Rio Karma 20 GB MP3 Player

[Archived in $200 - $300, 11 to 20 GB Jukeboxes, Audio, Products, Rio]

Manufacturer: Rio
Price at amazon.com: $266.99
Usually ships in 24 hours

Used & new from $215.00

List price $299.99



Product Features:

• 20 GB HDD plays back over 330 hours of MP3 or 660 hours of WMA music
• Auto-DJ intelligently finds, mixes and creates playlists from tracks on command
• 5-band parametic equalizer with pre-sets
• 15-hours continuous playback with rechargeable LiIon battery
• Compatible with computers with USB 2.0 (1.1 compatible) ports running Windows 98 SE, 2000, ME, or XP

Product Description:

The super-smart Rio Karma 20GB MP3 Player is packed with memory and includes the intelligent Auto DJ to find, mix and create playlists from tracks on command. The versatile docking station supports dual RCA line-outs, Ethernet networking and auto-synchronization with a host PC. Features: plays more than 330 hours of MP3 (about 5,000 songs) or 660 hours of WMA (about 10,000 songs) music with 20GB of memory; USB 2.0 for fast transfers; transfers content between multiple PCs; 15-hour continuous playback; 5-band parametric equalizer with pre-sets; dynamic playlist generation; plays Ogg Vorbis; Sennheiser MX300 earbuds; docking station; USB 2.0 cable; stereo RCA cable; ethernet cable; A/C power supply; installation disk; and quick start guide. Songs purchased from Napster 2.0 are compatible with Rio portables. Please use the Rio Music Manager or the Windows Media Player 9 to transfer songs purchased from Napster 2.0 to your Rio. Napster 2.0 Client users can also use the free Napster Plug-In for the Windows Media Player 9 for an integrated experience. Click on Help at the top of the page, then on Product Rebates where you can download the rebate form.

Average Customer Rating:

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Comment: Not ready for prime time Rating:
The Karma looks great: small size, slick controls, gorgeous docking station. Lots of features. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to its expectations. The ethernet connectivity feature doesn't work properly. After spending many hours trying with the help of tech support, the best they could come up with is a defective docking station. Maybe. I'm not going to try again. I suspect the problems go much deeper. The Music Manager software doesn't work well either. The manual and the help files are a joke. If you use the USB connection, maybe you'll do okay. The other reviews I've read seem to say "NO".

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Comment: Nice Design but poor quality. Rating:
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 started to stall from the slight bounce of the walk. At first it would last a half hour before stalling, but soon it would not even last 5 minutes. You could hear the internal hard drive trying over and over to recover. When it stalled, all the controls would complete freeze. The only solution was to let it run itself dead. After the battery was dead, charging it seemed to "reboot" it. I deleted all the songs and reinstalled them. I have the latest firmware installed onto it. Nothing improves it. I have resorted to using it on my desk only. It will not even stay on track from the movement inside the car.

Rio's response to a request to service this is that it was not designed for activity and would need to be serviced outside of the warranty for $200. Not only is the warranty only 90 days, but it they won't stand behind such problems anyway.

My friends with the iRiver players all use theirs for running and have had no problems. This one will not even last walking.

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Comment: Bum Karma Rating:
I was really excited about the Rio Karma 20GB MP3 player until the HD failed after less than 24 hours' use. The recovery screen only says, "Bad Karma," and "Call Customer Support;" however, I'm not sure I want to go through the process of upgrading/installing firmware (if even possible - nothing seems to work). Even with the features, great sound, and intuitive operations, I'm not sure I can rebuild trust in this HD to store my music after such a rocky start.

Posted at November 11, 2003 07:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)