Rio Karma 20 MP3 Player (20 GB)

Author's product rating:   

Sound Quality	Excellent
Ease of Use	Very Easy
Look & Design	Good
Range of Features	Excellent
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Great sound quality, small size, ease of use
Disadvantages:	weight

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

When i was after a new mp3 player, i was (like most people) looking at the iPod. But then i was leant a Rio Karma, my mind was soon changed....

The sound quality is excellent, with rich, deep bass, and brilliant high frequency sound too. this player has hardly any sound distortion when being used at high volume. The 5 band graphic equalizer allows the user to completely customise the sound to a setting that suits them. The karma also doesn't suffer from the "flutter" effect when using low bitrate audio files.

The karma is priced at slightly less than the iPod mini. I paid £175 for my karma, and the iPod mini is about £20-30 more expensive. The karma also has 20GB of storage capacity, whereas the iPod mini has only got 5GB. The karma clearly is much better value for your money.

The karma is also smaller than the equivalent 20GB iPod. if you're like me, and want things to be a practical size, then the karma is the answer.

The karma is also very well built. It feels strong and durable in your hand, unlike some mp3 players that feel very fragile and will break at the slightest knock. The rubberised grip, and the layout of the buttons make it feel very safe in your hand.

The battery life of the player is excellent. When the battery is run in, you can expect more than 15 hours play time(manufacturer's estimated life) off one charge. Charging the karma is also relatively fast, it only takes about 2 hours at the most.

The menu system of the karma is very easy to use. Everything is in it's own place on the menu. Let me put it this way, it's so simple, my 5year old sister can use it! The music is organised very well on the player too. you can choose to play music by Album, Artist, Track Name, Genre, and Year. You can even create your own playlist whilst away from the PC. Perfect for getting in the mood for that night on the town, a party, or just to chill out wherever you may be. The "Rio DJ" is another great way to listen to oyur music, you can choose numerous options from:-

Top 10/200 - like your own personal music chart.
Entertain me! - plays a mix of your most listened to music.
Sounds of - allows you to play music from a certain decade.
Memory Lane - plays music that has not been played for a while.
Forgotten gems - plays songs that have not been played for a while.
New Music - plays all songs added to the karma from in the last day/week/month/year.

Another great feature of the karma is the ability to use it to transfer files from one pc to another. This is very handy for a student who needs to take wok home(like me), or the professional who wants to travel light but needs that all important file, or presentation.

The docking station is a brilliant feature, you simply drop the karma into it when it needs charging, or when you want to transfer music to it from the computer. The connections on the docking station include, RCA (for connection to a home Hi-Fi), network connector(to allow the karma to be accessed by any computer on a network in your home), and a USB socket (to allow music transfer to/from a single PC). With the iPod, you have to pay extra for something with only half the functionality.

The RCA socket is a brilliant feature as it allows you to listen to your karma from the comfort of your living room.

The USB cable is compatible with both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0. For those of you who don't know what this means, USB 2.0 is faster at transferring data than USB 1.1.

The ethernet adapter, allows you to transfer files to and from the karma from any computer on the network at speeds of upto 100 MB/s. In my opinion, you're better of sticking with the USB 2.0 system if you don't really want to use the karma on more than one computer.

All in all, the karma is great value for money. It's cheaper than the iPod, but doesn't lack in quality in any way. the features of the karma are still far superior to those of other mp3 players on the market. I recommend that everyone who loves music should get one of these!

Thanks for reading.