Rolled Out On: 5/30/2005 3:19 PM

I really enjoy my Rio Karma 20GB player.

It's easy to use, and supports all the different formats (MP3, OGG, WMA, ASF and WAV).

But the thing that I still don't like about these big players is that their batteries will eventually stop working well. Rechargable batteries do eventually die, and then you are stuck with a portable player you can't port.

But the Karma has a dock with audio out lines that I'm planning on hooking up to my house's sound system. That way, I can have my Chinese music on one list, classical music on another list, American rock on another list, and the Star Wars soundtrack on another list (my son's favorite), and play the different lists at will. That will extend its usefulness to me beyond its useful battery life. And I got it for about $130 on eBay. Woot!

Rolled Out On: 5/30/2005 3:33 PM

Oh, and I got a 1GB thumb-drive-style player for walking around and working out. Incredibly light, but not quite as easy to use. But it uses regular batteries, so I never have to worry about the battery giving up. 1GB gives enough variety for several days of doing stuff, good for even a short vacation where my ability to get in and change the mix may be limited. It also has the voice-recording feature (which I plan to use for interviewing people), and it also can store regular files for transfer. They all use a Samsung chip; that's a Chinese company, and apparently the chip was designed for the Chinese market, so this is the only mp3 player that can handle titles in Chinese...and it also can scroll the lyrics if you find/load the right files. I got it for something like $60 on eBay, through a great deal of patience.

Rolled Out On: 5/28/2005 10:42 AM

This comments section fucking sucks. I wrote a big long response to this post, and it fucking ate it. Now you'll go to your grave wondering what I said.

Rolled Out On: 5/28/2005 11:30 AM

I prefer the creative labs Zen ones myself but to each his own.

take a look at allofmp3.com

yeah it's russian but push the little button that says english and it will make more sense.

unless of course you read cyrillic then I guess it will make sense when you first get there.

Rolled Out On: 5/28/2005 12:22 PM

im a bit intrigued by this thing, but i dont understand - they list as a "feature" that you don't have to take it out of your bag/pocket to change songs. the reviewers over at amazon seem to be raving about this feature, too. but you _do_ have to take the remote out ... what's the difference? arent there too many wires involved?

Rolled Out On: 5/28/2005 6:44 PM

Sorry Belt, I'm working on a new version of the blogging software which hopefully won't require CAPTCHA and won't eat the comments.

James, the remote has a clip on it which would grab onto your sleeve, belt, etc. The headphones then plug into that. It's nice and came in handy when I was mowing the yard yesterday. It is a little quirky to learn with rotating, pushing, wheels on both top and bottom and ocasionally they 'switch' functionality depending on modes. But overall it's nice to have outside of the unit itself. You don't have to have it (you can plug your headphones directly into the unit), but you better have your playlists set up perfect.

The voice recording feature is amazing. Crystal clear. I was really surprised at the quality of it. I plan on possibly podcasting soon because it's such quality.

Rolled Out On: 5/28/2005 10:27 PM

right now, 100% if my mp3 player use takes place while i'm working out. (i..e running, biking, lifitng.) i dont know that this unit is ideal for that, esp with the added component, but given some of the other features, i can see myself developing new uses for a player like this. hopefully i can find one in a store to play around with.

i'll tell you what would sell me immediately - if i could hack the firmware. a few years ago, i had an archos 6000 with the user developed ROCKBOX firnware. rock, it did.

Rolled Out On: 5/29/2005 9:31 AM

James, the remote isn't required. You can operate the unit without it and plug the headphones directly into the body. Plus, it has a 12 minute buffer in case the drive skips, so it would be perfect for working out.

Unless of course your workout consists of kickboxing. Then you might want to consider a boombox as an option.

Rolled Out On: 5/27/2005 1:39 PM

Try Yahoo Music. The Yahoo Music Engine is just taking off. It's technically still in Beta, but it seems to work okay. (The occasional hiccup, but nothing earth-shattering.)

You can also go subscription OR ala carte with music, and it's as cheap as iTunes.

I'm an iPod owner, and I couldn't be happier. But I'm not above other players. Yours looks nice.