousands of CD's and can't afford HD space for them"  line that pops up occasionally wrt desktop storage?

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #14 –
They'd have me sold if they made a version that fit more comfortably in the left hand... Oh wait that's right I forgot! Left handed people don't exist, do they? *poofs out of existence*

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #15 –
Quote
They'd have me sold if they made a version that fit more comfortably in the left hand... Oh wait that's right I forgot! Left handed people don't exist, do they? *poofs out of existence*

If you're left-handed, you're meant to rotate and hold it. The LCD display can also be rotated so that you don't have to strain your neck.

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #16 –
Quote
...if they made a version that fit more comfortably in the left hand...


Reports from the beta testers are that, even as funny as it looks, it is actually very comfortable to hold. 

Would it be possible to hold comments on hardware products to the same standards as encoding software?

--Nathan

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #17 –
Quote
FLAC support? woohoo!  :: cartwheel ::    

20 GB = 60-70 full CDs at full CD quality.  Sweet!

I agree this is exciting.. BUT the one thing you have to consider is that with FLAC playback your battery life is going to suffer... I have the nomad jukebox3 with twin batteries... supposedly enough for 25 hours playback... I get a bit less than that i think ~20 hours... most of my files are lame --alt-preset extreme ... i guess the battery quote is for 128k files... my favourite songs are --alt-preset insane ... only a few albums stored in this... I am pretty sure that i feel a difference in charge drop off when i DO listen to these songs tho... the jukebox3 does support waves, i considered using these for my fave songs but after using it to record my binaural recordings at 48khz 16bit waves and watching battery life just fall away VERY sharply i decided against this...

this machine has less battery life but has better memory cache i think.. FLAC will make an impact though.. and for me at least if i get this to supplement (and perhaps eventually replace my JB3 for everything but in office listening) my JB3 I will want to use it in a portable context, on walks etc... in this case battery life is quite key..

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #18 –
Quote
BUT the one thing you have to consider is that with FLAC playback your battery life is going to suffer...
...battery life is quite key..

Damn, I wish one of this things would run on regular AA/AAAs.
When I was shopping for a Digital Camera, it was one of the three most important features to me.
I'm the one in the picture, sitting on a giant cabbage in Mexico, circa 1978.
Reseñas de Rock en Español: www.estadogeneral.com

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #19 –
Quote
Quote
Hi Resolution pictures here:

http://gear.ign.com/articles/433/433165p1.html

click on the pictures.

Ew...it looks ugly and uncomfortable to hold.  Thanks for the link.

Lol, guys on other boards think the thing looks cool.  I think it looks great as well.  As long as it is functional, I don't care what it looks like, it'll be in my pocket.
WARNING:  Changing of advanced parameters might degrade sound quality.  Modify them only if you are expirienced in audio compression!

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #20 –
What we need now is about 200,00 dedicated flac users to rush out and buy the thing (seems like early adoption shouldn't be a big issue with such users).

Then maybe it will encourage the continuing proliferation of devices that use
"funny" codecs. I am mostly a user of ape, but if devices like these are sucessful,
it would not take much to convince me to fire up dbpoweramp and convert ape to flac to use on a device like this. Now I just need the spare 400 bucks.   
you will make mp3's for compatibility reasons.

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #21 –
Quote
[Damn, I wish one of this things would run on regular AA/AAAs.
When I was shopping for a Digital Camera, it was one of the three most important features to me.

I can sympathize with this sentiment. I love using the rechargeable NiMH AA
in a variety of devices (digital camera, remote controls, portable cd player etc.)

I have a one hour charger that can do four NiMH batteries in one hour. Maybe they decided to forego the AA batteries to make the unit smaller. But then what happens when the internal LiON battery gives up the ghost? Will the unit be "tear-apartable" to replace it? Only time will tell-first the darn thing has to make it to market
you will make mp3's for compatibility reasons.

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #22 –
Quote
Damn, I wish one of this things would run on regular AA/AAAs.

I guarantee that more people are ooh'ing and aah'ing about the small size than the FLAC capability.  Being even a couple of mm bigger than Ipod brings on condemnation.

Small doesn't happen when you put a bunch of round pegs (AA cells) in a square hole (player case).  If you are really trying to cut size it apparently doesn't come easily with
any standard rectangular battery either, so many makers are going with custom batteries
whch just fit the space available.

I tend to fall on your side in appreciating the convenience of  being able to swap in a charged battery for more untethered time or buy single use cells ready to go at any quicky-mart.  Regular 8 hour charge cycles (which some players require to give you 8 hours of play time) don't fit into many people's travel plans.. and isn't travel a main reason to get a portable  player? 

The market has spoken, though, and the extra size of AA cells probably knocks over $100 off the selling price.  They don't mind either that when your custom battery goes south you will look at the hassle of sending it in for service and maybe just go buy a new player.

Doesn't one of the Archos models still use AA cells?  IF you don't mind the size  they are
relatively cheap.

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #23 –
Quote
Damn, I wish one of this things would run on regular AA/AAAs.
When I was shopping for a Digital Camera, it was one of the three most important features to me.

The worst is that you cannot take out the battery pack at all! Once the battery pack is dead, you can throw the player away
This is the advantage of the Ipod. You can take the battery pack out, get a second one for long trips or even get one of those power packs that'll last for 20 hours...
--alt-presets are there for a reason! These other switches DO NOT work better than it, trust me on this.
LAME + Joint Stereo doesn't destroy 'Stereo'

Rio Karma 20...

Reply #24 –
Quote
Quote
Damn, I wish one of this things would run on regular AA/AAAs.
When I was shopping for a Digital Camera, it was one of the three most important features to me.

The worst is that you cannot take out the battery pack at all! Once the battery pack is dead, you can throw the player away
This is the advantage of the Ipod. You can take the battery pack out, get a second one for long trips or even get one of those power packs that'll last for 20 hours...

That's incredible. These batteries are very sensitive to repeated full or near full d/c.

They cannot be expected to last forever under heavy use.

IMO,these specialized moulded Li cells are a rip off.

A couple of AA or AAA NiMH batteries work in small units.Look at the intel pocket concert.