Rating: 
Summary: Gooood little audio player
Review: I've lived with my Karma for two months now and love it. The RIO software is good and solid (although I wish Musicmatch's Jukebox supported Karma better), the Karma user interface is convenient and intuitive, the sound quality is high and there's_lots_of space for music. I've never come close to running out of battery.One key advantage is the large and readable display, suitable for aging eyes (mine). I_love_having my entire music collection with me anywhere I go. The only drawback that comes to mind is the slow download. USB 2.0 should run a lot faster than it does. 10GB takes about 5 hours to download. The RIO web site doesn't give an obvious way to order an extra power supply but if you call the toll-free number, they are available. Delivery takes a while but they do ship.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent portable music player
Review: I've owned my Karma for about 3 months now and am very happy with it. I've got about 15 gigs worth of MP3 and OGG files on it right now and they play flawlessly. I recently helped a friend of mine set up a new 40 gig ipod and here are the differences I noticed...
The physical interface: The ipod's touchpad interface is cooler, I'll give it that, but both the Karma and the ipod work just fine from a functional standpoint. From a merely aestetic standpoint, I'd have to go with the ipod.
The formats: The Rio plays ogg files, the ipod does not. 95% of music users probably don't care, but this was a selling point for me. The Karma might not play apple's proprietarty format (or it might) but I don't really care about that. They both play wma, but I don't use them.
Dimensions: The Karma is shorter and fatter, the ipod is taller and thinner. They're about the same size and weight the same.
The Dock: The Karma dock glows blue when you plug it in. It is very cool... The dock also has RCA out and an ethernet interface. All the ipod dock has is a 1/4 inch headphone jack type interface (in addition to the firewire) The Karma blows the ipod away here. Especially when you take into account the fact that the karma comes with cables to hook up to your stereo. If you want to hook the ipod up to your stereo, you've got to buy a 1/4 inch audio to RCA cable. The ethernet interface works really well for trasferring music on non-windows computers.
Computer interface: The Rio works via USB or ethernet. It comes with all necessary cables. The ipod works via firewire or USB - howerver, if you don't have firewire on your pc, expect to drop 20 bucks on a usb cable or 35 on a firewire expansion card. It's worth mentioning that the ipod will charge off of a firewire interface (won't require a wall plug) which is pretty neat.
Software: itunes and Rio Music manager seem functionally the same. You can obviously use ITunes to purchase music, so if you want that feature, you'll have to take that into account when making your purchase.
Battery life: About the same. Don't expect 15 hours from either of them... Or whatever the manufacturer says. You'll probably get 5-6 hours out of both of them.
Accessories: The ipod kills the karma here. I can't seem to find any kind of car adapter or place to buy another dock for my Karma... I haven't tried a generic power adapter yet.
Price: The Karma is way cheaper... Even before you take into account the other stuff you might need to buy (usb cable/firewire card/RCA cables) for your ipod All in all I'm happy with my Karma. If I had to do it over again, I'd definitely buy another Karma.
Rating: 
Summary: DONT BUY A RIO KARMA!!
Review: After owning a Rio Karma for 2 months the hard disk froze and refused to start up again rendering the machine useless. The so-called "tech spport" at Rio were very little help, they told me there was nothing they would do to replace or repair my player.
So before you buy a Rio Karma ask yourself if you are willing to pay $300 for an unreliable mp3 player from a company who could care less whether their customers are satisfied or not.
Rating: 
Summary: Pros and Cons of a Great Little Device - updated
Review: Between taking the subway to work and traveling, I like to have music to take along. For me, the advent of mp3 jukeboxes was a dream come true since you can take *any* sound tracks along that you could feasibly want. (I used to carry a folder of CDs around and switch them constantly. No more! It's all in one tidy little pocket-sized unit.) Pros:
- Easy interface to rip your cd's, organize your music, and transfer it to the rio.
- Your choice of using USB or ether transfer.
- The battery charges fairly quickly and lasts a very long time, even with lots of changes amongst tracks.
- The unit is tiny - it fits into any coat pocket.
- Great menu system on the rio - the user may find tracks by artist, genre, album title, or track name.
- You can make mixed playlists or even let the 'Rio DJ' play for you, based on what you feel like hearing.
- **Great** sound and equalizer options - you can even optimize sound based on the type of music you are listening to! (From Trance to Classical and everything in-between!)
- Comes with all necessary accessories, including comfortable earbuds that are also friendly to those around you who may not want to hear your music along with you. :-)
- It easily connects to your stereo with the included dock and cable.
- Customer support is reliable. Cons:
- The hard disk is tricky. In fact, that's all that has kept me from rating this with 5 stars. It froze within the first week I had it. Granted, a normal freeze is easily fixed - stick a paperclip into the restart hole at the bottom of the unit. I carry one in my wallet now 'cause it's happened a few times. So, easily fixed, yes, but something that one shouldn't have to worry about. Mine had a permanent freeze after owning it for less than 2 months, so it is dead now. :-( Customer support is nice though, and are sending a replacement for it no questions asked. Except now I have to reload the zillion songs I had on it... definite downside.
- The carrying case it comes with is silly - it's a little cloth pouch that you are supposed to fasten to your wrist. IMO, it should come with a clip like for a pager or mobile phone so you can fasten it somewhere out of the way. It's too big to carry in pants pockets, at least for women.
- Customer support is long-distance unless you live in/near Seattle. Overall, I love the unit, I just wish the disk was more stable. Having said that, Rio is constantly posting updates to improve the unit's performance and they download quickly (even over modem) and install themselves automatically when you sync the player. ** 2 Months Later ** After sending my poor dead Karma back to Rio via FedEx (my nickel, not theirs), I got an email saying it 'would be several weeks due to backorders' before I got a new one. It's been 8 weeks now, and I called their customer service who were friendly enough but who could offer no real information except what it said in their email - it was on backorder and it would be shipped in a couple of weeks. Then I asked about the warranty, and their reply echoed several of the warnings in other reviews posted here on Amazon - too bad that they've had it in their posession for 2 out of the 3 months for the warranty. They don't extend them. All in all, I'm really torn - I really loved the player and can't wait to get the new one, but at the same time I can't say that I would buy the same one again if I had it to do over. It's a fabulous unit, but $300 is a lot to spend on something that's so potentially fragile and at the same time unprotected by warranty. **** Got it back! After nine weeks (and several calls to their customer support in India who were friendly enough but offered no real help) I finally have my Rio again! It is a huge pain to re-burn all of these CDs and transfer them, but I am just so glad to have it back that it's worth it. Having said that, if you are considering purchasing one, keep this warning and the others posted here in mind. It is fabulous, but it is also touchy and unprotected by warranty.
Rating:
Summary: Hard drive broke
Review: I bought this on a saturday, and the following wednesday the hard drive broke. i called support and they pretty much confirmed that there was nothing that could be done, so i returned it. unfortunately, i had already put over 6GB of songs on it, so i wasted alot of time (as i wasn't able to get the songs off the karma). i did enjoy the product for the few days it functioned, however. the software was pretty easy to use, although it can't rip files as mp3 and it installs RealOne, which i didn't really want. it is a great size and the UI is so easy to use, i didn't have to take it out of my pocket to change the volume or start and stop it.
Rating: 
Summary: Hard Disk MP3 Players
Review: If you read reviews for the 4 main contenders in this market - the iPod, Creative Zen, Rio Karma and iRiver iHP - you'll notice that each has their pros and cons; none are perfect and you should decide whether you want to take to take the plunge now or later. If your view in life is that you are going to pay $x00 to get a device then it must be near ideal - ruggedly constructed, fault proof, good product support, easy to use software - then do yourself a favor and don't buy yet. All the products have drawbacks and are not mature yet; if you expect value and reliability then wait a while. If you are OK paying $x00 for something that can be used now, but is likely to both get better and cost less in the future then try to determine which device is the lesser of evils for you. iPod clearly has the most buzz. Great design and looks cool. Most people love the appearance and praise the touch sensitive buttons. It has a hold button to deactivate the buttons to avoid accidents; however, enough reviewers have complained that the hold button is easily broken and then the device can't be used. Some of the more geeky (non-Apple type) reviewers complain that the scrollwheel is annoying after a while and they resent being forced into this Apple-like interface. Everyone complains about the non-replaceable battery, yet this is the price of sturdy construction. iPod can be used as an external disk, and apparently stores files without problem. However, the music and data are apparently not separated; iPod reviewers complain about "white noise" in random feedback mode that comes from appointments / contacts created on the iPod during synchronization. Synchronizing music among computers, if you have more than one, seems to be an issue; research this before buying if you have multiple computers you want to be synchronized. Reviews for sound quality are generally (but not universally) positive. Reviews of Apple's support are generally poor; they seem to address issues in warranty, which covers a short time after delivery / pickup of item. After that it seems like you're on your own. iPod has no stop button; when new users mention this iPod veterans call it "unnecessary" and "so 20th century". Creative Zen feedback suffers from construction quality, poor product support, difficulty of using the scroll wheel and reasonably consistent feedback about problems with the headphone jack. Construction quality is a difficult item. The Zen has a detachable face plate that allows the battery to be replaced. What is added in functionality (battery replacement) detracts in build quality as the face plate is prone to popping off. Drop if just a few inches on a hard surface and the faceplate pops off (but not if it's in its case). Many reviewers say the faceplate simply didn't fit well so they returned the Zen. Feedback on Creative's product support is universally poor; this is not limited to the Zen, it applies to all the company's products. The scroll wheel is finicky; it works most of the time but there is a learning curve for pressing it just right; new users say they have 50% - 75% success rate; some find it so frustrating that they just return the device. The Creative software is awkward / difficult to use and just plain doesn't load on some computers. Enough people have reported that their headphone jack doesn't work after a month of using the device to believe that Creative has some inbuilt manufacturing or quality control problem. The Zen doesn't support folders so it is not really a storage device; even with third party software that "creates" folders, documents and programs can't be launched from the Zen, so it is not a hard disk, it's a storage device at best. Reviews for sound quality are generally (but not universally) positive. The Zen has no stop button. Veteran Zen users have explained how to stop if that's what you want. The Rio Karma feedback suffers from sensitivity in the hard disk. It seems like movement, even small movement, causes skipping in playback and even the device freezing. If you plan to carry the device around (it is a mobile device, right?) then this is something you might want to think about. Karma gets consistently good reviews for sound quality and connectivity from its docking device, which has RCA output jacks and Ethernet jacks for connectivity. Usability (button usage, feature selection, menu structure, display size and quality) also has good feedback. Repair seems to be an issue; some say the repair don't exist - you just have to buy a new player. Perhaps because of its smaller user base there is also a lack of accessories. Like the Zen, the Karma does not support folders and is not designed to be a data storage device. It only comes in 20Gb; enough for most people, not for those with large collections ripped at high sampling rates. The Karma does have a stop button. There aren't many reviews for the iRiver iHP. Those that have it like it. The only complaint seems to be that the disk rotation is slow, leading to longer delays in some functions (playback and even a slow display of the menu?). Otherwise feedback seems to be good. No comments on reliability, warranty, repairs, accessories. No-one mentions whether there is a stop button, but the photos don't show one. None of these are perfect. If you have the appetite choose the one that you think has the least deficiencies or is best suited to you. Accept that there will be better devices (or new generations of these ones) in a year or two that will cost less. If that is for you then pay the money, learn from the experience and you'll be a more informed buyer when you buy device #2. If you aren't into paying $x00 to learn and experiment, or the cons outweigh the pros, then wait a year or so.
Rating: 
Summary: Love it (but with words of caution)
Review: This thing is great, but the first thing you should do when you install it is check for firmware updates (you can do this through the software that comes with it) and update the software itself (which I had to download from the Rio site). The only thing I initially didn't like was that playlists would not copy from my PC to my Rio. The current version of the software does not have this problem, so now I'm happy. Although I didn't notice any warnings against this, do not leave the Rio out in the cold (like in your car on a winter night). Hard drives do not seem to appreciate this and I was forced to reformat it the last time I did that. But now that I've gotten "operator error" out of the way, I love it. With the latest version of Windows Media Player (free), I stick my CD into my computer, select "Copy from CD" to get all the tracks onto my PC, then use the Rio software to copy everything to the Rio. I can then setup playlists ("Techno", "Ambient", etc) to quickly start up the type of music I want to hear or I can use the Rio's on-board menu system to play a specific artist, CD or song. Adding or subtracting songs from the device is as simple as drag-and-drop. Since it supports USB 2.0, transfer speeds are very rapid if your computer supports it, but like all USB devices, it is backwards compatible so older computers can still talk to it, it'll just take a little longer. The on-board equalizer is handy as you switch from earphones to, say, your home stereo and the automatic backlight lets me use it while driving at night. Get a standard tape or FM adapter for your car and you're set. I rarely use my CD's anymore because there's no point. The size of the Rio means you can easily slip it into a pocket. If you are trying to decide between this and a cheaper flash-memory MP3 player, the important thing to note is that this holds 20 gigabytes, vs 256 megabytes or so for most flash-memory players. Flash memory is great for jogging (it's all solid state, there's nothing to skip) but you'll be constantly swapping your music around because it can only hold about 1 CD's worth of music. The Rio Karma may cost like 20% more than the smaller players, but it holds literally 80 times as much music. That's a huge gain for not that much more cash. If you want to be able to carry your CD collection with you on the plane, you need the 20 gigabyte capacity.
Rating:
Summary: Great Product, but no Repair Service and no Accessories!
Review: Well, I bought myself a Karma. I've started walking a lot, and really like having all of my tunes with me. I upgraded the stereo in my office just to get one with auxillary line inputs so that I could hook the Karma to it and play all my tunes while working, too. The device is very small, and I like the physical engineering. It's quite ergonomic, and fits well in my hand. The sound quality and volume is wonderful, and the capacity is just great. The device isn't even half full, and I have more than 1300 MP3 songs stored at a pretty high sampling rate: 192 kilobytes per second. The scrolling wheel is a bit touchy, and I'm never positive that I know how to get from one screen to the next, or in and out of menus. I expect these problems to diminish as I become more accustomed to using the device. I find that the device doesn't buffer enough; while walking, I might jostle it a bit in my jacket pocket. That's enough to make it skip, which is a bit annoying. What's worse is that it's often enough to cause the device to completely hang! I've tied a paperclip into my headphone cord so that I can press the reset button and reboot the device. (And yes, I have the current firmware as of this writing.) If I assume that Rio will upgrade the firmware to make the device crash less, I would give the device five stars. The pricing is just fantasic; compared to other hard drive MP3 players with similar features, the Karma is not that expensive. But there are some things you should know before deciding to buy one for yourself. First, there are no accessories available. Rio doesn't sell a belt clip, play-through protective case, spare chargers, or additional cradles for the device. (A flimsy fabric bag is included in the box. It's useless.) You might be able to find a case that works well, but I haven't; I've ordered a power adapter from an electronics parts supplier that I work with and I'm hoping it will work. The the front panel is of a soft pastic that scratches very easily, but it is hard to find a protector for it. I'd love to have a second cradle at home -- maybe you will want one for your car -- and I simply won't until Rio starts selling them. Then there's the issue of the warranty. It's only 90 days long, which is reasonable for a cutting edge device. But after the warranty runs, Rio doesn't offer out-of-warranty repair service. A small device like this is easily damaged, and no warranty would cover that. But most manufacturers will perform service on damaged devices for a fraction of what a replacement would cost. Not Rio: if you drop your player, you call and pay for a replacement to be sent to you. That's that: you might as well buy a new one, as they will not repair the device. I don't expect such an expensive device to be disposable. And I'm very disappointed that no accessories are available from Rio. For these reasons, I'm deducting two stars. Fixing those issues (and making the firmware more robust when skipping) would make me think that this is the best product I've owned since I bought a TiVo.
Rating:
Summary: Really wanted to love it...but had to return it!
Review: Like many of you, I spent months researching and comparing features, price, battery life, and sound quality. After trying a friend's iPod at Thanksgiving and not being that impressed with the sound, I decided to buy a Rio Karma at the holidays. You will see several positive reviews on this website, with many people being excited during the first two weeks, but this review is actually based on USE of the player. I really wanted to love this player. There is no doubt that it's by far the most feature-rich, with great battery life out there. But with actual use, I had to return two units and would not recommend your purchase until Rio does something about how motion sensitive the hard drive is. I had to return two Karmas back to Amazon because the units were very motion-sensitive (the Rio tech support person concurred) and the product generally unstable. I wanted to use the Karma in the gym on the treadmill/jogging outside, walking. After 8 minutes of jogging the hard drive would lock up. Once, just turning it upside down, the unit would lock up. If you want to use this unit for workouts, I would suggest you buy the Rio Nitrus instead (more stable). After returning the first Karma, I got the second one and downloaded the latest firmware, checked the Riovolution website forum for pointers, but still found the unit to be unstable - if you squeeze it too hard (i.e. just gripping it out of your coat pocket), the hard drive will lock. I really wanted to love it, think it is still the best designed unit, but think you are better off purchasing something more stable, or wait until Rio gets it together.
Rating:
Summary: I love it!!
Review: My Karma does EVERYTHING. The sound quality is astounding. The scren is huge, the backlight is functional and attractive. The unit fits sooo easily into my hands, it really does feel like a glove. navagation is simple, and there are SOOOO many things you can do with it!!! Make playlists, view visualizations, store pc files, adjust equalizer with 5 different bars and many presets, lighted charging base that can vary the brightness depending on the music! it bumps to the beat! i love it! it's fast, and holds TONS of songs. small and easy to pocket, its easy to tote around inconspicuously (like at school) In conclusion, after owning 9 mp3 players, (including the iPod) this is the first mp3 player that truly beats the iPod in every way possible, and with a LOWER PRICE and 2 times batter life! In my mind there is no excuse NOT to buy this awesome mp3 player. Check out cnet's ratings for it! (www.cnet.com) Nothing bad to say about it.
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