New Rio mp3 players.

[CrawlingEye]

January 08, 2004 - I kicked off the day with a visit to Rio's suite at the Hilton. The appointment was both really good and really bad. It was really good because they showed off a string of incredibly cool devices. The downside is that most of the info is under NDA until this spring. I found it odd that the company would bring product to CES and then prohibit press coverage. That is, after all, the whole point of the show. Worse still, the one product I can write about without trashing a working relationship was announced two days ago.


The Nitrus 4GB is Rio's new one-inch drive portable. The only difference between the new version and the original Nitrus is a color scheme change. The Nitrus is an excellent little fellow, so nothing else was necessary. Upping the drive from 1.5GB to 4GB will get a lot of folks interested and will help the new Nitrus stand out in an increasingly popular market. Rio is also pricing the new Nitrus very aggressively. It will retail for $249.00 and will ship this month. You can see it in the following pictures. The shots aren't very good because the silver is so reflective. In person it looks great.

Now for the stuff I can't write about. Firstly, Rio will be announcing a new Karma this spring. It will get a redesign and is very small. I can't tell you how much smaller it is than the original, but it is a good deal more compact. It also looks really awesome. The new Karma also has some solid new features. It will get a color LCD and an SD expansion slot. I can't say anything else, but it was one of the most exciting devices at the show. Rio is on the right track.

The other product I can't talk about is a new Nitrus. I can only tell you that it is very, very compact and very, very cool looking. Sorry.

Other players included a few flash-based models, including a drastically redesigned Chiba. Of course, I can't tell you anything about them.

Look for some really slick products from Rio this spring. For now, check out the pics of the Nitrus 4GB.

http://gear.ign.com/articles/461/461...html?fromint=1

There are pictures of the new 4GB Nitrus. It has the same basic shape as the 1.5GB Nitrus but has an iPod like color scheme.

[Terry]

Sounds awesome!
Die, Apple's overpriced iPod!!!

[number1sixerfan]

I just don't like the looks of the rio players. What about features are usability? I know you have a karma CE.

[CrawlingEye]

Originally posted by number1sixerfan
I just don't like the looks of the rio players. What about features are usability? I know you have a karma CE.

My Karma has excellent features, it has the ability to be networked (with its own IP assigned to it) and stream music to the network, as well as filesharing to and from the Karma using the network. It also comes with a USB 2.0 cable (which I use). It supports wma, mp3, wav, FLAC and ogg. (the ogg support decided it for me)
It has about 15-16 hours of battery life on a 3 hour charge (2 hour normal charge, 1 hour trickle from about 90% to 100% it trickles).
It has a fully paremetric EQ and a fairly strong output along with the option to use VU meters for the mainscreen. It struggles a bit with my Trackmasters to provide adequate volume. However, my Trackmasters are rated at 75Ohms; even so, it does drive them with a volume of 25 (out of 30).

Physically the Karma has a very ergonomic shape that feels good in my hands. Some have complained about its width in the pocket, however I feel this to be a nonissue, as I usually just throw it in my bag and have never even really tried to store it in my pocket. Appearance-wise, I'm quite happy with my Karma. IMO, most other mp3 players look more like gameboys than mp3 players.

The UI is very easy to use. It may take a day or so to figure out all the features but to be able to use it, you'll figure out within a couple seconds of having picked it up.

I have no real complaints about my Karma except that I'd like to see a good case introduced. The one included was literally just a cloth bag which while preventing the LCD screen from being scratched doesn't do much of a job in providing any shock protection, which I sometimes worry about.

As I have said before, I use a gameboy advance SP case which fits the Karma perfectly. I'm considering going to a shoe repairman and asking if he could construct me a leather case.

[Ashpool]

Chiba?

Sounds like someone in Rio either's got an affection for Japan, or he/she's been reading his Gibson literature

[CrawlingEye]

Originally posted by Ashpool
Chiba?

Sounds like someone in Rio either's got an affection for Japan, or he/she's been reading his Gibson literature

I think Rio's located in Korea.