Rio Karma review

MP3 players come in two main varieties: those based on Flash memory, and those that use small hard disks to store their music on.

The Flash memory players are dinky, often no bigger than a fag lighter, but usually only store a few albums. The hard disk players, on the other hand, let you carry thousands of tracks around, but they're often bulky and decidedly fragile. Rio's new Karma hard disk player aims for the best of both worlds: it's dinky and has enough hard disk space to store a big music collection.

With its square shape and rounded corners, the Karma fits snugly into the palm of your hand. Its tough rubber and plastic shell feels sturdy, well-made and robust. Some may find it a little bulky. It's not as svelte as the iPod, despite having the same weight of 156g, though it still fits easily in your pocket.

Sound quality is among the best we've heard, with both high treble and booming bass being faithfully reproduced with little distortion. The bundled Sennheiser headphones are top drawer, so you won't feel the need to upgrade. Battery life is also superb - lasting the quoted 15 hours (almost double that of the iPod). It also plays Windows Media (WMA) and Ogg Vorbis (OGG) files, in addition to MP3 - something that not all portable MP3s can do.

A common problem with high-capacity MP3 players is that finding a song on the hard disk can be a nightmare. This can be due to the actual controls and/or the navigation 'firmware' used by the player, as well as the partner software on the PC. This wasn't a problem with the Rio: navigation using the 'Riostick' joystick is straightforward, and is further enhanced by the jog wheel in the top corner. The latter lets you quickly cycle through settings, selecting options by pressing it. There are also separate volume buttons and a hold switch.

The Rio music manager software is among the best we've seen. By simply connecting the Karma to your computer it automatically synchronises its content with your PC's music library. If there's more music in your library than will fit on the player - or if you don't want to fill it all up - you can set up the software so that only certain songs get deleted and replaced. This can happen randomly, or according to your least/most favourite tracks. Another unique feature is the Ethernet port on the docking cradle, which means you can put your player on a network and share its songs just by assigning it an IP address. The cradle also has two RCA line-out ports so you can connect it to your stereo.

The Karma isn't perfect: you can't just drag and drop files to the player - you have to use Rio's software - and it's a bit pricey. But it is tough, stores lots of tracks and sounds great. A great alternative for those who can't quite afford Apple's iPod.