Good Karma
Posted By matt on March 11, 2004
My Rio Karma arrived today.
Overview:
- Open the whole thing up
- Use a Windows machine at work to upgrade firmware (only works via USB, which only works under Windows)
- Put it in the dock and connect the ethernet cable
- Karma gets IP address, and you can look it up from the front panel
- Connect to Karma's IP address from Linux machine
- Click “download Rio Music Manager Lite” and save “rmmlite.jar” to disk
- Read the readme (also on the web page), which says to call it as “java -jar rmmlite.jar”
- A nice music manager application is invoked. (You can optionally the “Rio Taxi Lite” which allows you to transfer files without manipulating the music storage database.)
- Start transferring music
Pros:
- Excellent sound
- 5 band EQ with a few presets (I leave it on “Rock”, a nice bassy warm sound)
- really cross platform (java app will work on Mac or Linux)
- intuitive UI (I actually like it better than the iPod), fits nicely in hand (again, I like it better than the iPod)
- lighter than iPod
- ethernet connectivity
- the earbud headphones it comes with are quite good; (they are still earbuds, though)
Cons:
- Few accessories (iPod has iTrip and a remote)
- mechanical switches (iPod is pressure sensitive)
- connection is USB Mass Storage, but database and filesystem format are both closed and proprietary (it's okay, the software handles it, but it would be nice to have it nice and open)
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