http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/ Engadget Comments for Rio Audio, RIP: 1998 - 2005 http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/And are in demand. Someone stole mine last week:(]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
i treasure my carbon and its coolness, i shall continue to use until the end of time O__o]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/nooooooooo!]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
The RIO Carbon that I purchased from Best Buy did not last a single day before it simply quit working. I didnt drop it or anything. I just went running with it. I guess it couldnt take the vibrations. That's probably why it did not come w/ an armband/belt buckle like some of the other ones. IMHO, based on my experiance, this particular RIO device is a POS and it turned me off of RIO since & I'm not suprised they went down after putting out a product that goes bad so quickly with no warning to keep from shaking. My current MP3 player, the iRiver, works like a dream. It's an IFP 899 model and stores a gig of memory. A gig just does not compare to the smaller ammounts. It's perfect. It holds an insane ammount of battery life, like 30+ hours. It's mic recording quality is great. It picks up everything, even in my pocket. The machines are good to use for having notes read to you after recording them at school, or converting the teacher's powerpoint presentation to speech and listening the lectures and classes while driving or working. Or downloading podcasts & radio-show blogs & listening to them.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/xp and when they finally updated it, the 64mb card i paid $70 for wouldn't work with the player. they had the nerve to expect me to pay $20 for sorry customer support and wouldn't take the player back for repair until i did. good riddence to bad rubbish. my neuros hd is superior!]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
Yeah Rio was a great company in terms of putting stuff out there, but they lacked so much in user interface and form factor development.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
"I have owned many different brands of mp3 players. I'm very tough on them."

I think the 2nd second sentence explains the first very well. Hmmm wonder why you've had to buy so many? Hmmm....]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
Rio got screwed because their products weren't very good, they couldn't market them well and their designs weren't very good.

Apple "screwed them" because they came out with a better player with better looks and better advertising and Rio played catch up from that point onwards. With all the experience, Rio should have been able to see off the competition but didn't and failed miserably. Possibly due to the fact that Rio never really understood what the European market wanted (hint: it's not the same as the Asian market).

But to be fair to Apple, anyone who can produce a better player than Rio could have also "screwed them".]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
But it's sad to see Rio go. More companies trying to innovate is better for everyone.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
I ran with a 3G iPod for over a year, and a mini for six months before I got a shuffle for running. Though the 3G skipped occasionally, the mini worked flawlessly, and this is from someone with musical ADD who skips tracks incessantly. I also had an original 5GB iPod that I ran with for a year and a half before I upgraded and gave it away to a buddy. All three HD iPods are still going strong otherwise (my buddy still runs with his 5GB).]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/1) Dynamic playlists created on the device. For you iPod users out there, that's like being able to create "Smart Playlists" on the go.
2) Content management. If I find a bad/incomplete track on my Karma, I can just delete one of the tracks off the device right there. On my iPod, I have to write it down somewhere else or I'll forget.
3) View song information. This is one that really bothers me. The iPod obviously has all of the ID3 information for a song, but there's NO way to retrieve that info. If I'm listening to a song, and I'm curious what year/genre it's from, I can't call that info up in any way whatsoever. It's frustrating though, because the songs can be accessed by Genre, so there is some metadata there on the iPod itself...
4) The iPod "on-the-go" playlist is terrible. I can't change the order of songs on the playlist, it's just... ugh.
5) Gapless playback.

So, I'm happy with my iPod, but the loss of Rio Audio as a player in the game is really going to set back competition, and probably means that Apple won't rush to implement any of these features that I personally think a lot of people would use.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
May you rest in peace Rio, and thanks for being the true pioneer in the mp3 world. Apple owes part of their soul to you right now.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
What? Each generation of iPods has been cheaper than the one before.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
The iPod is physically easy to use and muscle memory lets one use it without even looking. The screen is easy to read and the software interface makes it easy to find the music you want. On-The-Go playlists let me create a new playlist if I decide I want something special and I can even create more than one and save them.

The iTunes software performs four important jobs seamlessly. Ripping my CDs is easy, searching for and buying music at the iTunes store is a breeze, orgnanizing my music is simple and I have a powerful set of tools to work with, and syncing to the iPod couldn't be easier.

Finally, the iPod and iTunes store is available to both Mac and Windows users. Even better, the purchase rules are simple to understand and consistent. This cannot be said of Napster.

Since the PlaysForSure world isn't controlled by a single entity the experience will never be as seamless as the iPod's. Case in point, when testing Napster I couldn't get the iRiver to authorize my tunes properly. Neither Napster nor the iRiver folks would take responsibility. In the end I cancelled my test and returned the iRiver for a refund.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
It is a shame what happened with Diamond. They would have been better off on their own rather than selling to S3.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
Doesn't sound that dead to me... Both press releases were put out today, so which one is telling the truth?]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
I quit buying Rio products after the horrid Rio Volt 250 - the high end ($200+) of their mp3 cd player line. My brother, my cousin, and myself each got one for Christmas and all three broke within six months. The pressure you had to put on the top of the player to use the controls made the entire metal panel fall onto the spinning disc inside. All the screw threadings on the top of the player would crack, making the screws useless. We tried to use superglue to fix it, but it only worked for a short time. This all happened after taking very good care of the player and never abusing it. $600+ for three players down the drain. I then bought a $25 mp3 cd player at Best Buy and it lasted much longer than the Rio.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
Are the people claiming you're "not supposed to" run with a hard drive-based player the same ones who call Rio a "real" company while Apple for some reason isn't?
]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
What are you talking about? The release you linked was from last month. Rio's dead, long live Rio.

Best,
Ryan]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
But like post #20 said, there are so many amazing features on the Rio Karma that I love and use. While an iPod is a nice looking and well designed player, it's missing all of those features and I use the heavily. I use the RioDJ (dynamic playlist) pretty much every time I use the player.

iPod owners don't know what you're missing -- just like VCR owners don't mind using it to record programs over a Tivo because they don't know what they are missing. Once you use a Tivo, going back to a VCR would be next to impossible. It's the same with the Karma. I've gotten used to all of it's great features -- and trying to use something without them would feel like a major downgrade.

RIO ... RIP. :-(

I can only hope that other companies try to take up the slack.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
I don't get the hate. RIO was free to innovate. They were first to market. They simply didn't bring the products that the market wanted. Apple did. Isn't that what market economies are supposed to do? Reward companies that build better mouse traps?]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
Does the rio still require MusicMatch Jukebox? I'd rather sand my eyeballs than use that POS...]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
Better looks - eye of the beholder
Better player -
features = no, see previous posts like InfoMofo's plus mulitple audio formats supported
audio quality = no (do your research)
Better advertising - most assuredly, this is actually the ONLY reason Apple did so well with the iPod, they dumbed down DAP players for the masses - then shoved it down their throats.

And to the iPod boys running with them, you're the lucky ones.

http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-33955.html

It's still not recommended for activities like running, buy your no screen/un-expandable overpriced Shuffles for those pursuits.

]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
As for the running with the iPod thing, I thought they were designed for that. According to the commercials, the proper way to use your iPod is to dance vigorously to a mixture of music by contemporary artists with the iPod displayed prominently in your hand. :p]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/Dec 19th 2005 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/26/rio-audio-rip-1998-2005/
Damn shame, I was looking forward to the Chroma.

]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM