CAAHP Hardware Review: Rio Karma |
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| Author:
| ravn
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| Submitted: |
01-Jan-1970 01:00:00 |
| Imported From: |
zZine (original author: ravn)
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| What's that? Reviewing an MP3 player that isn't made by Apple? I know, it sounds crazy, but it's true.
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It has a 20GB drive. When it was released, it was as big as the biggest iPod. Since then, Apple has released bigger ones, but let's face it - 20 gig is still a lot of music (and no, there is no larger version sadly). This is enough for 5000-10,000 thousand songs, depending on encoding and so forth. I've got around 5,000 on mine, and I still have about a gig left. Also, like the iPod, this MP3 player uses a hard drive - not flash memory - so bear in mind that you might not want to go running with it.
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 rechargeable batteries, it will eventually stop holding a charge and die. As with Apple, you can't just replace the battery when it goes. However, 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 music to and from your Karma a much faster process. Frankly, everything should be USB 2.0 by now, so I see it as a minimum requirement rather than a feature.
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 it's not gigantic. It's not color - which should also come as no big surprise, but it is backlit. You don't want to leave the light on all the time (as that will drain the batteries), but it does come on automatically whenever you hit a button, so you don't have to worry about fumbling around with it in the dark.
The Rio Karma also comes with a docking station, which is pretty good. It's a little big, but it looks nice, and has some very useful features. It is used not only to recharge the unit, but also to transfer files between the player and the computer. The big bonus is that it has stereo RCA line outputs, which means you can easily hook it up to your home sound system, and it's even got an Ethernet port!
It also supports pretty much every single codec under the sun (except Apple's AAC, of course), including FLAC and Ogg Vorbis. This is a big deal for all the audio geeks out there (like myself), as very few other players have such support.
That's all the features, but how is it from a usage standpoint?
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 recommend you do so.
2. It's not as sexy as the iPod. It's black and grey, which I immensely prefer to the iPod, but it's thicker and shorter, and just doesn't 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 that says "everything should be accessible within 3 clicks of the homepage", and I think it needs to apply to MP3 player menus as well.
4. The battery. Come on, I can't replace it if it dies? That just sucks.
5. Memory: No, not storage. If I'm in a play list, and decide to leave the play list 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 play list when I'm done.
6. Drastically shortened battery life while playing Ogg encoded songs.
The good stuff:
1. Ogg Vorbis support. I love Ogg Vorbis. Great sound and great file size. Ogg rocks.
2. Interface. While the menus may suck, the buttons don't. 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.
4. Battery life. 15 hours, I mean...wow!
5. Playback features. EQ, dynamic play list generation, visualizations...the Karma can do it all. Just want to listen to the songs you haven't listened to in a while? No problem!
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 wouldn't recommend it if you're planning on doing a lot of very active stuff with it. Most people complain about the ear buds it comes with, but I think they're just fine. However, it's simple enough to buy better ones. I bought mine refurbished, which allowed me to get it much cheaper than a comparable iPod. That said, when new, they run for more or less 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 Karma over a new iPod. The Karma simply has the features I want, and the iPod does not.
For more great quality hardware reviews and tips & tricks, see http://www.caahp.com!
This article was originally published by CyberArmy.net in the CyberArmy Library.
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