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Rio Carbon 5 GB MP3 Player
From Rio

Rio Carbon 5G MP3 Player

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21373 in Consumer Electronics
• Color: Silver
• Brand: Rio
• Model: 90260554
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 3.00" h x .60" w x 2.40" l, .95 pounds

The Rio Carbon is capable of holding up to 80 hours of MP3 (160 hours WMA) music, and with up to 20 hours of battery life on a single charge, music lovers need not worry about running out of juice.

What's in the Box
Rio Carbon 5 GB, Carrying Case, High Quality Earbuds, Power Adapter, USB Cable, Installation Disk, Quick Start Guide, and Warranty Card.

Rio Carbon - A College Student's Perspective
General thoughts about Music Playback:
It's great at its main purpose, playing music. The Rio Carbon is small and incredibly lightweight so carrying it in your jean pocket, jacket pocket, tight jeans' pocket, etc... is easy and comfortable. The metal back scratches a little too easily but that is something you have to expect with this kind of shiny surface. Just love the battery life for playing music (not recording! - see below). The way the music files are organized requires me to really use playlists. Otherwise, I'll often play the same album 20 times in a row. Shuffle could be a little bit more random but really can't complain. I mainly bought this device because of its potential for super multi-tasking so I'll leave the music playback comments to other reviewers.

As a Portable Hard Drive:
I've used it to replace my USB memory drives (since I either lose them or they stop working after 6 months) and it interfaces seamlessly with the computers I use (mainly Win XP). Like all multi-GB HDDs, it takes awhile to scan the files when you first plug it in. Unfortunately, you can't download the Win 98 drivers from the Rio website. For those who use Win 98 computers occasionally, this means that you'll either need to carry the Rio CD around with you or put the drivers online (i.e. in an email account). Overall, the concept of using this as a cheap portable small harddrive that just happens to be an mp3 player is very appealing to a student like me. You get slightly less than 5Gb so it's possible to allot one entire gigabyte to files while saving the other 3.7GB to music. It's about the size of 3 Sandisk Cruzer Mini USB drives laid parallel to each other, but it can hold a billion more files (slight exaggeration)!

As an Audible player:
Unlike the review below, I've had very little to no problems listening to Audible tracks on the player. I've used an old iPod and a Treo 600 with the Audible Manager software before so I know that juggling extra Audible devices is confusing but definitely possible. I've heard that Rio Carbon only accepts Audible formats 2 and 3. Audible always requires that you download drivers for (or "Activate") any new device/player you add onto your account. My experience is that downloading a 46MB Audible format 3 file takes me about 10-15 minutes. Copying onto the Carbon takes me 5 minutes via USB 2.0. Maybe this varies with Carbons and/or software but personally, I really appreciate the ease and integration between Audible and Rio Carbon. (My old 2nd gen iPod had problems but that was probably because I got it secondhand and the previous user was also an Audible user. Songs can be transferred but couldn't be played.)

As a voice recorder:
I had such high ambitions for this device to be used to record lectures. Sigh... the whirring of the hard drive, the orientation of the built-in mic (perpendicular from the face of the Carbon)... all this really hinders any kind of comprehensible recordings you have when you sit more than 4 rows away from the front of the class. No wonder Rio specified the voice recordings for reminders and such. I was able to listen to the muffled and noisy recordings by fiddling with the equalizer in windows media player 9 (without needing to find a noise reduction software) so maybe it's still possible to use this as a lecture recorder. Turning down 32 - 125 Hz on the Graphic Equalizer in WMP9 pretty much cuts out the whirring hard drive noise. Recording format is .wav and a 1 hour lecture is 12.2Mb at 32kbps. The Carbon heats up slightly during recording. Also, recording eats up batteries. The battery barely made it while recording for 2.5 hours (plus about 30 minutes of listening to music). If you have a laptop, you can easily charge it inbetween classes really quickly.

So far so good.....
I bought the Rio Carbon after buying and canceling my order several times. One of my main concerns was that the lithium ion battery cannot be replaced, as it can be on the Creative Labs Muvo^2 4Gb player. I had considered that one for some time, but after seeing that Dell, the IPOD, and nearly every other new MP3 player has a permanent battery, I decided to take the plunge and the risk. So far, the player is very nice, with an amazing amount of storage(I cannot imagine a 30GB player....my computer is 30 gigs!). I put all the songs on my computer onto it(~720) and yet only took up half of the available space, so I don't envision me filling this up anytime soon. Sound is excellent, and battery life appears to be very good too. Other features like a recorder and stopwatch are there, but I don't think I will be using those. An FM tuner would be nice, but again, that is not necessary for me.

This is my third MP3 player. My first was a Rio 32MB in 1998(how far we've come!), then a 128MB Intel Pocket Concert in 2001, and now the Carbon at 5GB. So I feel that if I get 3 good years out of it, I will be very happy.

One final thing.....my Intel Pocket Concert has a few things broken after traveling with it, but it still works so I will keep on using it. I will be using it for those times when the player has a risk of getting knocked around. Flash players can take a beating; HD players cannot. If you plan on jogging or doing ANYTHING which knocks the player around, consider a flash player over this.

Better than iPod Mini
I own both the Rio Carbon and the iPod Mini. Personally, I prefer the Carbon. I'm sure many of you out there are deciding between the Rio Carbon, the iPod Mini, and the Zen Micro. As far as I'm concerned, the offerings from Dell and Gateway aren't nearly as competitive. Here is why I bought the Rio Carbon (for myself). I got an engraved iPod Mini for my girlfriend because it was shiny and pink.

Pros
1. 20 hours of battery life (Manufacturer estimate) - way longer than Mini or Micro (Micro has removable batteries though, but you'll need 2 of those batteries to equal Carbon battery life)
2. 5gigs of memory - 1gig more than Mini, does not need partitioning for file storage like Micro
3. Drag and Drop interface - easy to load and unload than Mini or Micro
4. Does not need Drivers - transfer files to or from any computer
5. Smaller/Lighter than Mini and Micro
6. Nicer looking (unless you like the different colors)
7. Microphone for recording! Mini lacks this function. Micro has it plus radio!
8. Plays WMA files. Mini lacks this function. Micro has it!
9. Cheaper than Mini and Micro (street price)

Cons
1. No radio
2. Laggy interface
3. Just one color
4. No engravings
5. Static when using metal plugged headphones (can be fixed)

Battery life:
I haven't gotten around to timing the battery life, cuz I never need it for 20 hour straight, but it definitely lasts me through the longest days. (about 14 hours or so) All the battery life you'll really need if you recharge while you sleep. The battery can be charged by USB, which is very convenient if you need that extra juice. The usb cable also plugs into the charger (like the firewire cables for ipods), so you only need one cable when you need to travel around.

File transfer and storage:
The claims about it being drag and drop are true. It is so easy to put music in and take music out! However, you'll probably want to use the software included on the CD (or from the website) to sort and organize the music and for mass editing of ID3 info. The drag and drop feature allows you to use the whole hard drive as a portable storage device. That's up to 5 gigs that can be used to store personal files! (Way better than the Zen Micro's half-baked max 2 gig partitioning system). File transfer speed seems standard fare for a USB device w/ a MiniHD.

Look and Feel:
The overall quality of the Carbon does not quite match up to the Mini, considering the Mini uses a fully aluminum shell. Keep in mind, the Carbon is by no means a cheap feeling device. The back of the case is a shiny chromed metal (shiny, but scratches and smudges easily like iPods). The sides of the case is rubberized, which is very effective in keeping the device safe in your hands. The front shell is a glossy plastic. The top and the buttons are also chromed, but I think those parts are plastic instead of real metal (I could be wrong). Overall the player looks very sophisticated. I was amazed by how thin it is, about the same as the Mini, if not thinner. It's lighter, shorter and rounder, and fits in my hands better than the Mini. I have less fear of dropping the thing when I'm holding it! My friends are amazed at the size and weight. The display is sharp and bright when backlit. The red lights are cool too! The fake leather case that comes w/ the player is poorly designed though, it could use a hole on the side for access to the buttons and display. I took a razor and cut those holes myself!

Sound Quality:
The head phones that come with the Carbon is pretty bassy. I've found I need to pump up the mid range to compensate, but overall, sound quality is crisp and clear. Please note that I am not an audiophile off any sort and not very good at judging this. The reports that using headphones w/ metal plugs causing static must be true because Rio has thoughtfully included plastic extension wires for headphones to keep metal parts from contacting the metal in the shell. The voice recorder is decent. I've used it for class and it was able to record the lecture pretty clearly, although I had to set it close to the teacher's podium to do so. Voice files are recorded in .wav files, pretty large...so keep that in mind when recording for long periods of time. The high pitched whining the internal hard drive can be heard on the recordings, which is a nuisance.

User Interface:
Rio must have decided to use a cheap processor in order to extend the battery life. There are many times during its use when the user interface lags behind my inputs. Keep in mind that the music has not yet skipped on me. But there were several times when I would try to jog the volume or switch between songs and the display would fail to keep up w/ my inputs. I was spoiled by the iPod's relative quick response. However, this only happens when a new song is being played, which is understandable because the player has to search for the song and then read it into memory. However, the lag is a tad frustrating, especially when you're trying to change settings for a new song. As far as I have used them, it never occurred in iPods I've used. The button layout and functions are very intuitive and easy to use. The jog wheel is just as functional as the overhyped touch wheel on the iPods. I've found touch sensitivity can be difficult for people without a delicate touch.

Overall a great buy. Better than iPod Mini in my opinion. I haven't tried the Zen Micro so I wouldn't make that comparison safely. The Dell and Gateway players don't appeal to me. So the Rio Carbon just might be the best miniHD mp3 player on the market right now!

P.S. about clipping electronics on your belt... Don't do it...It looks real dorky~