CNet finally review the Karma...

[pinsomniac]

Link to Review.

 

[D-EJ915]

Quote:

Unlike the iPod's similar playlist feature, the Karma's lets you save and name the list for later playback.

Sweet, did not know the iPod couldn't do that

.
Quote:

The latter is especially prized by audiophiles since it sounds exactly as good as the original CD

Hehe, more like Head-Fiers

Quote:

the same files transferred more slowly than expected, at 0.53MB per second

Eh, the java app is not supposed to be your main way of transfer...

Sounds like a pretty good review...what it boils down to for me is...which player do you think feels the best??

 

[cs1323]

omg! Cnet finally gives Karma some spotlight in the music section.. it's about time!

 

[Music Fanatic]

Do you know when the rumored Rio Karma 40 GB player will be out?

 

[e-r0ck]

its actually rumored NOT to come out any more. at least not for awhile.

 

[lindrone]

The reference to being able to save the name of the playlist to be used later, is directly referring to the "on-the-go-playlist" feature of the iPod. It's not the playlist you've built through the synchronization software, but playlist you build using the device itself when there isn't an optimal playlist available.

On the iPod, you can only have one "on-the-go-playlist"... so you can't really save real playlist without connecting it to your computer first. It's a minor annoyance, it's a feature I use from time to time to build quick playlist of songs I only feel like listening to for that day. However, it's rarely for any permanent playlist.

I really really wished that iPod supported FLAC though... but as of right now, I'm using all uncompressed WAV with the iPod. So basically I would get twice as many songs on the Karma in comparison to the iPod.

The file transfer speed though, probably has more to do with the USB 2.0 protocol. USB 2.0 is faster at peak and in theory than firewire, but since it's CPU dependent on transferring files... it often ties down either the CPU or just slows down like a hog during huge file transfer sessions. Only if you leave it alone and not do anything, will it perform closer to expectation.

EDIT:
Oh yeah, forgot one thing... I really like the RCA outputs on the dock of the Karma... they should do that on the dock of the iPod too.. oh wellz

 

[Music Fanatic]

Quote:

Originally posted by e-r0ck its actually rumored NOT to come out any more. at least not for awhile.

Grrr. (Mumbles: Flac. Need big disk.)

But thanks for the info.