Rio Karma (20GB) (08/12/2003)

I hate this thingby mdmendoz - December 22, 2006

Pros: It used to work.

Cons: It doesn't work.

Had mine for 3 years GREAT!by timomy - November 12, 2006

Pros: Great sound quality Nice Dock!

Cons: Nothing Nothing

The best Mp3 player to dateby manwalklikebear - November 8, 2006

Pros: Crossfade, Open-Source, True gap-less playback, Battery life.

Cons: Rio went out of business, no accesories, I'm still waiting for a manufacturer to make a suitable replacement.

I got hit by the karma truck...by gotmikey - August 9, 2006

Pros: Holds a load of songs

Cons: You'll never get to listen to those songs

ok if works....by curt0068 - July 18, 2006

Pros: Format is great. Easy to use.

Cons: Mine broke within a few months...

Audiophile quality output, affordable price, and its not an ipod.by thisbullet - May 8, 2006

Pros: Interface, beautiful indigo backlight, high output rating, rigid body, affordable, unique design, ethernet connectivity, nice cradle, 5 band parametric and vu meters let one get great sound, battery

Cons: slightly cumbersome, occassional BUT NOT FREQUENT!! lockups that are fixable, smaller hard drive but can be upgraded, not a lot of bonus and customizable stuff, not a mass storage device, discontinued

Review: Hi. I'll basically begin tell my little story here. Christmas day, got my first rio. It was the karma. Back in the day when you could get one brand new, sealed in the box, untouched. I always wanted the rio. I didnt want the ipod. Didn't want to be like everyone else with their overpriced pieces of crap. Oh look at how sexy my ipod is. Face it, its a white rectangular object that outputs crap sound. Does that not summarize it well? Anyhow, Plugged the thing in. VERY IMPRESSED with the docking station. An amazing blue light begins glowing as the unit charges. I turned the dock around and said "WOAH look at this!" The unit had left and right channels, usb, power but the best thing was ethernet connectivity. This means I could listen to songs on it anywhere in my network without disturbing the DAP. Example: Laptop on the deck with wireless? Plug the rio into the wired port, use the laptop wirelessly to access it by clicking the rio audio manager. It autodetects it just like usb and there it is. All your songs. That really amazed me. I was kinda disappointed when I plugged it in via usb and didnt see that it was a mass storage device. I know theres software out there to do it but I cant be installing that stuff on every computer I travel to. So that sucked. Thought I could store some stuff on it considering 20gb is the total size of my main computer's storage. Pretty pathetic i know. Got 100gb in rio karmas and I got 20 in my computer. Yeah i have 5 rios. Why? got em cheap. Theyre not gonna be easy to get some day. Grabem while you can. Theyre great units. ANYHOW!! again... It was powered up, started transfering songs from limewire. Impressive speed on the usb 2.0. ethernet wasnt bad too. slower. but do-able. firmwire would have been a nice addition. USB2.0 will suffice. So i took it for a spin. Pretty impressed with the sound. PRetty impressed with the earbuds for just included ones. Not bad. Not great but much better than the ibuds or w/e your call em. These however, only lasted my months before they broke. Right earbud likes to die for some reason. I bought a similar pair of sennheiser mx400s. Basically the same with a little more kick. for 5$ it didnt set me back too much. asside from that the mp3 player held up pretty good. No un-fixable lockups. I discovered the reset button. Thats an amazing invention. Cured her everytime. Just keep a clothes pin with you hehe. I always go around askin people "HEY!! you got a mechanical pencil" Nooo dont worry. Not every day. MAybe 5 times total in a few years. Its ok. Pretty stable otherwise? i think so. Ive dropped the thing from at least 4 foot heights on solid surface. no damage done. Amazing huh? Havent had one die yet. After trying the thing out i noticed loud output. Then i was like "woah, parametric equalizer, how the hell do i use this" well i arranged them in pretty much of a "n" shaped pattern. I probably increased the volume by 50%. The great thing is turning on the VU meters. You can tinker with the equalizer and keep the needles out of the red. not the best vu meters but it certainly helps a great deal. saves you some earbuds when fine tuning that equalizer. Pretty impressive battery life. Ive had the thing for about 15. No im serious. Running 20 volume and 10 second backlight. Continious music. VERY IMPRESSIVE. Not like apples rated 15 hours or w/e and you only get 6. Thats BS. If its on when you wake up from a long nights rest i think thats the best thing ever. Feels like you left off right where you were last night. and its also nice to know you can control the standby times. Thats great for conserving battery. Pretty impressed with the interface. Kinda simple. Kinda plain. Could be a little prettier but its supposed play music. Its not a gameboy. I can live with that. So whats this sound like through the stereo. Pretty damn good. You get the high output rating, the quality sound, the custom parametric equalizer and plug it into a high quality stereo system. Seriously, thats what im talking about. Lots of people say its a good home stereo unit. They say its not good for traveling. Id have to agree, its a great unit for stereos. Its great, no cassette decks, no cd changers, get an extra dock. Put one on the stereo. Put one in the garage. One in the car, one by the computer. Plug an play. Its a beautiful thing. Doesnt disturb playback when inserting and removing the unit from the dock. Also great for a smooth transition from earbud to stereo. You get everythin gyou need in the dock. Wire all the docks up ethernet. No matter where your karma is its charging, its accessible by any pc on your network. Its great. Its not a bad unit to take with you. Yeah its some what clunky. MY friend calls it a brick. I call his ipod a piece of ****. So what is it a quater inch thicker? so what! I grabbed one as cheap as 45$ shipped and those ipods dont come close. Yeah theyre a monopoly, yeah everyone buys em. Why they so good? theyre not. People follow. We dont have to follow. Apple think different? shoudl be think the same. Rio, think different. <any other mp3 player> think different. think about that one! Thats good huh? Its the truth, this thing is the underdog, its beautiful pros are hidden under the hood. No conventional music listener probably even cares. But for you audiophiles.. yeah this thing is it. Pull out a pair of friggen sony studios. AMAZING!! Take the studios with you. theyre better than earbuds, dont limit your karmas output. Be a man, wear big headphones, tell the world to ... themselves.. shhh. Anyhow. I would say after dropping the unit 5 times or so its not as unstable as many make it out to be. Listen, 5 times on tile, cement, wood floor. Come on, that is stable. Ever open a rio up. It is protected. rio had a bad production period. Notice how ratings kinda go in an order like 9's to all 1's. They had em going good before they went out. You just cant beat it. It offers so much for its price. The dock is very affordable and really offers a lot too. Rios so generous, they include an ethernet cable too. They dont charge 10$ for optional cables like some companies (...) I might sound like im just an apple hater. I am. I dont like apple. They monopolized the mp3 player industry, and basically corrupted good listening of music. Yet they arent the slightest bit affordable and yet people buy them. Nano vs karma same price right? when they were new. 2gb or 20gb. you tell me. some people might argue against this but i think of it like "the smaller it is the crappier it is" come on... desktop vs pc. Money and parts. the desktop has better parts for cheaper cost. This thing is bigger. But rest assured knowing that every square millimeter of the unit makes it better. Harddrives of those ipod nanos are basically the thickness of the whole nano itself. The karma's harddrive is like the thickness of the whole nano and the body of the karma is probably about 5 times the thickness. Space, padding, security. Its not gonna crush as easily. Anyhow. These units are getting pretty rare now. I have 5 myself. I grabbed the new and refurbs in boxes while i could. you are lucky if you get something used off ebay for twice what i payed. If no one wanted them they would still be floating around. Stores would still have them and if they couldnt sell them they would discount them. None of that happened. They were good units. When rio died that was it. Anyone will be able to get an ipod in the future. But if you find a rio karma now you are taking in to posession a piece of history. one of the best mp3 players made. something their company died for. Overall the quality sound is absolutly fenominal, the size is good, its unique, its upgradable to 60 gb, gets 15 hours battery, plays almost all audio formats, high output rating, more durable than what people say it is, great home stereo system, its something to treasure, its one of a kind, its a rio.

try to get one off ebay while you can
http://ebay.com

Some day we'll be looking back on these. Ive never had a problem with mine. We'll look forward to the day when some one can top the karma's quality. If you want video, get a friggen portable dvd player and watch it on a 12 inch screen. dont go ipod. be a little different. give it a chance. if you dont like it try some one else then. just dont feed apple your money. for 400$ you could have gotten a laptop. for 100$ you could get a karma. Mp3 players are to play music. theyre supposed to be something affordable. Let your rio express who you are. Be unique, dont follow. Get the history making, best DAP out there. Plus then you can bash on your buddy's crappy sound quality and how much louder your rio is. tell em how you got it for 25% of what he paid for the rectangular piece of crap.

The rio karma, something to remember, something unique, it's a rio.

Highly recommended. Again, give it a shot, acquire one while you can. you'll be glad you did. They aint gonna be around forever. that's 5 rios for me and 400$ less for apple. Top that apple. I love you rio!

REST IN PEACE. Rio Audio.

Peace out.
Thisbullet.

Nice design & software but unreliable constructionby JeffinWisconsin - March 14, 2006

Pros: Menu, soft controls, base unit with RCA and CAT connections

Cons: construction, dead at one year

JUNK JUNK JUNKby marcedwards - January 30, 2006

Pros: NOTHING GOOD

Cons: Third one that has broken, this one had a burnt plastic smell after downloading music. Probably a HD issue. Horrible quality, the red control knob broke after a few months of use. Complete CRAP

Do Not buy this playerby angelemerald - December 10, 2005

Pros: There are none

Cons: Hard drive broken, no refund, no repair after 90 days, no work after 6 months

Awesome little Playerby chuckles05 - November 26, 2005

Pros: Duh Ethernet RCA's the works

Cons: A little thick when its in the pocket, made more for the hand

good sound, but there are problemsby zoeman1 - November 12, 2005

Pros: lots of space, very good sound quality

Cons: the screen has become increasingly unreadable

Solid player, long battery life, lots of spaceby rcslax - November 10, 2005

Pros: 20GB, Very long battery life

Cons: Annoying Taxi Program limits use as an extra HD

The Good and the Badby Drewman - October 17, 2005

Pros: outstanding sound quality, great battery life, customizable EQ.

Cons: No carrying case, controls break, not designed for transporting files easily.

fragile hard driveby ralvarad - October 8, 2005

Pros: flac great sound

Cons: hard drive unreliable

Great sound, while it lastsby UniblabInc - September 30, 2005

Pros: Great sound

Cons: Horrible customer service, poorly built, buggy software

Very depressing grey design, not sturdy at all.by pbukhari - September 21, 2005

Pros: Sounded good lying on a table

Cons: Not worth the price

Unreliableby eruh - September 13, 2005

Pros: Tons of space- good sound

Cons: Breakable and heavy

Great Playerby wonderboyshp - September 2, 2005

Pros: Lasted 2 Years

Cons: Music Manager Software

Hard drive seems to be defectively manufactured.by kml444 - August 31, 2005

Pros: Great sound.

Cons: Not only did hard drive get permanently stuck but also had to have flywheel replaced.

undependable, fragile, poor softwareby billhny - August 24, 2005

Pros: it makes a decent looking paper weight

Cons: poor software, poor service, poor performance

Nice, but not durableby snomann27 - August 16, 2005

Pros: Intuitive interface and nice features

Cons: They break!

Good 20GB player for Under $200by wishdemon - July 25, 2005

Pros: Easy to use buttons

Cons: no carrying case

Not a good long-term playerby jva - July 24, 2005

Pros: sound, capacity, ease of music transfer

Cons: lack of case and player durability

Good player but Rio CS sucksby mezzio - July 21, 2005

Pros: Battery life, ergonomics

Cons: customer service

great playerby boober18 - July 19, 2005

Pros: excellent audio,easy to transfer music,excellent all around player

Cons: no carrying case

Great player, lousy hard driveby _bigfoot_ - July 14, 2005

Pros: Plays flac files, great sound

Cons: Hard drive can be a problem

Steer clear...by bhartman33 - July 9, 2005

Pros: Small size, intuitive navigation, lots of file formats

Cons: Shoddy manufacturing

Great Idea, Bad Productby aadmikep - July 5, 2005

Pros: Sound quality, intuitive interface, powerful software, amazing battery life

Cons: Chunky and heavy, extremely unreliable

ooks up thVery sleek player with intuitive interface, great bang for your dollar!by chrisupman - June 29, 2005

Pros: Intuitive interface, competitive price, great size, and hooks up by USB 2 or ethernet connection.

Cons: Earplugs that it comes with are lame.

Absolutely Awfulby Dante's Boy - June 28, 2005

Pros: Good, when it works

Cons: After 8-9 months it quit working

Shoddy Hard Driveby slindberg - June 21, 2005

Pros: Small Form Factor

Cons: Bad Quality

does the job, easy to use, massive storage!!by cookie1331 - June 20, 2005

Pros: so easy to use, massive storage, great battery life

Cons: no carry case, a tiny bit thick

AVOID THIS PRODUCTby Bystedt - June 14, 2005

Pros: Intuitive, great sound

Cons: HARDWARE FAILS

Hard drive failed on both unitsby CtrlAltDel - June 13, 2005

Pros: When it worked; it was easy to use

Cons: Hard drives failed on both

What use is the features if hardware is garbage?by HerrGarman - June 5, 2005

Pros: Loseless codec support, Battery life, Network Connection

Cons: Horrible hard disks, amateurish software

Great value for the $$$$$by rjraymond - June 5, 2005

Pros: Easy to use, compact, light weight

Cons: Needs a hard cover case, easier to use back light

Great on paperby djezek2 - May 28, 2005

Pros: great sound, compact size and long battery life

Cons: fragile and very finicky

Only buy it if you want a really cool paper weight in a year!!by catcoe - May 28, 2005

Pros: the big harddrive,easy to use ,Ogg vorbis

Cons: wont last more that a year, you have to buy a special made carrring case wich costs about 90.00 b/c rio wont make one for it.

Hard Drive is Deadby jbuis - May 26, 2005

Pros: Small, Cheap, Long Battery Life, Holds lots of Songs

Cons: Software was difficult to install (I had to buy a new computer); After having it 10 months my hard drive is dead

Performed As Promisedby captainfuture_98337 - May 25, 2005

Pros: Can Plug Docking Unit RCA Connections Into Our Home Entertainment Center!

Cons: Short Warranty Program

this things is not worth the moeny, buy a ipod or cowon m3by Da_Korean_Dude - May 23, 2005

Pros: easy to use, form-fitting to hand, lots of features

Cons: hard drive erases itself often, horrible case and wheel breaks easily, scratches very easily even in pocket, only a 60-90 day warranty for crappy mp3 player

"It's dead, Jim."by badkarmamahn - May 20, 2005

Pros: sound was ok.

Cons: It died. Egg-timer-short warranty . Also, too fat for hand.

I bought my Rio Karma over 2 months ago and have nothing but praise for this MP3 player.by mrgangl - May 20, 2005

Pros: 20 Gb of storage, great sound, easily accessible buttons and menu system

Cons: No case, battery life is above average but could be better. I averaged about 14 hours between charges

Bad drives, bad support.by vann Jennings - May 19, 2005

Pros: Great capacity and software. Nice player when it worked.

Cons: It only worked for 3 days; Rio has been non-responsive

very poor product design, very fragileby tsen - May 17, 2005

Pros: easy to use, if it doesn't break

Cons: designed to break

Delicate Junkby joeharris - May 15, 2005

Pros: Small, easy to use

Cons: More fragile than Dresden china.

Not Impressedby ThatGuyOverThere - May 6, 2005

Pros: read the review

Cons: read the review

Junk...Junk...Junk...by RScott - May 4, 2005

Pros: Small;Nice Docking Station;Audio Outputs

Cons: The inside is garbage

No Complaints hereby yallateef - May 4, 2005

Pros: Ethernet jack on docking station!!!

Cons: no easy Audible.com (.aa) support

software fails after playing several timesby corkycro - April 30, 2005

Pros: it doesn't last long enough for you to become attached to the device

Cons: has the shelf life of ice cream in the summer

Expensive GARBAGEby Lmann - April 30, 2005

Pros: Pretty looking

Cons: Doesn't work

Not without it's problems...by flny007 - April 26, 2005

Pros: Solid, plays wide range of files, fair sound quality

Cons: Prone to breaking

Great player, bad softwareby myeckwaters - April 26, 2005

Pros: Sound, controls, size, price

Cons: Included software stinks, no carry case, could use a remote

A fantastic plyerby mtg202 - April 24, 2005

Pros: Small size, easy to use controls, excellent sound

Cons: Comes with crappy headphones

An excellent little playerby cernstinga - April 18, 2005

Pros: Good size, capacity and battery charge

Cons: A little hard to maneuver at first.

My prize posession - I simply love it..by laskoir - April 18, 2005

Pros: 20GB PLAYLISTS SOUND EQUALIZER LONG BATTERY LIFE

Cons: NO IN LINE REMOTE, EARPHONES A BIT CRUMBY

Not built to last.by dougja - April 16, 2005

Pros: Good Sound, Large Capacity

Cons: clumsy buttons/controls

Bad productby Ale martin - April 11, 2005

Pros: It has none

Cons: Bad hard disk

Nice little deviceby enigmaticsphere - April 10, 2005

Pros: Small, great sound, cheap

Cons: Easy scratch screen

Great Unit!by Mark Strecker - April 10, 2005

Pros: Awesome sound

Cons: Only that I had to reset the unit once.

Would have been great if it workedby Rich B - April 9, 2005

Pros: Great range of file types supported, great sound, great features

Cons: but it wont work and cust support is absolutely the worst ever

One year and going strongby jquillen - April 7, 2005

Pros: battery life, durability

Cons: Needs paperclip reset occasionally

There is nothing wrong with it!by Iron_Maiden - April 4, 2005

Pros: Easy menu system, overall good player

Cons: fairly fat, colour screen would be cool.

A Waste of Money!by ariel1 - March 30, 2005

Pros: Interface, Battery life, Inexpensive

Cons: HARD DRIVE, 30 Day Warranty, Awful customer support

Very happy with this player.by xFaNtAsMax - March 28, 2005

Pros: Small size, easy to navigate menus, great sound, big and clear LCD screen.

Cons: Not really many.. I've had it lock up maybe once.

Don't rag on my playerby niceshirt2 - March 28, 2005

Pros: Size, weight, capacity, OGG capable, jog dial, crossfade

Cons: Joystick not easy to use

Great DAP! Offers MORE Than Most!by LiQuiD_FuSioN - March 28, 2005

Pros: 15 hr Battery life, 3-Sec Crossfade, Smart Rio-DJ Mixer, Customizable EQ, Supports Various Formats

Cons: Shoddy Build, Skips Sometimes, Freezes

Review: You see the close to average scores, but don't let that shadow what this DAP (Digital Audio Player) has to offer.

This player is a sort of 'beefed' up version of the iPod. Where the iPod offers pointless PDA-like features, the Rio Karma OFFERS MORE in the AUDIO DEPT!

There are tons of goodies for the music lover,.. Customizable 5-Band EQ lets you tweak the audio however you like it (for bass lovers, you won't be disappointed!!) Supports various audio formats, such as MP3, OGG, FLAC, WAV etc. You get roughly 15 hours of playback for when you're on the go. The Rio Karma has a cool "Rio-DJ" feature that is smart and useful when you want to play mixes at a party. Play by year, genre, when the last time you played the track, your top 10-100 songs etc. All in all, it's an awesome player as long as you are careful with it.

This player is not designed to be used for jogging with, as long as you hold the player in your hand, it will be fine.
There have been tons of complaints, dealing with HD failures (this is entirely from factory defects) or resets. If you take proper precautions, your player will last for a long time until there is an update!

This is indeed a model for all other DAP manufacturers. If you are tired of hearing about the iPod and want to be different, the Rio Karma is just for you. I am very happy with what I've got, I still use it to this very day.

Ex-iPod user who loves it!by JTBritish - March 27, 2005

Pros: Battery, Sound, display and changeable-interface

Cons: Less-intuitive design than iPod

Easy to use and Comfortable, but isn't entirely perfectby Kkemepobo - March 26, 2005

Pros: Easy interface, long battery life

Cons: no case, easily breakable

Ugly little thingby Creativemp3-21 - March 25, 2005

Pros: Small and lightweight

Cons: Ugly, not so great navigation

Buyers Beware!by jasontkennedy - March 22, 2005

Pros: Does Ogg, FLAC, WMA, etc. the only one on the market that supports as many codecs

Cons: Reliability!

Great mp3 player.by Kev50027 - March 19, 2005

Pros: Awesome sound quality, big clear screen, easy to use.

Cons: None that i can think of so far.

Best thing out thereby drummer91 - March 18, 2005

Pros: Excellent software, menuing system and easy to use, Big hard drive, GREAT value!

Cons: the case it comes with is not the best and its hard to find a good case

Worked for 3 weeks, worst customer experience in my lifeby dtutt - March 17, 2005

Pros: When it worked, it sounded great

Cons: Lasted to 3 weeks before it needed to be repaired

dead rio? smack the crap out of it!by jayc420 - March 16, 2005

Pros: small, intuitive design, good battery life

Cons: bad karma errors

Great MP3 Player Everby pyekhine - March 15, 2005

Pros: Long Battery Life, Easy reading menu, Functions

Cons: Body plastic is pretty poor

I love my Karma, once the bugs were worked out.by jimthompson - March 11, 2005

Pros: simple, intuitive interface; ethernet docking station

Cons: no belt clip or case; out-of-box firmware bad

Great until it diedby brianj1591 - March 9, 2005

Pros: Massive storage, great sorting, easy software, long battery life

Cons: Won't start up!

Excellent Player for the Priceby Greg-G - March 8, 2005

Pros: OGG / FLAC / MP3 / WMA - Excellent Sound

Cons: Shape and Lack of Accessories and Quirky Interface

Potential iPod killer, but killed itself!by bacardi73 - March 7, 2005

Pros: Great sound quality, 5-band parametric EQ, great battery life, different built-in playlists like (most listen to), capability of deleting songs on player, & more media format choices than others,

Cons: It would lock up. The last time just by turning it on.

Great player, great soundby SSinger - March 7, 2005

Pros: Very easy to use, easy to connect to stereos; is set up for all of the major formats; great sound.

Cons: only comes in black

Hard Drive problems.....MISERYby 02wmr - March 7, 2005

Pros: Easy to use, good battery life, nice functions

Cons: Very sensitive hard drive, bad customer service

GREAT Sound, Bad HDDby CC713 - March 6, 2005

Pros: Awesome sound, nice controls, small, inexpensive

Cons: No carrying case, HDD is prone to breaking, ugly

Fault-lessby edtraver - March 6, 2005

Pros: good battery life; easy interface; great features and easy to use software

Cons: headphones a little uncomfortable?; could use a case

As long as it works, but if it doesn't, which it won't...by glebovics - March 4, 2005

Pros: easy to use. small. every listening option plus more, battery life, playlist capabilities, sound is great, cradle.

Cons: BREAKS DOWN! CUSTOMER SERVICE IS A JOKE!

Absaloutley Perfectby Tbo08550 - February 28, 2005

Pros: size, navagation, dock, storage, anything.

Cons: not much.

Best hdd player around.. ugly though ;)by Chinsen - February 26, 2005

Pros: Small and light (actually lighter than ipod), form factor feels better in the hand, controls and sound quality are flawless

Cons: Screen scratches

Terrific!!!by wemic - February 24, 2005

Pros: Great Sound, easy to use, tremendous storage

Cons: None that I can find so far.

Terrible piece of equipment!by - February 23, 2005

Pros: Nicely designed, smart accessories

Cons: long upload time, cheap materials, AWFUL support, glitchy, OS crashes every 20 mins

Good product when it works.by - February 23, 2005

Pros: Good features menu

Cons: I purchased from J & R music world. After several problems both Rio and the the 3rd party warranty "warrentech" are the worst. They could care less about replacing or fixing. Beware of the "warrentech" trap. I had one replaced after 3 months of a 2 ye

Great Price Performanceby - February 21, 2005

Pros: Great price for what your getting

Cons: Would love to see the device appear as a harddrive to windows.

Absolutely the best player!by - February 20, 2005

Pros: Features...nothing compares to it's audio features Sound is incredible Size is nice and small Ethernet Is not an Ipod Could go on forever

Cons: Lack of remote, FM receiver (not an issue for me), inline recording (who cares)

Excellent if it works!by - February 18, 2005

Pros: Excellent, but only if it works, quality of songs are excellent and transfer rate is rapid, but I am currently on my third Rio Karma as the first one's wheel snapped out of place and the second had a faulty connection in the headphone socket. However, Rio

Cons:

Close to the top lineby - February 16, 2005

Pros: Includes dock with ethernet. Great battery life. Easy & nice navgation. fits easily in pam. pretty good in design. Dock has cool blue lights that can beat to the music.

Cons: Has no plug & play support. No alarm clock or sleep mode.

an Ipod is just bad Karmaby - February 16, 2005

Pros: Audio Geeks rejoice, this has it all and you can customize it too! A 5 band parametric equalizer, standard bass & Treble as well as ability to adjust the center and width of the sound to get your bass **T H U M P I N G**! External volume buttons, very

Cons: There are NO games! Factory Equalizer presets are kind of useless, the sound quality on them just isn't as good as what you can do yourself. The ear buds don't push the bass as well as other head phones. Sometimes RMM won't synch through the dock so you h

A Great jukeboxby - February 16, 2005

Pros: * The Rio Karma has an easy to use interface and is the music is organised in a simple way. * It's java application to transfer files from the computer via an ethernet cable makes it compatible with all operating systems. I use the Rio Karma and it was v

Cons: I could find only one thing wrong with the Rio Karma. I have had it for 1 1/2 monthes and it crashed once on the second day I had it. This was disappointing at the time but as my girlfriend pointed out to me - many new mobile phones crash when you first g

great player, lasted a year then diedby - February 15, 2005

Pros: great sound, comfort in hand

Cons: 90-day warranty, then you have to pay $124 to get a new one

Good player but a TERRIBLE hard drive!by - February 14, 2005

Pros: This is an excellent MP3 player, it did everything that I expected an MP3 player to do. It's menus were easy and quick to navigate. The software that came with it was again very simple to use and I had no problems with that. Small features such as the abi

Cons: I have now got a full refund on my Rio Karma, I bought it in early May 2004 and then had to return it to Rio in July. The hard drive kept on freezing, sometimes it would be for a second and other times it would be until the battery finally ran out. The da

Rio Karma Melt Downby - February 9, 2005

Pros: Easy to use and navigate thru songs and playlists. Compact size and reasonable price.

Cons: Owned for 14 months when hard drive totally froze. 6 hours on their tech support line netted no results. I was told they would replace my unit for $125 or I could by another Rio product at full price. Terrible tech support, terrible product reliability an

Great sound, awful bad reliabilityby - February 8, 2005

Pros: sound, battery life, no nonsense menu

Cons: This 3rd one of mine broke also. No drops, just won't start, do not buy! Please, research the forums, I'm NOT alone!

Beware of the wheel!by - February 5, 2005

Pros: Plays oggs, quite durable, has great sound quality, the dock is actually useful, is accessable via a network. My favorite thing about it is that I have it in my car.

Cons: The wheel broke, so now I can only use the dot to change songs. IN addition to that, I wish a AA or AAA battery could be used to power it. When I'm hiking for more than 4 days at a time I can't listen to it :(.

Great MP3 Bad Hard Drive Insideby - February 1, 2005

Pros: Wow for sound and features. Used FLAC, outstanding sound.

Cons: Hard Drive died at 4 months.

More than a Year and no problemsby - January 30, 2005

Pros: Play songs by artist, album, year, genre or let the Rio DJ play you a mix. I've had my Rio Karma more than a year and never had a problem with it or the company's software updates. My Rio Karma is my best traveling companion.

Cons: Doesn't work as a USB drive.

Defective product - worse supportby - January 29, 2005

Pros: This is a feature rich player which, if it worked, would be an iPod killer. Unfortunately, it has a well known hard drive failure rate, and Rio's support is so bad, you would laugh if you were not the victim of it.

Cons: Product is not ready for prime time. Hard drive locks up and the unit freezes. Sometimes right out of the box, then all Rio does is give you someone else's scratched up refurb, after calling he very mentally challenged people which Rio passes off as supp

Poorly made and the worst customer support I've ever hadby - January 26, 2005

Pros: good features easy to navigate -- especially the wheel Excellent Sound Comes with very good/quick/functional dock

Cons: Breaks easily terrible customer support -- had to exchange it after 4 days (I had to pay to mail it to them/it took a week to get it back). The one I received didn't download properly. Got shuttled between indifferent customer support people for over two

Hey Wat can i sayby - January 26, 2005

Pros: I like 20GB,Ethernet and USB And that you can jack it up to an stereo

Cons: I just have a little problem with the headphones and i want to know if you can download games onto the Rio Karma But everything else is great And i wish they put a remote on it but oh "well what Can i say"

you don't get what you pay for...by - January 25, 2005

Pros: The features such as built-in visualization, and synched-to-music light-pulsing cradle, are definite immediate differences from the Ipod, that I miss, now that I replaced the karma with an Ipod (4G). I definitely felt like I could tweak the music playbac

Cons: My biggest beef is the product quality and design: 1. the hard drive wasn't always reliable and would fritz out randomly. One time I just let it flash its "thinking" image on the screen until the battery wore down and I could restart it. It just wasn't

It was like a one night stand!by - January 25, 2005

Pros: xcellent quality sound. Easy to use, you can transfer files from Karma to PC as well as to another PC using Rio Taxi.

Cons: The drive is a piece of crap. Constantly freezes up. Rios unofficial fix was to beat the thing in the palm of your hand. After a while it just purred - wouldnt play any tunes - just purred along as the drive spun. I wouldn't give $10 for another one of th

Fantasic Player with one *HUGE* flawby - January 24, 2005

Pros: Great sound, features, battery life, intuitive music upload software, after a year, I love almost everything about this player

Cons: HD hangs constantly!It cannot handle any slightly jarring motion. In spite of all the positives, if you plan to run, bike, or nude wrestle in crisco with this, find another MP3 player.

One Great MP3 Playerby - January 22, 2005

Pros: I liked it when it worked with Win XP, but now that I switched to Linux (Gentoo) and it still works without a hitch I love it. Having a little mini web server built into the the device was one of the best ideas ever. With one little download for rmmlite.

Cons: I had to put up with the HD failure mentioned in the review. However, Rio replaced the unit and I lost no data.

Harsh sound output.by - January 18, 2005

Pros: Large hard disk. Ok user interface.

Cons: Great, save 10 bucks vs. a 20gb ipod. Sound is harsh. I returned my unit thinking it was defective. Second unit sounded exactly the same. Bad!

Karma = Great!by - January 17, 2005

Pros: This thing is sweet as hell... I have been looking for something to replace my cd player that was made in 1997!! It doesnt play CD-RW or MP3 cds!! Being an athlete in the Big Ten and having to travel a lot carrying my cds and cd player was becoming a p

Cons: The case sucks! I am going to get a pda screen protector to protect the screen from scratches.

Nice HD size, 1 or 2 nitpick probsby - January 17, 2005

Pros: nicely sized hard drive. went into the store to pick up an ipod mini (sold out, figures) and found this. same cost, 5 times the size... not too bad if ya ask me

Cons: what the hell, there's a feature for in-line remotes, but none provided... do all in line remotes work with the rio karma? also, it froze on me strangely and i couldn't turn it off or reset it... after 10 mins, it 'woke up' finally and has worked fine sin

Great product, but a bit flimsyby - January 16, 2005

Pros: I love the 20 GB storage and the on-the-fly playlists are terrific. Also, the Rio software in uploading songs was so easy it was great. I never had to look at the instruction manual once and I uncovered everything I wanted from it. If only the buttons

Cons: I had the Rio for six months and in that short time the red joystick button and main menu button became sticky and the side swivel wheel completely broke. That on top of the headphone jack getting to the point where I had to wiggle the headphones every f

Unique and simple, yet robust.by - January 16, 2005

Pros: I like the idea that I'm not like the rest of the market frenzied drones with their little white earbuds. I often listen to my Karma while I'm driving, using a FM tuning adapter. If I choose to change a song I needn't even look, simply tap the toggle and

Cons: It does seem a little oversized and making playlists on the device the first few times is a little hit and miss.

paper weightby - January 15, 2005

Pros: The scroller on the right side, music is somewhat clear, skip thru songs with the roller device, the dock is cool, easy to setup.

Cons: playlist option is crappy you cant really make a good playlist without searching and scrolling, the red control button in the middle is useless, the karma program *************** it deleted all my 1,000 music files, cheap plastic dock stand but looks nice

How to fix the screen vunerabilityby - January 13, 2005

Pros: OKK to everyone with concerns about the screen being easilt scratched. Just cover it with a Fellowes WriteRIGHT cover made for PDA screens. Cut to fit with a razor knife. Note: iPod users should not use sharp objects unattended.

Cons: Battery needs to be replacable. I figure I'll be able to do the replacement surgery when the time comes.

LOVE IT. better then ipodby - January 13, 2005

Pros: the cd that comes with it. it is so easy. i tryed to put music on a friends mp3 player but it used windows media player. and boy does that suck

Cons: well it has poor reseption. 90 day warrenty o come on u need at least 1 year. but if u find a places u can bye it from that sells warrintys then get it there.

Easily Contends With The Fieldby - January 12, 2005

Pros: Great sound quality and features to alter it such as 5 band EQ which is FULLY adjustable. Perhaps one of the most loudest audio portable players around. Battery Life Easy to use and learn after a day's use (anyone else who says different isn't very smar

Cons: That there isn't a 40GB version as of now since my collection is growing past 20 gigs. Included software is kind of ackward, perfer Red Chair's RioRad software to handle the transfers.

actual owner does not reccommendby - January 12, 2005

Pros: A lot of memory for the price.

Cons: I actually have owned two Rio Karma's so far, and both have had two major problems. The biggest problem is that the wheel where you can scroll through menus (located on the top right hand corner) is extremely fragile. With my first one, I put the mp3 pl

Sad Dayby - January 12, 2005

Pros: The greatest mp3 around...

Cons: ...until it breaks. Mine broke 2 days after I got it for no reason. The hard drive fails. It's happened to sooo many people and the company doesn't help.

When the Karma was working, it was Greatby - January 12, 2005

Pros: Sound quality exceeds that of any Ipod mpdel. I really enjoyed the music with my Sony headphones. The ergonomics are well thought out. Controls are a perfect finger reach while in the palm pf your hand. Battery lasts the entire week! Great Software packag

Cons: The Rio Karmas thumb wheel stopped turning and within the same time period the hard disk crashed, and then started constant rebooting. I returned this Rio Karma in just two weeks of non-hard utilization. I could have traded the Karma in for another Karm

What a POSby - January 12, 2005

Pros: Small size, sleek design.

Cons: I purchased this unit at Circuit City (thank god for their return policy). Less than to weeks after I bought it, I went to get it out of my backpack, and the hard drive was spinning like CRAZY. It was over-heated, and I had to find something small enough

Only Real Choice For Audiophileby - January 12, 2005

Pros: OGG and FLAC support, dock station with RCA line-level outputs, intuitive control and relatively large display, Rio Music Manger. The sound quality using FLAC or high-quality OGG vorbis files is superior to any player I've heard so far. It is very smooth

Cons: 90-day warranty, high HD failure rate, no dedicated case or remote available. I knew all these flaws but still went ahead and kept this player since there is nothing else that compares in the sound quality department.

Great Features And Aestheticsby - January 12, 2005

Pros: The sound quality is better than any MP3 player I've had so far. The form factor, while not as thin as an iPod, is actually more pocket-friendly (since it doesn't stick out of your pocket). The Rio DJ feature allows you to play automatically-generated p

Cons: Although I've never experienced it, hard drive issues have come up with others. There's no recording. There's no radio. The Karma can't be recognized as a hard drive. (You can download a PowerToy for XP that allows you to drag and drop music to it *as

Hard Drive Locked-Upby - January 12, 2005

Pros: Sound is good, Features are very nice.

Cons: I went through 2 Karmas with in 1 year. Both hard drives locked-up constantly and I had to reboot. Eventually the 2nd one locked-up for good and rebooting wouldn't help. I am planning on switching to I-Pod

Great player some small problemsby - January 12, 2005

Pros: Produces great sound. Features are very good. Great customer service

Cons: EXPERIENCED SMALL PROBLEM BUT CUSTOMER SERVICE QUICKLY FIXED IT

a solid work-horse with great features.by - January 12, 2005

Pros: I've had my Karma player for over a year, hassle-free. Easy to use, good power to provide needing strong volume even when in a plane (upgrading headphones is mandatory for all these players). Nice features, quality product, headphone geeks love it, why p

Cons: a decent travel case would be nice.

meh, i got it for my birthdayby - January 12, 2005

Pros: value. excellent value. good concept, liked the design.

Cons: button issues. major ubtton issues. after about 2 months, the down volume button got stuck in. i went nuts, i had to carry around a ball point pen to turn the volume down (i would stick the point in the case to reach the button, and press very, very hard)

Died After 5 monthsby - January 12, 2005

Pros: Great sound and OK features, while it lasted of course...

Cons: HD died after light use. Gets hung up on "starting" screen and I hear humming noise. Stays like that until battery runs down. Warranty only 90 days... Very disappointed...

Piece of ******by - January 12, 2005

Pros: lots of memory

Cons: huge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! not very reliable.

good idea, poor executionby - January 12, 2005

Pros: great sound, scroll-wheel navigation, auto-playlists, battery life

Cons: lowest quality of any electronic gizmo on that side of 200 bucks - the scroll wheel WILL break, the joystick will act funny.. regular freezes on shutdown even with up-to-date firmware, software, etc.. (tape a paper clip to the back just in case).

I LOVE my Karmaby - January 12, 2005

Pros: Those first 2 reviews are a joke, right? NIETHER OF THEM EVEN HAVE A KARMA??!?!?! Oy. Anyway: The DOCK is far and away my favorite feature. Connects right into the line-in of my home stereo for AWESOME sound. I also LOVE the RIO DJ feature which the othe

Cons: Hmmmm Really have to think about this one. Not a lot of aftermarket accesories for them.

Good package, Horrific reliabilityby - January 12, 2005

Pros: Easy to use features, cheaper than ipod

Cons: These last 4 months, period. Just one month past warranty. And they never come back. I never dropped mine, etc, but in fourth months it stopped working. Service and support is run by idiots. They are completely awful, I have never seen worse.

Good but now obsoleteby - January 12, 2005

Pros: OGG support, pure java app, direct network connectivity, frequent updates and enhancments, small size

Cons: fragile hard drive, price

It was broken in less than a weekby - January 12, 2005

Pros:

Cons: I wouldn't suggest anyone buying this. It freezing within two days of my purchase requiring me to reset it. Then it froze for good. There is a very limited warranty, luckily the site i bought it from took it back. I bought an IRiver IHP120 and am very

Small and loudby - January 12, 2005

Pros: Small size, fits nicely in hand. Great amp and EQ controls. Excellent audio quality

Cons: 90 day Warranty, reliability. The HD failed within 8 months. They must have decided their warranty coverage period based on the unit's track record

Mine has been great so far (Knock on Wood)by - January 12, 2005

Pros: Great size, features, ease of use. Absolutely NO complaints!

Cons: No carrying case, and hopefully it won't break like all the ones I've read about on this site.

No more Ipod reviewers, please. Let someone who own it judge it.by - January 12, 2005

Pros: Lots of software Plenty of power responds quickly to switch tracks. Like having an audio player on your pc, plenty of options, eyecandy stuff too. Software is great. Extremely easy to use Network access, loads songs over network. Very fast and natural men

Cons: takes a second to ff on a track, probably loading it into ram at first. No case, just a bag. Wish it was cheaper. It is larger than Flash mp2 players, but for 20 Gigs it is very small.

HAD 4 UNITS REPLACED IN PAST YEARby - January 12, 2005

Pros: There are many cool features. Hand held, fits in the pocket and hold 20 gig. However, when compared to the Apple I should have chosen the Apple

Cons: The internal drive seems to crash quite often. Even with new firmware and gently handling this unit locks up and requires a long return process. If you are going to spend the money you would be better served with the APPLE or Creative Labs Zen.

Under-rated and tech/feature-fullby - January 12, 2005

Pros: cult following, high quality audio output, supports all major file formats, cool dock, decent batt life. ETHERNET! Windows, Mac, Unix/Linux compatible... Sennheiser MX300 ear buds (very good by ear bud standard), easy interface/menus... can charge and s

Cons: no support from DNNA or aftermarket (remote, case, car charger, etc.)

unreliability trumps any positivesby - January 12, 2005

Pros: plays WMAs, which iPOD doesn't; storage; really like music manager; lots of upgrades to the firmware, software

Cons: Hard drive totally hangs up, and you can't turn it off or reset. I just had to wait for the battery to run down for it to stop--as in, the next morning! Aggravating to the point of profanity, violence, therapy, you name it. Crappy quality and reliabili

Great Idea -- Poor Execution; Gonna Get an IPODby - January 12, 2005

Pros: Good software design. Easy to use with nice features (random mix, create playlists on the fly, portability to other computers, etc.)

Cons: Very poor construction. Toggle switch no longer responding to FF>>, hard drive hangs, headphone jack no longer stable (intermittent loss of stereo sound). I was originally attracted to the software features and battery life (both superior to compa

Bad HARD DRIVES!!by - January 12, 2005

Pros: My son loved this unit. It was great. Nice interface, good sound.

Cons: The first one broke after a couple weeks. The hard drive froze. Contacted RIO and they tried to help, but eventually told me to take it back. I chalked it up to a lemon and bought another just like it. After 4 months the same thing happened. Good thi

This is the BEST MP3 on the market when it works.by - January 12, 2005

Pros: Tons of Space, Easy to use os, jam packed full of features, less expensive that IPOD, small and compact, damn good music quality,long battery life compared to past IPOD's.

Cons: Mine has broken twice. ONly 90 day warranty-- to think you pay about $250 for a 90 day warranty. No good protective sleeve, no real accessories. It freezes alot and you pray to God that it will work again. I thought this player was going to be 10x better

Wicked playerby - January 12, 2005

Pros: Just about everything. Tough, easy to use, 20GB, wicked dock, fast transfer rate, AMAZING sound, 5-and equalizer with customizable settings and very good battery life.

Cons: None except for lack of accessories.

Two have broke after using them for only two months a pieceby - January 12, 2005

Pros: size

Cons: we have replaced two already because about 2 months after use it just shuts down and won't work

Great unitll it breaksby - January 12, 2005

Pros: Amazing sound, great features

Cons: NO durability, wheel got jammed when i was scrolling, half of the screen blacked out.

Great design -- terrible reliabilityby - January 12, 2005

Pros: Wonderful size and software

Cons: I bought two of these -- they both failed within six months and BOTH replacement models failed within weeks -- all under normal use. Avoid if you want a player for more than six months!

Simple but effectiveby - January 12, 2005

Pros: Ease of use....I bought my girlfriend the Rio and myself an I-Pod when i was in the States.After using both at home,i decided to keep the rio and give her the i-pod, which she was happy with.Basically, for me to load tracks,takes no time. The propertiy ed

Cons: It's a bit chunky and the silver paint does fade over time with wear but don't let that put you off...

Loved it, but hard drive failed after six months.by - January 12, 2005

Pros: Everthing I expected. They guy on customer support was helpful.

Cons: Hard drive failed after 6 months. Rio would replace for $125.00. Think I will spend my moner some where else.

Great player but not very well builtby - January 11, 2005

Pros: This is a great player without a doubt. It's got a great interface and easy to use. And lots of different options. The battery life is great too. Small and compact.

Cons: I had 2 of these players (thanks to the insurance) and they both broke the same way. The little wheel in the corner is way too fragile. My player fell on the wheel the first time and broke. Went and got a new one. The second one fell a few inches onto

nice size! bad customer supportby - January 10, 2005

Pros: -very compact -scroll wheel -long battery life -docking station is very nice; has RCA splitter and Ethernet, and USB and lights up to beat of tunes -very big screen -good menu options

Cons: -horrible customer support (not 24/7) -menu button small -joystick was broken when received -crashed 2X on me, had to wait for battery to die to reset it because reset button too small (even for pen)

Very reliable, near-perfect mp3 playerby - January 8, 2005

Pros: The playback features that the Karma has are extroardinary, as well as the sound quality, and the music manager program it comes with. Its very easy to use, and regardless to popular theory, its not heavy or too big either. The way the files are sorted (a

Cons: No carrying case, not many accessories, and no commercials on TV (iPod has lots. stop buying iPods, buy RIO'S!!!)

great player, affordable, good s/wby - January 8, 2005

Pros: good music processing software good-looking player GREAT docking station! huge hard drive below $200 NEW!!!

Cons: no linux driver support

An Audiophile's Mobile Dreamby - January 5, 2005

Pros: Ogg Vorbis & Flac Support. Great sound even through a home stereo system. Small size. Easy to read display. Easy to use out of the box. Excellent user community support at Riovolution forum.

Cons: Reportedly high number of hard drive failures, although none experienced yet for me.

Excellent value for price.by - January 3, 2005

Pros: Small, lots of memory, easy to use interface, comes with dock, Rio software does everything you'd ever need and is easy to use. Can be used on your network to keep usb ports open.

Cons: You need to install the Rio software to transfer songs/music. Non-replaceable battery, didn't come with remote. Battery life could be better.

Great... WHEN IT WORKSby - January 2, 2005

Pros: Great price for Space... easy to use

Cons: I'm on my 2nd one.. first one broke and totally crashed for no reason. After fighting with Tech Support (in India??) for over a month, they finally had me send it in. They sent me a REFURBISHED (ie one that was also once broke, but they fixed) Karma. 9

Very Disappointed - HD Broke after 6 moby - December 27, 2004

Pros: Great features and sound. Nice size and style

Cons: 3mo warranty. HD failed after 6mo lite use. HD got "stuck" several times when 1st purchased but was easily fixed w/ reset button. But this time, no such luck. I've read too many CNET reviews about failed RIOs HDs for this to be "hard use" or coincidence.

Great, but it doesn't come with bubble wrap.by - December 26, 2004

Pros: Way good sound quality and a ton of features that arn't on iPod. I really liked how it would take a variety of formats, iPod only takes theirs. It was easy to use and you had a lot more control over where your music was. The screen was big enough that you

Cons: It would CONSTANTLY crash. Get the warranty from the store casue you will need it. I went through about four Karma's before I got on that lasted longer than two weeks, but unfortunately it died after about five months. I liked everything about the Karma (

Great wealth of featuresby - December 25, 2004

Pros: Recently got the Karma and I love it. The interface is easy and simple to use, plays lots of different codecs.

Cons: The headphones that come with it are pointless, your own set of headphones is a must.

Great features - poor quality!by - December 18, 2004

Pros: Great compact size, reasonable value (until it breaks).

Cons: Warranty is only 90 days (And, it probably will break).Mine was pampered and it broke in 6 mos. Thankfully I bought an extended warranty through J&R! So, I decided not to give RIO any more of my money, so I bought an iPOD. The iPOD is awesome! It is q

Wonderful for Audiophiles but, Rio support is questionableby - December 16, 2004

Pros: The multiple formats for music are wonderful. I use Ogg Vorbis alot for items I have ripped and loaded. Software performes as expected.

Cons: Rio renegged on support for Audible.com books on the Karma, a real disappointment!(That was why I bought it in the first place!)My first one was DOA within 60 days. Rio support was useless until I found the CEO fax number and contacted him directly.

don't listen bad reviews from ipod peopleby - December 15, 2004

Pros: very easy to use, better sound quality than any version ipod.

Cons: the hard drive does freeze from time to time but eaisly is fixed by pushing the reset button.

I've had no troubleby - December 13, 2004

Pros: Easy to Use Lots of options Easy to hold in your hand Blue lights 10,000 songs!!!!!! Sonic Blue doesn't have anything to do with Rio brand anymore Great sound

Cons: Get different earbuds - the ones with the unit are uncomfortable. Get an extended warranty with 90 day guarentee Get a Nintendo SP case to store your Karma in. The bag is a joke.

It's the bomb...but don't run with it!by - December 13, 2004

Pros: killer sound quality with the included ear buds - plenty loud for walking through midtown Manhattan; excellent user features such as on-the-fly playlist building on the player; easy playlist building on your PC; sorting by date loaded plus all the usual s

Cons: Portability: no remote, no case, no clip. Unless you are cool with it sticking out of your bag, a loose pants pocket or your shirt pocket, you'll be disappointed. Reliability: DO NOT RUN WITH IT! It locked up and none of the online troubleshooting help

It pains me to write a bad review..by - December 10, 2004

Pros: The RioKarma has the best features of any player, bar none. Best file support, best integration with external devices, longest battery life, etc. All would be good, except...

Cons: The hard drive is awful. My hard drive sputtered, choked, and coughed for 6 months, and finally froze up for good. Last firmware never helped. I've read other reviews that said similar. It's a shame...

Really enjoy my RIO Karma !!by - December 6, 2004

Pros: Battery life, connectivity options (both PC and AV Receiver), storage capacity, sound quality, RIO Manager bundled SW

Cons: no FM tuner, occasionally locks, latest Firmware seems to have fixed this

Audiophile quality w/ top of the line Sennheiser ear phonesby - December 5, 2004

Pros: Small and fits hand well. Everything is in finger thumb reach. Easy to read display. Batteries last 15-20 hours. It has a docking station which allows you to use it with your own stereo system, or pc stereo system. USB +++++! Sounds better than 5 oth

Cons: Needs a case for your belt. Nitendo Game Boy Advance cases do fit.

The Karma Rocks!by - December 4, 2004

Pros: Vast amount of storage even in WMA format all music sounds great. For the first time in quite a while I'm happy with what I got for the amount I paid for it. The software is also really easy to use and if you don't like there's it is compatible with sev

Cons: It needs more accessories, there are currently next to none (there is a tape adapter) I would suggest a cradle for mounting in the car, and an AC car adapter.

**** of ****by - December 4, 2004

Pros: Nice Features

Cons: 90 day's Warranty, when the Hard Drive breaks down and it will, you will throw the player to the garbage.

Thumb wheel brokeby - December 2, 2004

Pros: on the fly playlist creation great capacity intuitive controls Battery life

Cons: thumb wheel broke negating most pros

I Should've Just Bought the Damned Ipod.by - December 2, 2004

Pros: The features are totally cool. I would have been more impressed if the damned thing worked though.

Cons: After doing tons of research, I bought the Karma for my boyfriend for Christmas last year. He upgraded the firmware immediately, as the instructions said to do, and the thing flat-out died. We were able to return it for a new one at the store and did so.

Bad interface, flaky softwareby - November 29, 2004

Pros: Huge space, decent price, good screen size, good sound quality.

Cons: Interface is not convenient to navigate. Sync software is shotty.

Not just an eye-popper!by - November 29, 2004

Pros: Great sound...most formats supported. Easy-use of features. Very flexible. Great support forums: www.riovolution.com & www.rioworld.org

Cons: Lack of FM/recorder.(minor)

Ipod Killer, good stuffby - November 25, 2004

Pros: 20Gig of Memory, Small, Great memu, great sound. Great cradle setup

Cons: Poor headphones, too thick for small hands Not truly WMP compatable Poor software

Great device but when it breaks, just throw it outby - November 23, 2004

Pros: I enjoyed the Rio Karma for its great sound and ease-of-use features.

Cons: When it stopped working due to hardware problems, I went through 5 refurbished units over 3 months and hours on a non-toll-free customer "support" line before I gave up. Now, I'm checking out players (Dell, etc.) I can freely download to from any source.

Feels cheap. Sound quality average.by - November 23, 2004

Pros: Large hard drive is about it.

Cons: Unit feels cheap. Mine stopped working after 3 days.

great features and top qualityby - November 22, 2004

Pros: great sound quality FLAC support easy navigation

Cons: earbuds might be a bit bulky for some people

HARD DRIVE FAILURES!by - November 19, 2004

Pros:

Cons: I have had two in the past 9 month. This first's hard drive crashed in 2 weeks, the second took 5 months and is now out of warranty - they won't replace it :(

Support destroyed the product...by - November 19, 2004

Pros: Very good sound, it did everything I wanted in terms of features. I found the interface to be easy to use as well, and I liked the base and various features it had.

Cons: the harddrive failed a month after I started using it. I understand that sometimes not all the bugs are worked out, so I called customer service. Here is were the problem started, I've called three times and nothing has been done to fix my Karma. First ti

Better than Ipod, if it doesn't breakby - November 18, 2004

Pros: I only recommend this if you take good care of it. Plays .ogg, sounds excellent, UI is very intuitive, extensive user controls (equalizer, customization), cheaper than IPOD, good included software

Cons: DONT DROP IT, IT WILL BREAK. Somewhat shoddy build quality, the jog dial has a high tendency to break, only a 90-day warranty.

Died on me a few days after the warranty expiredby - November 16, 2004

Pros: Works great when it works.

Cons: Hardware is entirely unreliable.

I'll never do this again...by - November 14, 2004

Pros: Small size, large storage capacity, nice features wrt equalizer,

Cons: Hard drive failure. I've returned four players, and each time the refurbished one I recieved was in worse condition than the one before. They all have HDD failure withi weeks. I'm waiting to see how long thisd will last.. probbaly as long as its under war

Poor Service From Manufacturerby - November 12, 2004

Pros: Easy to use, many great features.

Cons: My hard drive failed right after the warranty expired. I used this only about 10 times. Customer service rep. would not listen to my complaint. He stated I needed to pay an additional $175.00 for a new hard drive. After he finished he had the guts to

Great When Works, Not portableby - November 4, 2004

Pros: When it works, it is great. Sound, Features, functionality, Interface.

Cons: The first one failed (HDD) within months and I had to have it replaced. The second one has not broken, but locks up if it is moved at all for any period of time. Such as walking for 30 minutes. I don't see how that makes it portable.

IPod for knowledgeable people, except hard drive stinksby - November 1, 2004

Pros: SPACE SPACE SPACE Very intuitive and easy to use interface. Great form, very functional. Super sound quality, love the FLAC codec, rips CDs!! Lighting is cool. Interfaces well with the software, especially now after the latest update.

Cons: Hard drive quit after one month. I wasn't even slamming it around, though it was sitting ON the treadmill... To their credit though, Rio did exchange it for a new one that's been working great for five months!

Greatest little Gadget ever got! Awesome!!!by - November 1, 2004

Pros: Wow alot of space that I have yet to exhaust(most of my favorite cd's-60- are on,and only 8% used space , great sound and compatabilty with my other digitals devices , PC's and stereo. AWESOME PRODUCT!!! =]

Cons: carrying case could be better only a cloth pouch-but thats very small compared to the Pros which out weigh it big time!

Greatest Player Ever, Hands-Downby - October 26, 2004

Pros: Easy to use, but with features to satisfy the most demanding users. I have had mine for almost a year and don't have any complaints. The battery life on this is astounding. You really do get 14 hours out of it. The audio quality is supurb and the volume g

Cons: Some have lamented Rio's choice not to include a carying case or inline remote, but I don't see how they could do that without increasing the price quite a bit. No real complaints otherwise, although I would appreciate it if they offered it in a 40GB size

Bad Karma after 6 monthsby - October 20, 2004

Pros: Good product when it worked. This is the last Rio product I'll ever purchase. Worst warranty in the business.

Cons: (1) It has never been dropped, but my Karma exhibited a clicking sound (this is after 6 months of ownership) when accessing files, and then an eventual hang, symptom of a bad drive. If press on its rubber grip, the clicking stopped, but the Karma is still

If you want bad service, buy Rioby - October 12, 2004

Pros: Good features when it's functional. Great playback.

Cons: You'll never get any help once something goes wrong. I don't think customer support get's more awful than this.

A Total Dissappointmentby - October 11, 2004

Pros: The Rio Karma attracted me by it's slick look, and promised features.

Cons: My first one died within a month. Like a fool, I exchanged it for another one; that one lasted for a whole 3 months. It would die after 15-20 minutes, with the screen going blank. I was required to re-boot it several times a day. This was a complete a

It's All about Service & Warranty -And They're BADby - October 7, 2004

Pros: Great feature, nice feel.

Cons: Freezes up. Operating system is unreliable. Case is not durable. Customer service is non-existent. Mine is out of the 90 warranty (which is no time at all, right?) and the cost to have it fixed is too much. I am buying another brand. Preferably one with a

Great HD Playerby - October 4, 2004

Pros: Multiple format support. The numerous features. Size and shape. Competitive price. I already have a Rio Chiba and can say nothing but good things about customer support.

Cons: Non-replaceable battery. No beltclip/carry case. No DRM transfer allowed over ethernet. One of the things I miss most about the Chiba is being able to switch out the battery when it gets low. But this seems to be standard practice in the HD player market

Failed after 90 days of usageby - October 3, 2004

Pros: It plays Ogg and and has a cool cradle.

Cons: My drive on my Karma died after 2 weeks after the warranty expired. Futhermore, after 2 months, the device started to freeze on a regular basis and had to be reset. PAINFUL. Skip this device and buy an iRiver or iPod - anything but the Karma.

ease of use; supports win 98, xp platformsby - October 3, 2004

Pros: very easy to use,long battery life, biig hard drive, easy docking station/ rechargable base ( doesn't take long to recharge), you can use USB ! Service rep answered my questions quickly!

Cons: None; I love it...my wife bought one

Nice try RIO...by - October 3, 2004

Pros: Lots of neet extras. 3 second cross fade between tracks. 5 band coustom EQ and 3 slots to save coustom presets along with the stock ones. On the fly playslists intutive and fast menu system. Neet Dock (it can glow when docked with a blue light) with USB,

Cons: Ibought it from best buy with a $40.00 1yr protection plan. Alas after 4 months I noticed the plastic case was cracked open at the top of the player by the power button. it also started locking up and then after another 3weeks later one day i tryed to tur

Better than IPODby - October 1, 2004

Pros: Great features: more file types supported better battery better connectivity to external devices better suited to PC, out of box

Cons: OS is a little shaky, sometimes it locks up; have to restart occasionally.

Has really deliveredby - September 30, 2004

Pros: Plethora of usable features, the OGG, WAV, and FLAC support are fantasic if you have a nice stereo and don't want the loss of detail and added sibilance of MP3s. GUI is strait forward and with no needed learning curve. Battery life is impressive, comes w

Cons: The dolts and idiots who post negative reviews of products that they don't own. When I clicked on this product the 2 reviews it showed were negative. 1 of them was obvious from the wording that the person had never used it or it wasn't out yet. And the ot

I love this thing - take it everywhere!by - September 29, 2004

Pros: Great all around tool - can't live without it! Have had it for almost a year. Great form factor, the front "joystick" and side wheel make it easy to navigate and fantastic to use even in your pocket. Software good and usb connection a breeze. Also cradle

Cons: Sometimes software hickup during downloads(rare but a real pain because it does not skip over non-transferable files - requires you to restart whole process), a carying case would have been a plus as would a user replaceable battery.

Hard Drive died after three monthsby - September 29, 2004

Pros: Size, features and ease of use. It is very easy to navigate through the menus, and the docking station / LAN connection for use as a networked storage device is good.

Cons: Limited warranty, system locks up after nearly two hours of use. After reading of other owners that suffered hard drive failure, my Karma locked up and died yesterday after only three months of periodic use.

Great player apart the crahses and supportby - September 29, 2004

Pros: Great features, great sound, excellent file support (almost all file types supported), great docking station, great battery life. I really like my Karma!

Cons: There is a big problem with the Karma: it crashes. I've had mine for 3 months and all of a sudden it blocked when starting it. The support's advice: HIT IT HARD! This worked, until the next day, when it crashed again. This would be the best MP3 player if

Works great..until it BREAKS!by - September 28, 2004

Pros: Ogg Vorbis support Great scroll wheel is faster and easier than Ipod's Great battery life

Cons: Breaks immediately!!! HORRIBLE customer service! I bought my Rio Karma June 5th of 2004. About 5 weeks later the scroll wheel quit working, so I sent it in to customer support. When I got my replacement unit, it completely stopped working in a week.

Great sound, features.by - September 24, 2004

Pros: The sound of the Karma with its ability to accept the various formats, and graphic equalizer seem to let it sound 'richer' than an iPod. I previously owned a Rio Riot and had no problems with it, so I plumped for the Karma. The user buttons and knobs may

Cons: I have a Mac which is supported through the ethernet link. This is a bit testing to say the least, the connection has a habit of dropping if left for a couple of minutes, which means restting the ISP address. However once you know this I would recomend yo

Better Audio Quality than iPodby - September 22, 2004

Pros: Small and durable...I actually drop mine a couple times but no damage done. Lock feature is key!!! plays all formats (MP3 and WM).

Cons: Haven't been able to find a good case for it yet to take it to the gym...not really a problem when runnung because it is a great shape.

Great device... when it works!by - September 20, 2004

Pros: Great little package with an easy to use interface that packs all the bells and whistles.

Cons: Poor quality. I bought one in June, took it back the next week when the joystick assembly broke loose. Took that one back two weeks later when THAT joystick assembly broke loose. Took the third one back this week (September) when the unit simply died. I'd

Hard drive crashedby - September 20, 2004

Pros: I wanted to like it. The Karma has better overall software features than the Ipod. I just bought an Ipod and you can't do anything on it but play music - ie you can't delete songs on it.

Cons: It died after a few months or normal use - same hard drive problem everyone else has. I bought an Ipod against everything I believe in, but I needed something reliable.

Nice Features, lousy software / supportby - September 19, 2004

Pros: The player has great features and an easy to use menu and clear display. I often use the RioDJ. Battery life seems a little shorter than indicated in the documentation (I get up to 10 hours).

Cons: The Rio Music Manager software is not very good. I find that it locks up a lot and if it hits a bad transfer it stops. The help line was a pay line that was totally useless - after waiting 45 minutes on the line!! I only hope that a plug-in becomes ava

shoddy workmanship undoes nice featuresby - September 18, 2004

Pros: I like the docking station, the software, and the interface

Cons: Poorly constructed. In about five months, I've had two of them have a dead hard drive and one have the scroll wheel fail. It's not built sturdily enough for normal everyday use (I didn't run with it or drop it, just use while in trains, planes, or walking

Comfortable Usable Versatileby - September 18, 2004

Pros: I'm adding to address: I have carried this in my shirt pocket for several full days out of the past month's use, and as long as you use the hold button and are happy with your selected music, it's been pretty happy making. The included software is better

Cons: iTunes and Rio don't share files, resulting in the horrid Sony-esque file bloat of having duplicates of every song necessarilly on my computer for each. Rio is no iTunes, on the computer. Noise floor in the Karma isn't bad during songs, but hard-drive sp

Great except no iTunes support!by - September 18, 2004

Pros: Size + Feel good. Battery life is what I want, most of a week's useable time on a charge, or one Texas-size roadtrip. Ogg Vorbis support claimed, untested at-this-time. I haven't needed the service and support options, but I've only had it a month. Netwo

Cons: My biggest complaint? The standard software! Why does this even need its special utility, especially in view of its utility as a network hard-disk. Each computer must have this utility, which I have found awkwards. Worse still, it has not been compatible

Good enough for govenment work.by - September 15, 2004

Pros: No white wires coming out of your ears. Supports Ogg Vorbis. Cool docking station; will light up to beat of music, allows RCA, USB 2.0, and 100mbit ethernet connection. Great sound. Just as easy (if not easier than) to use as my sister's third generation

Cons: Poor playlist function. Once a playlist is created, the order of the songs cannot be changed. Also, songs cannot be added to playlist while playing. No games. No picture support. Cannot attribute pictures (of album covers) to specific music files. Only on

Even for digital audio, sound matters!!!by - September 15, 2004

Pros: Audio quality, format support, battery, easy navigation, features as the 5-band equalizer

Cons: No replaceable battery, not many accesories, being a remote control the one I miss the most. Not as cool lookinga as an iPod

Great audio quality and interfaceby - September 15, 2004

Pros: I measured the frequency response of the headphone output--it was extremely flat from 20Hz to 20kHz, unlike the iPod, which has significant rolloff at both ends of the spectrum. In addition, the user interface, including the ability to create and modify

Cons: The HD/firmware seems to be a bit flaky. I've had the Karma "crash" a couple of times, where the only way get the unit to respond was to insert a paperclip into a tiny hole to reset the unit. In addition, apparently there is an issue where occasionally

Great product for the price...by - September 15, 2004

Pros: Excellent sound quality and EQ. Very good volume output, so get some nice headphones. Long battery life. Great dock with many features. Very easy to navigate through music and operate. Simple / clean design.

Cons: None at the moment, have read about hard drive issues, but I have not even had to reset my unit once.

Don't Listen to stupid People, This Player is the IPod Killer!by - September 15, 2004

Pros: I have bought and been using the Rio Karma for three weeks now, and I think it might be the best thing I have ever bought. You don't have to use I-Tunes, which locks you down with what music you get. This player offers you FREEDOM! You can share your mu

Cons: No carrying case. I bet rio will come out with one soon. Also note that those idiots below this rating are so dumb it's funny. Money says they didn't even buy one. Who rates a player by it's name? No one rates bands by their name, otherwise we'd being

support, and guarantee policy systems are awful and misleadingby - September 13, 2004

Pros: Great idea, only if ti would works and performs properly as the Ipod.

Cons: Digital Networks North America (DNNA) 2600 San Tomas Expy Santa Clara, CA 95051-0953 It would be a great product by DNNA (Digital Networks of North America), only if DNNA supports this product properly. Unfortunately their tech, support, and guarantee pol

Wasted potential.by - September 13, 2004

Pros: The Karma has/had the potential to be a great player. It's easy to naviagate, has a great battery, top-notch sound......

Cons: HOWEVER, I've had a few Karmas and have now given up on them. With the first one, the controls just kind of fell apart (I saw a similar one for sale on eBay). My latest one has got me at my wits end. It has a problem with crashing/freezing/etc... The

Awesome sound and memoryby - September 12, 2004

Pros: For those who like to hear the music rather than just the tune, the .flac option is great. I've been resisting the mp3 craze for a long time. After trying this out for 2 weeks, I'm finally convinced. No problems yet that require support. Came with 1 year

Cons: It's not pretty but fortunately comes with a little black sac that covers it. Headphones make all the difference - I've used the Bose noise-reduction headsets and the sound is amazing. But then - sound quality is everything.

nice features but heavy, unreliable and short warrantyby - September 11, 2004

Pros: big hard drive; track wheel handy

Cons: Heavy and clunky. Off/on switch broke after six months. SonicBlue wanted AT LEAST $60 to fix it; no guarantees it wouldn't break again. Wouldn't it be nice if they had enough confidence in their product to stand behind if for longer than 90 days? I'll

I've owned one for 9 months.by - September 9, 2004

Pros: Works great. Plays back Ogg Vorbis files and has great sound quality. Good software and intuitive interface.

Cons: Not the prettiest player out there. Not as "hip" as the iPod.

Terrific mp3 playerby - September 9, 2004

Pros: I can't see how anyone can dislike this terrific electronic. It has Great Sound, Lots of Hard Drive Space, Many Features, and is extreamely easy to use.

Cons: NONE

A great little MP3 player.by - September 8, 2004

Pros: I've had my Karma for about 8 months now and wanted to put my comments on here to help others who may be looking at getting a Karma. I was hesitant to buy one having read some of the reviews on here and around the web that were so negative. However, the

Cons: The screen is easily scratched and gets some dust under it, but a screen protector does wonders. I really don't have any other cons to list.

Frustrating, Poor Quality Productby - September 7, 2004

Pros: Sounds Great, Price is relatively good, Easy to use

Cons: My story is the same as most on here. The stupid thing freezes constantly and needs to be reset all the time. Support is a JOKE! If your looking to save a few bucks over the IPOD, I would look elsewhere. There are other Non-IPOD products that may be

Died after two weeksby - September 7, 2004

Pros: Large capacity Nice Software Good Battery Life Nice Design Great sound

Cons: Froze up after two weeks and could not be reset A bit heavy

When is the Recall coming? Rio will tell you to smack it to fix it!by - September 5, 2004

Pros: Great features. Sounds great.

Cons: Not Reliable. You'll love it until it freezes up on you. Then you'll call Rio and they'll tell you to smack it on the back, or side, to unfreeze it (the purpose is to break the stiction of the head against the disc). That might work once or twice, but the

Battery not user replaceable!!!by - September 3, 2004

Pros:

Cons: The battery gave out after 8 months and is not user replaceable. Rio will replace it for $175. That's right $175!!! Buy an IPOD instead.

Sonicblue? What the hell you talkin about??by - September 2, 2004

Pros: Awesome battery life, for factor is great! Controls are fantastic ansd fast! Menu's are intuitive, sound is good and loud. Bundled earbuds are actually pretty good!

Cons: Bit fat, but other dimensions more than make up for it. And some of the idiots on this site may complain about their "expensivE" deices getting locked up, but if they cared enough about their "expensive" devices, then they'd look up the solution. If they

Awesome - first mp3 and well worth itby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Storage size ease of use ease of transfer durability battery life is great

Cons: no case no inline remote for headset

Good Size terrible costumer supportby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Hard Disk, Features, easy-to-use.

Cons: Absolutely terrible Costumer Support. Almost 2 monhts of a hard disk failure without appropriate support. So far I am without my Rio. I call them and everybody seems to postpone deadlines. No Latin America support.

Cool for the 60 days it workedby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Great sound

Cons: Flimsy design, It broke in 60 days, customer service is a nighmare; Once it breaks, you'd better buy an IPOD.

Pretty looks, completely unreliableby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Size, 20 GB Storage, Style, Easy to navigate songs, song organization tools, sound.

Cons: Well, RIO fooled me with their exceptional design and style to this large storage mp3 player. Without researching much on this product before purchase, I spent $300 at Best Buy and decided AGAINST a service plan not knowing that RIO offered ONLY a 3 month

Burn, Rio, burn.by - September 1, 2004

Pros: It has truly beautiful firmware, I'm not ashamed to admit that.

Cons: 1. It's too thick to fit in your pocket comfortably. 2. IT FREAKING DIES AFTER 4 FREAKING MONTHS! THAT HAPPENED TO ME, TWICE!

A good mp3 player for teavelersby - September 1, 2004

Pros: I was traveling to India when I bought this player and needed a good one w/ long battery life. I love the RioDJ which sets up good playlists, I like the RMM and the way its designed and worked. The best thing about this player is the websites riovolution.

Cons: My first karma suffered from a broken wheel, I took it back to circuit city and they gave me a new one. Buy it from circuit city if possible, they are so nice and friendly and will take it back in 30 days if any problems arise. Also, consider buying their

Great features, but some problemsby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Support for different CODEC's, download speed, sound quality

Cons: Occasional lock up when powering down. HDD failures reported - recommend extended warranty (I paid $58.00 for 5 years).

Caveat Emptor!by - September 1, 2004

Pros: Big ol' harddrive. Small and light.

Cons: Functionality of this thing is maybe the worst I could have conceived. Unless your music is impeccably organized and constantly managed, it becomes very easy to lose certain music. The software provided is tremendously archaic and if you are at all used

Good Prouduct Horrible Service and Supportby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Great product for the 1st 90 days.

Cons: Broke after waranty will cost 175 to have it repaired. Dont waste your time with this player.

It has good features and all and the price isgood, but the fact that it doesnt have and FM Tuner....by - September 1, 2004

Pros: Almost everything about the player is great.

Cons: NO FM TUNER, AND NO REMOTE...

Very nice deviceby - September 1, 2004

Pros: design, menu, ethernet connect, cradle

Cons: desktop software is a bit cumbersome bt not bad at all

What are the editors thinking?by - September 1, 2004

Pros: I bought this because of the 8.7 'editors' rating on cnet. I will never listen to these cnet editors again. Looking at the feedback, clearly they are out of touch with reality. I don't know how they could have possibly rated this so highly.

Cons: My first Karma was broken on arrival, the red stick didn't work properly. And, now, 3 months later, my second Karma broke, this time, the hard drive has crashed completely and everything is lost. Of course, it's out of warranty, so, after 3 months of usin

All the positive comments are trueby - September 1, 2004

Pros: 1) Great battery life - I charge maybe every other week. 2) Great features - easy to upload music, Rio DJ is nice feature 3) Easy navigation, 4) Reliable - no problems over the first 3 months, 5) Easy to operate with one hand, and I'm a lefty too

Cons: Doesn't come with a real case, headphones aren't especially comfortable

Best of the bunch except no remoteby - September 1, 2004

Pros: In addition to the standard WMA and MP3 files, it also plays ogg & FLAC. It's music manager is decent. Support is excellent (engineers actually read posts on riovolution.com and respond to them). One of the better players for VBR support. Previous rev

Cons: Jog wheel is a bit flimsy. Joystick control is hard to get used to (I would rather hat a buttons).

This Player Excels in the Fundamentalsby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Battery life is forever; I can go for a day and a half straight of near continous use and the battery is still kickin. The volume and sound quality are superb. The software and docking station are the best. I could go on and on, did I mention it was 20

Cons: No accessories. Not one, not even a carrying case, they give you a little velvet drawstring bag to carry your musical artillery in. Not cool, However, this can easily be remedied by buying a cheap little cellphone holster clip and and attaching the litt

A great player with few cons and plenty of pros.by - September 1, 2004

Pros: Large Hardrive, Ogg Vorbis support, FLAC support, long battery life, easy-to-use interface

Cons: No remote, no case, no plans for either

Awesome features/hardware (not so great software, durability)by - September 1, 2004

Pros: I really liked a lot about the Karma. It has nice features like easy to reach playlists, a full customizable EQ, easy navigation tools (a wheel and a joystick), and a big screen. It's actual size it decent too, although it's a bit hefty in weight. Oh yeah

Cons: Alas, there are some things I didn't like about the Karma. First there was the software. MusicManager I found to be difficult to use - I'm not slow, just lazy and didn't like having to fiddle around so much. RealPlayer is compatible and a nice alternative

More downtime than uptimeby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Music Manager

Cons: Just plain unreliable. Hard drive very sticky and prone to crashing. I've had it a week, and been on the phone with support for too many hours. Support is spotty, one lady knew what she was talking about but another gentleman was reading to me from the

A fine investmentby - September 1, 2004

Pros: I've had the Rio Karma for about 8 months now and I really enjoy it. The 20 GB hard drive is more than ample, the battery life is outstanding and the form factor makes it easy to operate with one hand. The ability to make and save playlists without pluggi

Cons: I would love to find a good case for my Karma. It travels with me everywhere and it's starting to look a little battered. I'd also like to connect to my computer via Firewire.

Good until warranty expires!!!!!by - September 1, 2004

Pros: The size is great!!!!! Love the navigation menus, makes it easy to use.

Cons: Very delicate. Horrible customer support. Rio Audio's customer support really stinks!!! I will never spend a dollar on one of there product again as a result.

Very unreliable piece of junkby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Size, Big hardrive

Cons: Bad earbuds, face scratches easily, freezes up constantly, 90 day warranty isn't long enough. My harddrive got fried after 4 months of sporadic use, after spending an hour on hold with tech support and downloading more firmware, the tech support guy who

iPod Killer!by - September 1, 2004

Pros: This thing rules! It has more features than any other MP3 player. Great sound quality and supports many audio formats.

Cons: No radio tuner, no remote. =(

Would be a good player.. if it workedby - September 1, 2004

Pros: I was very impressed when I first got my rio karma. The battery life was outstanding, and I liked the organization of the music files.

Cons: The hard-drive failed after about 3 months. Rio replaced it with a refurbished unit about 2 months after I sent them the broken one. Its been about another three months, and guess what just happened today? Right on schedule, the hard-drive has failed.

Great player, great valueby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Those thumbs-down reviews obviously have some beef. I bought this player 2 months ago and it works and looks great. Cheaper than other HD players.

Cons: Thicker than I-pod. Had 1 glitch 1st day where player froze before I knew all the button functions & after I hit a bunch of buttons, one right after the other. But reset worked fine and everything was back to normal.

Have used this and iPod, rio winsby - September 1, 2004

Pros: I like buttons. I have played with that little wheel on the iPod, but you get tired of having to spin the little wheel just to turn the volume up or down. The Rio has a volume up, and a volume down button. Keep it simple. Navigation is easier with mor

Cons: Starting up the software took a little longer than i would have liked. However, you just need to restart your computer after installation and all is well. I wish there was a way to select multiple songs for a playlist at once without having to add them

A+ !!!!!!!by - September 1, 2004

Pros: 20 gb, no time between songs, blue light up screen, small, great value! Do Not listen to the reviews trashing this product. There is not one single flaw! Those people who have anything against this must not own one! Buying this product will be one of the

Cons: None

this suckedby - September 1, 2004

Pros: lots of features, looks nice good reviews.

Cons: product is super sensetive, sent in twice for same problem, would work for 4 days and then stop again. plus the custimer service accused me of manhandling the product when I could barly walk with it without it stopping

Rio Is not Goodby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Hard Drive Failure in 4 months, out of warranty, lost receipt, got zero support from them. Called for tech support got routed to Replay TV, they know nothing about Rio, routed me to another number to get help and another, all to be told by the guy, if I

Cons: Can't swap battery, hard drive failure on month 4 of easy use, constantly locks up, waiting on a replacement, worst service and support ever on electronics

Breaks in 4 months. Warranty only for 3.by - September 1, 2004

Pros: I wish I had read the other reviews before buying this. I was swayed by CNET's rating and editors choice. Don't believe it!

Cons: Just like everyone else says, this product is cheaply made and completely unreliable. The hard drive crashed in four months and Rio only provides a 3 month warranty. They offer to send a re-furbished unit for another $175. Fool me once.... never again.

$175 to repair failed hard driveby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Good value for the money when it works.

Cons: Four months old and its a $150 piece of junk. One month out of 90 day warranty hard drive failed and Rio wants $175 to repair it! They only offer 30 days warranty on the repair.

bad name!! gimme a break!by - September 1, 2004

Pros: big hard drive (size matters) long battery life (length matters) better sound quality than ipod good name (what a great way of winning people over to buy the product- better name than ipod! i mean come on!!)

Cons: people who dont want an mp3 player because of the name! come on!! might aswell call it bob for all it matters

DNNA now run the showby - September 1, 2004

Pros: I don't mean to abuse the ratings sysetm, but noone seems to realise that sonicblue no longer exist (perhaps a reason for the lack of support??*sarcasm). I have owned a RIO Riot for about a year now and it has only malfunctioned once. I have used the Karm

Cons: The lack of partable harddrive capability... The fact that people are obsessed with the crappy sonicblue service (I bought my riot after they were taken over so I have not experienced it). All those sonicblue hater... shut up and leave the opinions to tho

Load it up on the Networkby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Rock solid unit, works great. The sound is really good, and the EQ works well. No Problems at all!!! Very Happy!!

Cons: No case. I made a belt clip of sorts. Cell phone button on the back of the unit, and a cell phone clip. Found the parts at Radio Shack. - It works

breaks easily!by - September 1, 2004

Pros: good sound, variety of playlists and equalizer settings. easy to add music to.

Cons: i had mine for about a month before the scroll knob broke off... an apparent defect. i sent it back in, and after MANY weeks i finally got a REFURBISHED, scratched, horrible looking replacement. they've ignored my emails and complaints. my advice... do

This thing is da shyt!!!!!!by - September 1, 2004

Pros: Every thing about this unit it mega HOT! YOU may want to finally flush that apple I-Pod down the worm hole after this lil baby steals ya ears and your hearts!!!! Its small, its smart and extremly "USER FRIENDLY"....for all u Tech hataz!! First chance u g

Cons: That I didn't have the Rio Karma sooner and waisted all that time with those lil 128 mg mp3 players spendin all that cash on changin the friggin batteries!!!!!

Buy this, you won't regretby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Cheap ease of use plethora of features easy to use software long battery life This product is superb!! Easy to use and a great value. This has definitely exceeded my expectations (and they were quite high). This is much better than an ipod in so many way

Cons: None. Absolutely none.

Battery life not as advertisedby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Terific sound. easy to navigate. I like the controls and especially the dock with the rca and ethernet outputs.

Cons: Battery life is at most 5 hours. All I read before buying was a that it offered a 15 hour battery life. Just isn't so.

broke in 2 daysby - September 1, 2004

Pros: seemed to be great everything was easy to use but it stopped working after 2 days on the plus side RIO returned my money quickly when it broke

Cons: hard drive stopped working and just started clicking and buzzing 2 days after recieving it.

Good product for 4 monthsby - September 1, 2004

Pros: I was very happy with my new Rio. Easy to use...sounds great....simple controls. Hadn't even approached capacity of the 20g drive.

Cons: Rio stopped working after 120 days...just stopped! Warrenty on teh player is a meager 90 days. It was not dropped, drenched, or misused. Rio pretty much said...sorry :O( Very bad Karma indeed !!!!!!!

looks good, but lasts very shortby - September 1, 2004

Pros: good features easy to use

Cons: breaks down after 2-3 month. Service and support is the worst. Fax line for replacement is impossible to get through. I finally gave up and went for ipod. I would never acquire this product again

Stomps iPlodby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Nice, easy to use interface and software, wide choice of codecs (including vorbis and flac), perfect gapless playback (iPod still can't do that), cross-platform support via Java client (even Linux, BSD and OSX), small size, twice the battery life of the i

Cons: - No case included, just a drawstring bag, but third party cases are available for reasonable prices. - 90 day warranty (you will probably want to get the extended warranty from your retailer). - Doesn't show up as a regular removable device, but this wil

This Is A Great Product!!!by - September 1, 2004

Pros: It is lightweight and easy to use and control. It has a nice big screen for easy viewing. Plus The cradle makes it easily accesable

Cons: I has no in line control system.

Busted at 93 daysby - September 1, 2004

Pros: Small, 20 gig, great sound, ogg support, networking.

Cons: lack of software updates, loading of songs, thumb wheel, broke after 90 days

WORST quality hidden in overrated reviews!by - August 28, 2004

Pros: Have seemingly good features for an MP3 player

Cons: It has no quality to back it up. After 3 months I needed to carry a paper clip with me to the gym because this junk locked up every few minutes! The battery can't hold even 1/3 even I charged it all night long! Only 90 days warranty so DNNA can get away w

Great product, if it only worked.by - August 7, 2004

Pros: Great features. Good sound. Easy to use.

Cons: The hard drive failed after one week of use.

Great Features - Poor Quality & Supportby - August 4, 2004

Pros: The feature set and size can't be beat.

Cons: The hard drive died on me after 6 months. The warranty only covers the Karma for 30 days! My only option with RIO was to send my broken unit in and purchase a reconditioned unit for $150.00! I bought a Dell DJ instead for $200.00. Who is RIO kidding??

Stopped working in four months - no supportby - August 2, 2004

Pros: This is a highly reviewed product that seemed great when we got it home.

Cons: In four months the hard drive stopped working. SonicBlue tech support is unwilling to provide a replacement unit, unless we pay an additional $175 plus shipping for a refurbished one that will have only a 30 day warranty. I won't buy anything else of th

I really liked it until it conked outby - July 31, 2004

Pros: I love the size and shape of it. It really fits in your hand nicely.

Cons: I bought the Rio Karma with the express purpose of listening to music while running. After 30 minutes, it died. I returned it and bought the iRiver ihp 120, which has been working fine for the past 6 months

It does what they say it doesby - July 30, 2004

Pros: Great space and easy to use. Good organization of the data if you burn it with jukebox.

Cons: No carry case and line out. The software version I got does not organize very well and only does WMA. But if you use jukebox

No match for ipodby - July 30, 2004

Pros: This new player is great and the dock system is one of the first of its kind and it is great. The battery life does actually last about 15 hours in comparison to the 12 for ipod and it also has great features

Cons: no remote

get it nowby - July 29, 2004

Pros: Can hold about 20,000 mp3s. Durable, doesn't skip when jostled. Buttons easy, menus large and smart. LOUD. good battery life, cradle has RCA outs to hook up to home stereo. USB2 transfer is fast, software works well.

Cons: network file transfer dog slow. no remote altho it has a plug for one on the top. SCRATCHES EASILY. My God, if you just look at this thing crosseyed, it will scratch itself to spite you. Good thing it is still readable. Should be able to polish the scrat

Excellent Devideby - July 26, 2004

Pros: Alright first off, everyone's criticism of the name is entirely uncalled for. The design is excellent, and although the name has HINDU origins (yes, hindu, not budhist), it is in no way mocking the religion, and many products have names that partain to r

Cons: Nothing of significance to speak of. It's a wonderful device.

worst built player I have ever seen.by - July 25, 2004

Pros: Big hard drive, docking station include.

Cons: The hard drives frequentley go out! Also the warranty unlike most players is only 90 days leaving you, with an empty pocket and a hand full of crap.

Broken after 6 monthsby - July 25, 2004

Pros: Great battery life, easy to use.

Cons: I liked everything about this unit except that, six months after I bought it, the headphone jack became intermittent. Tried cleaning, different headphones - no improvement. Rio charges close to $200 for trade-in swap for refurbished unit. So I was out of

RAWKS !by - July 24, 2004

Pros: -battery -20gb enough for me -Size, lovely, tiny, amazing i think -SOUND, excellent

Cons: Anyone who something to gripe about this are those kinda people u just cant please. Only thing i found wrong was that sometimes it would freeze. Sorted that now with a firmware upgrade which was simple. Menu system maybe could be a little better. Remote w

a nice player(from someone that actually owns one!)by - July 23, 2004

Pros: good menu system, great sound quality, lots of codecs, battery life, isn't an ipod. my wife has an ipod so i think i am a pretty fair judge of things...even she likes the karma better as a whole. it isn't designed quite as well and it doesn't have the m

Cons: locks up occasionally

If you want a great sounding mp3 player and ease of use, take a close look at the Rio Karma.by - July 23, 2004

Pros: After reading the many reviews of all the top players, I finally picked the Karma for the following reasons: small size, joystick/wheel controls (extremely easy to use), menu organization (very intuitive design), ease and speed of finding albums and songs

Cons: No case. The screen seems very easy to scratch, so getting screen protectors is a wise investment. The Sennheiser earbuds sound great, but are a little too big to fit comfortably. I replaced them with the Sennheiser PMX 60 headphones and am very happy

Double the Troubleby - July 23, 2004

Pros: Great features and excellent interface. Sound quality couldn't be better, and can definitely compete with an iPod.

Cons: I have had two Karma's. The first one I had had a faulty hard drive and went belly up within a month. The second one I had had faulty solders/glue holding the scrollwheel (an important feature) on, and the battery was dying after 5 months. UGH. Well, I of

excellent... when it worksby - July 23, 2004

Pros: disgusted by the idea of the ipod's battery life, i bought a karma... and was absolutely thrilled with the features. the size was perfect, the controls were intuitive and simple, and the sound quality was excellent. even the looks of the thing, while a

Cons: then it broke; it simply locked up. it's ok, i had an extended warantee. second one... locked up. ha ha, crazy coincidence. oh, but guess what just locked up yesterday... yep, the third karma i've owned now. i never thought i'd say this, but get the

Awesome player in almost all respects.by - July 22, 2004

Pros: The product has excellent build quality - it passes the 'creak test' reliably and continually and it feels remarkably solid. It is much heavier than one would expect, and this characteristic, combined with its masculine, form-follows-function design, make

Cons: The decision to use buttons for volume instead of a wheel was, in my opinion, poor - because while they are easily operated with the index finger of the right hand, it is not as fast as I would like. Also, the accessories are not as numerous as is ideal -

the best player, periodby - July 22, 2004

Pros: Amazing advanced features, software, auto sync, sound quality, easy to use, included cradle

Cons: Short warranty (buy an extended one)

$270 OUT THE WINDOWby - July 22, 2004

Pros: Louder than most mp3 players. Long battery life. Ability to create and save playlists without the PC. This is what I noticed for the two weeks it worked.

Cons: After two weeks of use, the thing just froze up on the start-up screen. Can't reformat it, can't get the PC to recognize it. What a piece of crap. At least my Ipod lasted a few months before it broke. I've had it with hard-disc players--I don't think the

Replaced with iPod 20 GBby - July 21, 2004

Pros: Easy for my 14-year-old daughter to transfer music files from her PC.

Cons: Lucky we bought the extended warranty. After replacing 4 times (selection week kept breaking), decided to switch to iPod--no problems since.

If it works, you're fine!by - July 19, 2004

Pros: Very intuitive, perfect size.

Cons: If your mp3 players breaks down during the warranty period (3 months) you get a refurbished one that is more than likely to break again. I am using my third Karma (second refurbished) right now

Really happy but concerned about screenby - July 19, 2004

Pros: Good for classical music enthusiasts. Great battery life, something that the new apple ipod still can't beat the karma at. Also, very easy to use with minimum amount of brain power. I love the ability to share my files over the ethernet in the house. Supp

Cons: The screen is really, really, really sensitive to scratches and needs too much care.

Took it back after a few daysby - July 18, 2004

Pros: I loved everything about it, it can be a tad menu heavy but overall great. THe docking cradle even glows to the music.

Cons: THe scroll button broke in 4 days. I didn't drop it, smash it, mishandle it or anything. I had it connected to my TV in the living room. I went up put my thumb on the wheel and pressed it once to bring up the menu, as soon as I spun it, the wheel dislodge

I was well impressed with this little beautyby - July 18, 2004

Pros: Massive hard drive. Very user friendly. Very reliable it has not crashed once unlike the one I had before.

Cons: None as yet!

awesome sound and featuresby - July 18, 2004

Pros: love the interface, the ability to catagorize with specificity. I record my classes on my digital recorder and transfer it to my rio, finally enough time to sleep. Ive big hands and still find it relativly easy to use and as yet have not run the battery d

Cons: would like some drag and drop features in the software, a carry case would also be nice, have not had a reason to use customer service , so cant honestly rate it.

pros outweigh the cons for meby - July 17, 2004

Pros: Flac support, big HDD, small size. all the negative reviews make me skeptical of how much effort they put in to figuring out their issues. I got the additional 2 year waranty from Best Buy, had no problems walking with it or putting it in a pocket(use th

Cons: Battery won't last as long as it takes to listen to a full HDD, did have some lock-up/hanging/clicking HDD but was able to recover by deleting all of the tracks and updating the firmware. it does scratch easily but the backlit display overcomes that issue

The Best HD player available!by - July 16, 2004

Pros: Have my Karma now three months and love it. Tried all the competitions players and none could compare in sound etc. Great easy to operate menu, ergonomic shape which feels solid (unlike some other brands)

Cons: Just that there is no case with belt clip.

Don't waste your cash!by - July 15, 2004

Pros: Cool player, lots of awesome features, small, fun.

Cons: Hard drive failure 15 days outside of the pathetic 90 day warrantee after very gentle use, never dropped, never abused. So it cost me about 75 dollars a month and all the time it took to format hours and hours of music which was a lot of work is gone.

This is the one for you audiophiles!by - July 14, 2004

Pros: Good overall design, excellent features especially sharing on the network, and of course the supported file formats for the best quality without becoming a slave to someone's fantasy of music domination.

Cons: Uhh..it should come in 40GB?

No Car Chargers in stock from monthsby - July 14, 2004

Pros:

Cons: AFTER SALES SERVICE SUCKS i lost my charger and called customer service they are out of car and home charger and told me to give me a call havent called and so my product is sitting withtout use my advise dont buy this if you do then dont loose yur charg

HUGE DISAPOINTMENTby - July 13, 2004

Pros: Good features, awesome docking station

Cons: I have had my Karma since March, and I am in the process of returning it to Rio for the second time. Same problem both times, hard drive blew, or blows, your chose. Absolutely no accessories that are worth while. Alot of money for such poor quality.

good utility - so-so designby - July 12, 2004

Pros: It's loud, battery lasts and lasts, and is a competitive alternative (on performance alone) to the conformist's I-POD

Cons: display screen should have been made more scratch resistant. The air you breathe can scratch it.

amazing until it breaksby - July 10, 2004

Pros: Very easy to use Playlists etc much simpler and quicker than other players Sounds great

Cons: No remote & no available car adapter, which I'd learned to live with cuz everything else was so perfect.. I'd read reviews about them breaking but figured surely it was exaggerated...then mine suddenly quit working after 6 weeks.

Hard Drive Failureby - July 8, 2004

Pros: Awesome player, with support for flac files, I was a happy camper. Battery life is great, used it on many 10+ hour drives with out any problems.

Cons: hard drive "froze" many times, I'm outside the 90 day window, and failed to get the extended warrenty. The last freeze was 3 days after the previous one. Bad Karma. Sorry RIO I hoped that this would be good. Next bad point is the lack of scratch resistan

good but bad in some waysby - July 8, 2004

Pros: it's a great player with lots of functions and stuff....the dock design is cool....has huge storage....

Cons: it froze after couple of hours when i start using it. The software screwed up and I had to delete the .ini and .sys fiels from my computer and it took me whole freakin' morning.....

The best portable mp3 sound I've heardby - July 6, 2004

Pros: Very long battery life. Unsurpassed sound quality. Lots of storage. Very user friendly. Fast processor/drive response.

Cons: (really reaching)... 60 hz hum in stereo speakers using the line out jacks in the cradle while charging.

wow, who needs a cd player? not karma ownersby - July 6, 2004

Pros: it does everything it says it will i update every 2 weeks .transfers take only seconds.i too have a rio riot & yes sonicblue no longer thinks it exits.i watch my battery die on the riot every day.but i do love the karma i should have bought the 40 gb

Cons: none that i can think off after 7 months

I don't believe you people...by - July 5, 2004

Pros: HALF OF THE NEGATIVE REVIEWS ARE FROM PEOPLE WHO DON'T EVEN OWN THE PRODUCT. DON'T YOU HAVE SOMETHING BETTER TO DO? -Superior navigation and interface -Superior sound -SIZE! -lets face it,the dock was a nice touch, network support as well as compisite ou

Cons: 90 day warranty. If your going to beat on your player or go running with it,get an extended warranty and stop complaining on here about hard drive failure. $40 for a 2 year warranty at Best Buy will give you all the peice of mind you need.

They break easilyby - July 5, 2004

Pros: There are lots of pros about this product, you can read about them in the editors review.

Cons: I had this for about 7 days there was occasional freezing which required a needle to reset the player. When using it for a long time it would freeze and then start playing again in 10-15 minutes. Then it happened the harddisk broke. I'm returning it to

Great Features but, No Warrantyby - July 1, 2004

Pros: 1. Rio DJ - Great for listening to "forgotten" music 2. Cradle with stereo outputs and recharge capability. 3. OGG support 4. Upgradeable software 5. Create playlists while playing music 6. Huge Hard Drive 7. The menu system is easy to use and very intuit

Cons: My Rio broke after 6 months and I am bitter, but I've tried to make this review as objective as possible. I loved this mp3 player during the time it worked, but buying this Rio is a huge gamble! With only a 90 day warranty you're SOL if it goes down. 1.

Besides the occasional crash a solid performer.by - July 1, 2004

Pros: Small size(easily fits in pocket)Great factory headphones(Sennhousier)Ease of use(One button for all menu functions)Great battery life(I have never even had it to half)Great community around this product(Riovolution.com)

Cons: Occasional crash or freeze though I did update the software and it has been a lot better. The company has had a questionable past.

DON'T Believe the marketingby - June 30, 2004

Pros: HD

Cons: Have to agree with ecow, Sonicblue never follows up on any of their promises. They market the product with "upcoming" accessories and such and never deliver. All I get from their support is basically, sorry, why don't you buy one of our new products inste

Great Player iPod Alternativeby - June 30, 2004

Pros: Great small size, big hard drive, and many good features

Cons: Could integrate with windows a little better

Delivers What It Promisesby - June 29, 2004

Pros: Large storage. Friendly controls. Easy to learn menu system. Rio DJ is a GREAT way to mix up your music.

Cons: I read many of the negative comments about this product and decided to check it out for myself. After having used it extensively for 4 months, I have come to a simple conclusion. If you are a moron, do not buy the Rio Karma. It will confound you. It w

Powerful, small, easy to useby - June 29, 2004

Pros: Very easy to use. The player and the music manager are easy to manage. The sound is great! The ear plugs are of very good quality, though a little big for my small ears. They keep poping out. I like the player features, including the RIO DJ, though I

Cons: No belt attachment...odd.

Do not Run with this !!!!!by - June 28, 2004

Pros: Big harddrive and cool features.

Cons: I took one back because it skipped when I ran with it in its proper case. It also over heated and the entire player's functions froze. I bought another one and it skips also when I run.

Ipod? What's that??by - June 26, 2004

Pros: great battery life; compact design; the rio music manager is a great, easy interface. While it is a usb 2.0 device it is bacwards compatible with usb 1.1 and the transfers, while not "blazing" are still pretty fast. Can hold about 8,000 wma files.

Cons: haven't found any

customer service is awfulby - June 23, 2004

Pros: nice price for what you would get with a reliable product

Cons: Customer support is a TOLL call and they keep you on hold for at least 10 minutes then you transfered to India. Rio is to cheap to hire in the USA?? The Karma loaded up fine but when I got ready to go on vacation (I only had the product 2 weeks) I got on

customer service sucksby - June 23, 2004

Pros:

Cons: Rio customer service sucks, they farm out their customer service to India (cheap labor there)The Customer service and tech support are both toll lines and they keep you on hold forever.

WARNING! HARDDRIVE ISSUESby - June 23, 2004

Pros: - On the fly playlist - supports ogg,flac - great sound - software support is good.

Cons: Had the product for about 2 months, worked fine on me till the harddrive died on me. This is a well known problem and Rio has acknowledged. Not sure when it will be addressed though.

Its pretty goodby - June 22, 2004

Pros: 1) Easy to download music--software easy to use 2) Differnt play options-playlists,albums etc 3)Love the size 4)Dunno much about other players but have been satisfied so far . 5) Good price

Cons: 1) Could reduce the memory and make it cheaper 2) No armband..so can't wear it on you 3)Should include better headphones.

awesome music playerby - June 22, 2004

Pros: I ignored the negative reviews and bought the karma anyways. I upgraded the firmware to version 2.68 as soon as i opened it. It is by farone of the coolest gadgets i own. I transferred 1000 songs within an hour. I highly recommend this audio player. I've

Cons: No remote. Occasional lock up. No replaceable battery. Ear buds get uncomfortable when worn for a long time. Kind of thick.

This is the shiznitby - June 20, 2004

Pros: Firts of all, the K to the azzle to the rizzle to the mizzle to the a is da bomb baby. I bought this el cheapo from J to the Rizzle( J and R) for 150 dizzles. It really is tite up in my hizzy. Tankyou to Rio for being up in my Hizzle.

Cons: No carrying cizzle or inline remizzl.e

HD Failureby - June 18, 2004

Pros: Great features, price, size.

Cons: I owned the Karma for one month when the scroll wheel broke. Support is horrible, took two phone calls (an hour each) and one month to recieve a referbished unit. Refurb unit looked nice, and played well. I used it about 5 times and the hard drive crashed

stupid designby - June 17, 2004

Pros: easy to setup,connectivity

Cons: easy to Scratch,plasticky,not reliable kept crashed on my machine,stupid name

Hard drive failure ruins good productby - June 14, 2004

Pros:

Cons: Reliability is horrible. Mine and my daughters fail at 4 and 5 months respectively. Rio only guarantees them for 90 days and now wants to sell me a replacement for $175. DONT BUY THIS PRODUCT

unstable player rotten supportby - June 12, 2004

Pros: good storage capaciy unil it fails

Cons: I purchased my rio karma in January '04. One day after four months of use, it locked-up on the start-up screen and has remained there since. As you can read from the reviews below, rio essentially has no customer support. In addition, they only honor a

Horrible customer service!by - June 11, 2004

Pros: Hard drive size, features

Cons: Not dependable. Mine broke 3 times and the customer service center is the worst I have ever dealt with. They replaced my brand-new broken unit with a refurbished unit that didn't work at all. Very frustrating. I'm still trying to get them to send me

who gave this a good rating?by - June 10, 2004

Pros: the price for a mp3 player is decent.

Cons: don't waste your money. Go to a store and try it out. all you need to know is that it sucks!

Amazing Little Playerby - June 9, 2004

Pros: It is tiny for a 20GB player and still packs a large screen, great controls, and long battery life. The cradle is very nice to keep the player put when you are using it from your desk and prevents it from falling or other such calamities. It can also be

Cons: Haven't found any yet.

TRUE GEEKS ONLYby - June 9, 2004

Pros: 20Gb is more then enough, I have installed 12 two hour mixes on this device and still have 30% of HDD left. If you have a Home Network just plug is into your Switch and you've got access. As for the docking unit. Take an RCA Cable and plug it in - You

Cons: NO Carrying Case 1yr Warranty

Worth the potential problemsby - June 9, 2004

Pros: This player has everything I wanted. I love it - it's my new favorite toy. It's really intuitive, you can create playlists on the fly, it's compact and feels very sturdy compared to the iPod. The sound quality is awesome, and the software is easy to insta

Cons: It doesn't come with a case. And, this is my second Karma. My first one died with a bad hard drive, so I took it back and got another one. Then I went on-line to the user forum (riovolution.com), and found out that the Karma is definitely having hard disk

Looks good on paper, Bad in realityby - June 9, 2004

Pros: Good feature list, reasonably compact, supports many file types, easy to navigate, can make playlists "on the fly".

Cons: First: I wish people wouldn't post reviews if they don't even own (and have never used) the product. Ergonomic design for right-handed people, plastic covering screen is too soft and is scratched by many things including cordura cloth (i.e. your backpack)

Everything they say it isby - June 9, 2004

Pros: 1) small 2) OUTSTANDING battery 3) easy interface 4) all those formats

Cons: 1) Not a big fan of the included management software. But, the drive is big enough that you don't use it very often.

Hard Drive Problemsby - June 9, 2004

Pros: Awesome features Great usablity

Cons: Worked for 30 days, then it broke. Looking on newsgroups, I found I wasn't alone. Aparently there are MANY hdd failures.

Worth the risk????by - June 8, 2004

Pros: Great features, compact size, 20 GB storage, fairly intuitive menu system.

Cons: May be hard drive issues, exceedingly poor support, probably not ready for prime time.

I haven't had any problems...by - June 8, 2004

Pros: 20GB, nice ergonomic size, easy menu navigation, long battery life (15-16 hours). I read a lot of the bad reviews this product has gotten (not until after I purchased it, though), but I have yet to have any problems with it. When I first set it up, it d

Cons: No accessories (other than a felt bag, and some lame-looking case a third-party vendor has made). A belt clip for this would be awesome. Also, the Rio Music Manager software that syncs the unit with your PC is somewhat annoying - it insists on scanning

unit broke down after 6 monthsby - June 7, 2004

Pros: great unit will it worked. my 12 y/o daughter loved it.

Cons: unit hard drive failed after only 6 months. i just found out unit has only 3 month warranty. company will give you a refirbushed unit if you pay $175 more and ship the delective unit back.

Aswem...by - June 6, 2004

Pros: IT got everything you ever need... Ans unlike the Crappy Ipod's it dont crash when you loose full battery power...

Cons: It is pretty expensive at around $250, but still cheaper than I-crap i mean I pod...

Great device...when workingby - June 5, 2004

Pros: Massive display, great for organizing playlists on the go and seeing what songs are on the unit. Clear sound, though bass was a little week with the included headphones. Lots of storage space;my entire CD collection only hit 4 Gigs at 128...plenty of ro

Cons: HARD DRIVE- had the unit for two days and the HD locked for the first time. The autopower off of 30 minutes I had set beforehand fixed the problem but...happened twice more in the following days. About two weeks after purchase, the unit froze with the h

Could hard drive issue be overstated?by - June 3, 2004

Pros: Outstanding feature set including -supported codecs (mp3, wma, ogg, flac) -RioDJ (I use it all the time) -5-band parametric equalizer (most EQ customization options I've ever seen on any portable device) -on-the-fly playlists -Gapless album playback (grea

Cons: No case (I use the Gameboy Advance SP case, fits like a glove) or in-line remote (big bummer).

Great, cool, and easy!!by - June 2, 2004

Pros: This thing is great. Very easy to use. Lots of accessories. I like the fact that the cradle has RCA jacks. Great battery life! Can power external speakers just fine with lots of volume.

Cons: Tried to install RMM on a Windows 98 machine. Moved over to Windows XP machine and installation took about 10 minutes.

Wonderful with slight flawsby - June 1, 2004

Pros: Wonderful, everything has already been covered by everyone else...i love my karma

Cons: screen scratches, would be nice if they had a real case- i'm using a gameboy advance SP case but it fits PERFECTLY. stuff can get in through the hole in the front caused by the red button, and the dust that accumulates isn't very nice but doesn't affect p

Don't waste your Money!by - May 31, 2004

Pros: Huge Hard Drive capacity, great docking station and features

Cons: Bad hard drive and even worse customer support. Bought the 20G Karma in December. The hard drive failed in January and Rio AKA (Digital Networks North America) took 2 months to rplace it. When they finally sent it out, they informed us that the warranty p

Outstanding player,stores enormous amount of music!by - May 31, 2004

Pros: Easy set-up, upgrade online, super battery life, great sound, huge capacity. I travel extensively and the Rio Karma lets me take my music collection with me.

Cons: No carrying case.

Nice iPod rivalby - May 30, 2004

Pros: Everything everyone else says.

Cons: It says that the battery life is supposed to be 12 or 14 hours, I think. Mine dies after about six. Otherwise, though, I really love it.

Great Product, I highly suggest it as an alternative to the iPod.by - May 28, 2004

Pros: 20 gigs, 15+ hour battery, charging cradle or direct plug-in to wall/computer via USB 2.0, small & light in size, cradle supports Ethernet connectivity, great sound, cross fade, on the fly mixing, MP3, WAV & WMA file play back, can be used as a po

Cons: Screen easily scratches, to be a Hard drive must have the Rio Taxi software installed on computer, non-replaceable battery (I am not 100% sure on that)

Horrible Company and productsby - May 26, 2004

Pros: Features are great, but...

Cons: First, it can be hard to tell who's telling the truth in all these reviews. You can trust me or you can go to the better business bureau website and look them up (as Digital Networks North America). This company will not be in business for much longer.

Hard Drive Failed TWICEby - May 25, 2004

Pros: Great Features, easy to use.

Cons: I've had the player 5 months and have had 2 replaced because the hard drive failed. The second replacement was shipped to the worng address. Cool player but $300 is a lot of a cool paperweight

Great, but the playback system is sort of weirdby - May 24, 2004

Pros: BIG screen, easy to read. Dock - Holy cow... line in/out, ETHERNET!!!! crazy Fast Speeds for transferring Startup/Shutdown are great.

Cons: The sound is very strange... I have been an iRiver fan, and their players are easy to set. Great sound. However, this player, even with an astonishing 60mW/channel output, nearly 3x that of iRiver, fails to impress me. I've listened to techno/dance music,

My First, and I love itby - May 24, 2004

Pros: I am a 36 year old techno-spaz, and even I was able to figure out the software. Love the crossfade feature... Battery DOES last as long as they say....Sound quality with the included earbuds is great, but I'll be buying a second pair for reasons of comfor

Cons: None to report yet....it's only been 3 weeks :)

Looks and sounds good, but bad buy!by - May 24, 2004

Pros: At first sight, everything about it is fantastic. Good price, plays a number of file formats, only network player on the market, 20GB hard drive, stereo connections, etc etc etc.

Cons: Everything breaks down after some time. I was ecstatic when I first got it. I think I may even have written a great review on this same site. First the dock stopped working. So I couldn't hook it up to my network nor my stereo. The player has started havi

Bad product, bad serviceby - May 23, 2004

Pros: the first 3 months...

Cons: everything! I receive my player for chrismast and was working well until april. Then starts freezing once in a while, and restarting by himself. Finally, it stops working not too long after the warranty expired (90 days) Rio only offer me to replace it fo

Great design, extremely poor performance.by - May 23, 2004

Pros: Nice design, intuitive menues and good sound quality.

Cons: THIS PLAYER DOES NOT STAND UP TO VERY MUCH ACTIVITY. BEWARE!!! At first I loved the player. Great menus. Good design. Perfect way to have access to your music collection at work, home and play. I started using it for walking, but after a couple uses, it

This is a review of the Karma guys...by - May 19, 2004

Pros: Rio has a new owner, and the previous Rios were bad. But that does not mean ppl shud giv this unit bad reviews for previose products such as the Riot. Love ogg, flac. The shape fits the hand well. Great batt life, nice design and appealing interface. Now

Cons: no remote or screen protectors.

PHAT MP3 PLAYER!by - May 19, 2004

Pros: Loaded with features not found in "the other" player. Plenty of storage, LOOOONG battery life....and how 'bout that Rio DJ!!!

Cons: All of the HATERS out there swinging long and hard on IPOD's ! .... Sad!!

Good player, hellacious softwareby - May 19, 2004

Pros: Easy to use...

Cons: ...but DO NOT WASTE your time using the Rio Music Manager. Worthless or worse. Anything would be better, even chalk on a blackboard.

Great device with fixable flawsby - May 18, 2004

Pros: Small, easy to use. I like the battery life, as you can use it all weekend long (road trip, etc.) without having to charge it. Good capacity, and the optional MP3 ripper does an execlent job.

Cons: No available options (car charger, remote control, carrying case). I really needs a case (jogging, hiking, etc.) Needs the ability to add a selection to the play list rather than simply replacing the play list. Would be nice if it supported the MP4/AAC

Looked Goodby - May 16, 2004

Pros: Features and capacity

Cons: Terrible reliabiliy, First unit DOA, second freezes as noted by others with even gentle movement. Bascially no support, rebate offer not honored. I am writing off the $300 I spent. So much for being cheaper than competitors. I will NEVER buy from this

Don't buy! Will break!!!by - May 14, 2004

Pros: It's nice that it has great features like support for .ogg and what not. However, it doesn't matter if the machine itself is a piece of junk.

Cons: Your Rio Karma WILL break. Trust me. Go to their forum on the http://www.riokarma.com site and you will find a multitude of unhappy Karma owners. Save your money. Buy an i-pod instead.

A great Ipod alternativeby - May 14, 2004

Pros: Price, great docking station with RCA out jacks, battery life, sound quality

Cons: No protective case, no remote, lack of oem add ons, 90 day warranty (I bought at BestBuy to get their two year, 40 dollar extended warranty).

Faultu Scroll Wheel- do not buyby - May 14, 2004

Pros: I like all the features.

Cons: Scroll wheel fell into player after 2 weeks. Sent back to Rio. Was replaced after one month which in turn cancelled my curcuit city 2 yr extended warranty. Played a few more weeks and scroll button fell into player on refurbished player Rio sent me. Retur

Works Great For Me!by - May 13, 2004

Pros: I've had my Karma for a few months now and have really used it a lot. Having read the opinions and the complaints about reliability, I didn't want to write my review until I knew what I was talking about...so here goes. Initially, I wanted an I-Pod but

Cons: The ear buds are fine but I ended up buying some better ones to increase my listening enjoyment. I also wish it had a case that fit it like a glove...but, in total, these are minor things.

A Crapshootby - May 13, 2004

Pros: Great features, good sound, etc.

Cons: If it weren't for the constant crashing this would be a truly excellent item. Though apparently some units are reliable. CNET should really reasses this product, before sending suckers to their doom.

Talented but fragileby - May 13, 2004

Pros: Ogg Vorbis and FLAC support Sounds good Well-priced

Cons: I'm about to RMA my third unit and be sent a fourth. And I just carry it in my pocket when walking.

Wonderful Playerby - May 12, 2004

Pros: Easy to use interface, ethernet/Network ability (hopefully it will work better with some firmware uodates), moderately cheap, and great music formats. Audiofiles rejoice, for FLAC and OGG are playable!

Cons: not an iPod

Great at first...then suddenly the hard drive died.by - May 11, 2004

Pros: Great features, love the charging dock with ethernet and rca's. Impressive list of features.

Cons: Poor quality, hard drive died after its 10th time of use. Very highly DON'T recommend any Rio products. I work at best buy and see 90% of them come back with hard drive failures, and other misc. quirks.

karma rocks for those who love their music.by - May 11, 2004

Pros: It's SMALL, and fits pretty comfortably in the palm of your hand. It's got a really large LCD screen that's very easy to read. It's very appealing to the eye, especially since it looks so dramatically different from all the other rectangular mp3 players

Cons: You probably know about the no-case thing already. I was happy to discover that there ARE third parties that make a play-through case for the Rio, but obviously you have to pay extra for it. I had a little trouble getting used to the layout of the butto

Pocket-sized but carrying it there will cause failure.by - May 10, 2004

Pros: Nice sound, easy use when functional

Cons: I so wanted to like this player. After several "freeze-ups" and a couple of resets, the hard drive finally died permanently even though all updates were installed for software and firmware. Just 100 days old, but 10 days out of warranty. Company offered

Not bad, but not for meby - May 10, 2004

Pros: it's super cheap for the quality of sound and features this mini ipod killer offers. i would definetely recommend it if it was built a little better. now i have the phillips player and i love it. hdd 120, 20gb... for around the same price. definetely a

Cons: I've had 2 of these, and broke them both the same way. The wheel just fell off. Once it fell a few inches, right on the wheel and broke. the second time it didn't fall but still the wheel broke. that seems to be the focal point of breaking the damn thi

broke down after 14 daysby - May 9, 2004

Pros: big HD, very easy to use

Cons: it broke down after 14 days of normal use. I called support and explained them, and they suggested I slap a few times on a soft surface to fix it...

my second unit doesnt functionby - May 8, 2004

Pros: An excellent player when it works.

Cons: My first player lasted a week, then i took it out of my pocket and the scrollwheel was sunken in and non functional.... ***? so i sent it back, supposedly a 3-5 day tournaround but guess what? "backordered"... so after 3 weeks I get a replacement which

Not suitable for constant motionby - May 7, 2004

Pros: Great sound and capacity

Cons: I cannot recommend this device. Not durable even for walking. Mine died within a month and I had to settle for a refurbished unit. That is unnacceptable. The refurb is starting to act up and I am going to switch to a flash player for walking and any other

Prone to HD failureby - May 6, 2004

Pros: Excelent value and features; outstanding MP3 player overall (when it works).

Cons: Hard drive VERY prone to failure; mine "died" after 20 days. Online forums prove it to be a very common problem; slow customer support. Buy with optional replacement plan.

Great Potential, faulty product & bad customer serviceby - May 5, 2004

Pros: 20GB for under $300. Nice DJ feature. Easy to learn to use.

Cons: Very poor customer service Seemingly unstable product. shipped with firmware 1.41 which constantly hung and required reseting. I up graded to v1.68 as soon as it wa out and things improved until the HDD crashed and now I have nothing. Initial customer ser

Hard Drive Sucks. Great for a few days.by - May 5, 2004

Pros: If they would just work out some issues with the hard drive being crap (can I say crap?), they have themselves an awesome player. I wish it would work.

Cons: After a week of use it started having issues shutting off. Then it wouldnt shut off or turn on, only click at me. I returned it, it took them WEEKS to send me a new one (which wasnt new, but was somebody's fixed old one). I had that one only a few days

hatersby - May 4, 2004

Pros: As I've seen a lot of people come here with no facts whatsoever and just talking nonsense about the riokarma

Cons: first of all check out this website ttp://riovolution.com/FAQkarm a.php#gen1a that's all i have to say

GOOD VS BADby - May 4, 2004

Pros: Ok! I'm in the market for an mp3 player i've seen and play with the ipod and the karma yet i wasn't able to decide. I figured that i will look at the reviews on both of these players. yet I'm still unable to choose because some people posted some incohere

Cons: Im looking for more coherent reviews about both hopefully i'll be able to decide but thanks to the people who actually have the players and shared their point of views

Well-worth the priceby - May 3, 2004

Pros: Many Options Tons of Storage Great Sound Quality Easily fits in pocket

Cons: *A little on the expensive size *The only storage size it comes in is 20 GB

As good as an Ipod (less money)by - May 3, 2004

Pros: Great sound quality, I loved the features and the memory is great.

Cons: One song got it frozen, but I just had to reset it. Nothing big at all

It's Gerrr-ateby - May 3, 2004

Pros: Everything about it. Huge drive - super fast - great playback features. EXCELLENT PRICE!!! I have not had a problem yet. I like the sound better than my friend's iPod. So does he - boo-hoo.

Cons: Haven't had any. Some trouble getting used to navigating 3000 songs, but aside from that none.

Great purchase...by - May 1, 2004

Pros: Great features, very solid design and great value. Not being part of the herd and getting an Ipod takes some IQ & individuality. Couldn't be happier, knowing that I didn't blindly pay more for just better advertising. Baaaah! How is the grass over th

Cons: Wish it had a carrying case.

Service Stinksby - April 30, 2004

Pros:

Cons: I purchased a Karma 5 months ago and since than the hard drive has failed. Rio's Customer Service offered to replace the unit for a charge of $200.00. Their only answers to my questions were the Karma has a 90 day warrranty. DO NOT BUY this MP3. Shoul

Piece of trashby - April 28, 2004

Pros: Works nicely for a couple of months

Cons: I bought two of these at Christmas time for my kids. Both have gone completly bad and nonfunctional. In both cases the hard drive died Pretty unlikely that this is a coincidence. Tech support could not fix it either time. The first one was just inside t

This MP3 is for youby - April 28, 2004

Pros: I never had to open the instruction manual to know how to operate this MP3 player. All the options work and are where you think they will be. It’s great to see a product on the market where the company building it has put a lot of thought into the produ

Cons: I whish it came with a belt clipped pouch. The front plastic cover scratches to easily.

Much better sounding that the IPodby - April 26, 2004

Pros: Superb sound- I need a pair of reference headphones worth of this thing. Seems pretty well made and it didn't skip once on a 6 mile run. Did I mention how great this thing sounds?

Cons: The software you use to transfer songs back and forth is pretty awful. It would be much easier if this showed up as an attached USB harddisk and I could drop and drag them to the player. No MP3pro support, so re-converting all my songs back to mp3 was cu

Best Value, Best Features.by - April 25, 2004

Pros: -Extremely small device for 20GB of data -Supports wide range of codecs -Plethora of connection options via the docking cradle(ethernet, usb 2.0, line level outputs)

Cons: -Dealing with the past negative Sonic Blue/Rio reputation.

cheapest and best for any classby - April 24, 2004

Pros: read the forums at http:((www.riovolution.com they are filled with loving users, not to mention actual employees of DNNA who help troubleshoot problems and discuss upcoming firmware upgrades, among other things. everything that i would say has been said

Cons: scroll wheel broke after 2 and 1/2 months, i sent it in and received a replacement in about a month

Do Your Researchby - April 23, 2004

Pros: This product has been very stable for me. I HIGHLY reccomend however, downloading the latest firmware and software from the rioaudio website. This is crucial for solid stable use. The sound quality and eas of use are unmatched.

Cons: No case, no remote

Piece of CRAP!by - April 23, 2004

Pros: The features are great, it's really easy to hook it up to my stereo. The batery life is good and it's pretty easy to browse through the music.

Cons: The sound kept cutting out, a preoblem that wasn't the result of the cheap headphones they supply but of something inside. I returned it... almost 2 MONTHS AGO and haven't received the replacement yet! I can't imagine how a company can stay in business

Works...but it doesn'tby - April 23, 2004

Pros: Big drive, easy navaigation, alright software, dls straight from media player, battery life is nice.

Cons: At this very moment I am still waiting for it to complete its now 50 minute search for 'artist'. Before its track ball broke and I turned it in for this one and it barely works. Once the hard drive just spun for about 10 mins then started playing. But t

Great player that only lacks a functioning case.by - April 20, 2004

Pros: Great interface, insane battery life, highly functional docking station... it goes on.

Cons: Lack of functional carrying case. Lack of remote (as of now).

Awesome Features, but it doesn't work!!by - April 20, 2004

Pros: Great Features advertised that no other player currently has on the market. The reason I bought it.

Cons: One hour out of the box and it stops playing while walking to school, and never comes back. I can't stress enough how much I would warn anyone from buying one of these POS's. The hard drive locks up, and the device doesn't shut off untill the battery di

qualaity issues, horrible customer support and a 90 day warranty!by - April 19, 2004

Pros: lower price, great features, user friendly, ergonomic IF IT WORKS

Cons: Great product on paper, but buy it only if you are feeling lucky. This product comes with the deadly combination of poor quality control, fequent breakdowns and freezes, fragility, sensitivity to movement and the icing on the cake--miserable and overwork

Best 20GB Player For The Moneyby - April 19, 2004

Pros: Excellent sound and playback features. Comfortable to hold. Gread sound with the supplied Sennheiser earbuds. Lots of playback features. Comes with a dock(it can glow, pulse to the currently playing music and pulse while charging). 14 hour battery life. E

Cons: No carrying case.

a cheap toy with good specsby - April 17, 2004

Pros: i purchased the unit in january, impressed with the specs, the positive reviews ala CNET, and the attractive price...I became a fan of the user interface after several weeks of use

Cons: poor build quility.....frequent HD lock-ups, one unit returned to store for exchange, plastic case scratches via normal use, downloads with my 2 PC's were never smooth, forget about getting any kind of customer support .....i finally gave -up and bought

LOVE IT! makes iPods jealousby - April 14, 2004

Pros: Serious feature list. I have mine working very nicely on my network. Even though it's not as fast as the usb 2 interface, you can't beat being able to hook it up to your stereo on the other side of the house and still be able to sync it on your network.

Cons: not great for transfering files (you have to use their rio taxi). Network config is a little difficult to setup.

Epitome of Aestheticby - April 14, 2004

Pros: Capacity to the max! Functions to the max! Playlists on-the-fly! Software to the max ! Rio DJ! Rio Taxi!

Cons: Although cheaper than the iPod, its still a bit of a pocket-pincher!

Please Read for detailed REAL informationby - April 14, 2004

Pros: First off, I'm writing this review from an objective point of view. I purchased My Rio Karma yesterday so I will not be able to address any reliability issues. I investigated a host of different players. The iRiver iHP 120, the Creative Zen Xtra 30 and

Cons: While I find several flaws, none of them are show stoppers with one exception, but the exception extends across nearly every player out there right now. First off there is no inline remote...there's a jack for one but the remote doesn't exist yet. Hopef

so good I bought one for my daughterby - April 13, 2004

Pros: Great features, sound. Really great software. Just don't have much I could say wrong with it. I'm looking to buy one for myself

Cons: Maybe the clear plastic front needs a little better protection. I'm going to cut to fitsome clear film screen protection I use for my Palm

rio's owned by someone else!!!by - April 12, 2004

Pros: stop reading old ops by by people living in the sonicblue era! YOU guys SUCK!

Cons:

The best all round player on the market!by - April 12, 2004

Pros: Surprisingly convenient form, best quality sound and batter life on the market, awesome interface, rio stick next best to ipod wheel (the only thing ipod has going for it), looks great, awesome software

Cons: No case, no fm radio, no audio in jack

Hard to use, Slow, No Case!by - April 12, 2004

Pros: Small size, Large Capacity

Cons: No case availible. The customer support at Rio told me it was not designed for a case! HUH? The software for transfering files scanned my hard drive EVERYTIME I STARTED IT! There was no way to disable this, and having 240 GB hard drive, made the software

Great Device but not durableby - April 11, 2004

Pros: The battery life, price and ergonomic design are all very nice. (Nothing beats the Ipod's tocuh wheel though) Loads of features

Cons: The software is a little clunky and not the best it. Beware the 90 day warranty on dayb 95 I began to ahve problems with the hard drive. IT clicks for about 8 seconds and then beeps. Reseting has no effect. THe only thing that seems to work is a firm *sma

I like it, but waitby - April 11, 2004

Pros: Great sound, more features that you'll ever need, and a bit of uniqueness.

Cons: There seems to be a bad batch of hard drives going around. My Karma died within an hour of use. However, it looks like Rio is fixing the problems. Check www.riovolution.com for more info.

Rio Junkby - April 10, 2004

Pros: Sounded good and was easy to use when it worked...

Cons: Went through two in two weeks. This will be my last experience with Rio products.

better than the iPodby - April 8, 2004

Pros: inexpensive compared to ipod, just as good if not better. i love how u can make playlists on the go and the incredible battery life. i wont need a portable audio device for the next ten years.

Cons: mine broke :( called customer service and in 5 minutes i had the RMA number and everything, easy as that. now i have a brand new one :)

This is a great jukeboxby - March 31, 2004

Pros: I have read some of the reviews and i agree with all the positive ones. This is a great unit. I haven't used any other player, but if the iPod is getting a run for it's money, can't be all bad. Too many features to name. This is an awesome machine. Batter

Cons: The cons that i have really have to do with features that have nothing to do with a digital jukebox. No remote headphones, no voice recorder, and a wireless remote control would be nice too.

Great Features; fragile and unsupportedby - March 29, 2004

Pros: All the features you could want

Cons: * Terribly customer support * Breaks easily * Sketchy company (rebate rejected; spend 40 minutes on hold; rep. quickly says rejection was a mistake)

Perfect combinationby - March 28, 2004

Pros: 1. Long battery life 2. Small 3. Very high fidelity Other plusses are the streamlined user-interface, and I can manage my music from just about any type of computer including Linux.

Cons: Doesn't have an FM receiver or a remote control.

Spectacular Player!!!by - March 28, 2004

Pros: Compact size, large screen, quality music playback, ease of navigation

Cons: Rio music manager software sucks.

worked great until it brokeby - March 27, 2004

Pros: user friendly, my first mp3 player and it was easy to use and intuitive, long battery life, good price

Cons: The wheel broke (maybe it was abuse), still waiting for the replacement. Customer service is clueless. Will not replace with a new one so I have to wait for a refurbished which isnt currently available. Wish I spent an extra $50 for the apple.

Hott with two Ts.by - March 27, 2004

Pros: + Excellent sound quality. + Responsive menus and lots of attention to UI details. + Highly responsive when playing music, gapless playback between songs. + Slick glowing cradle with ethernet jack and RCA outputs. + Rio Music Manager is pretty quick at ri

Cons: - Width makes for an not so great grip on smaller hands - Adding new music results in a delay once you take it off the cradle. Updating the database, I suppose. - Searching a large collection (which you're bound to have at 20GB) takes a few seconds to get

Poor build quality trumped only by worse customer serviceby - March 26, 2004

Pros: Great feature list, good value (if it didn't keep breaking)

Cons: After only a few weeks the hard drive failed. I contacted customer service via email, and it took about 6 emails and almost two weeks for them to tell me I had to call in person. I called the 800 number and was told I would have to call tech support whi

great player, great featuresby - March 26, 2004

Pros: Ethernet, docking station, and great sounding. Like the way rca cables run from docking station to my home stereo. Supports wide spectrum of file types. Was able to listen at work for over 8 hours. Great battery life. Big display is very easy to read. Can

Cons: Need more accessories, better protection, face scratches way to easy? Have experienced one lockup, but none since firmware upgrade.

Incredible Player, Horrible Supportby - March 25, 2004

Pros: Fantastic, very full featured interface. Excellent audio quality, drives even my sony professional headphones very well. Battery life is excellent. File support is awesome. The Rio firmware guys are working hard to bring constant updates and increase

Cons: Somewhat flaky on the reliability. Most of the hard drive lockups that people are experiencing are due to a premature landing of the hard drive read write head. It turns out that a few good hard smacks when trying to start up usually fixes the problem.