Decent deal on RIO Karma 20GB $264.88 A/R (mail-in) + $4.95 shipping at J&R

[worldzfree321]

My first post so please be nice.

$284.88 - 20 mail-in rebate + $4.95 shipping = $269.83

Link to J&R

Some really interesting things about this player that made me buy it over an ipod are:

-Cheaper
-Supposedly the UI is even easier to use
-Supports FLAC and Ogg Vorbis
-Base station has L/R RCA jacks to go right into a stereo system
-Base station has ethernet port so any of my machines in my house can listen to it via a web page

Some reviews can be found:

Review 1

Review 2

Review 3

Review 4

Review 5

 

[dr wily]

good post, thanks for the info been looking at these.. they sure are nice, saw it in person at magnolia hifi

 

[Noirish]

i thought amazon has the archos (correct spelling?) for $160 AR.

 

[simo]

This is a good price (ecost.com may have had it cheaper once) but before you get excited about the Karma:

1. it has a 90 day warranty
2. it doesn't have USB mass storage device capability, so no drag'n'drop from Windows (you have to use an iTunes-esque Java app)
3. you need the latest firmware v1.25, but this requires a Windows machine with USB, no Linux/Mac/ethernet there
4. there's no remote or case

Personally I was kinda impressed with the Karma, but #2 really bugs me, so I'm going with the iRiver iHP-120, although it is a little costlier.

Whoever said Archos is having a laugh, Neuros is better than that POS.

 

[soltrain]

2. it doesn't have USB mass storage device capability, so no drag'n'drop from Windows (you have to use an iTunes-esque Java app)

With the Portable Audio Devices PowerToy installed, the Karma will come up in Explorer so you can drag'n'drop right on to the device.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/plus/dme/PortableDevices.asp

 

[simo]

Originally posted by: soltrain
2. it doesn't have USB mass storage device capability, so no drag'n'drop from Windows (you have to use an iTunes-esque Java app)

With the Portable Audio Devices PowerToy installed, the Karma will come up in Explorer so you can drag'n'drop right on to the device.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/plus/dme/PortableDevices.asp

I'm pretty sure that Rio removed the Powertoy compatability from the Karma as it was causing too many crashes (it doesn't rebuild the database) and that's for MP3s only anyway.

 

[Scyber]

Originally posted by: simo

2. it doesn't have USB mass storage device capability, so no drag'n'drop from Windows (you have to use an iTunes-esque Java app)

Just a note, there is a non-java Windows program for moving files also. The Java app (Rio Music Manager Lite), is primarily for non-windows computer. Although the java app is also located on the Karma itself so it can be downloaded to any computer when you have the Karma in its Ethernet doc.

 

[dboy]

Currently OOS at J&R, but Amazon has it for the same price (give or take a couple bucks, I forget exactly the amazon price)

 

[grant2]

$290 shipped from newegg, and i imagine you can use the same rebate to get it to $270

 

[3point14]

This might be the player for anyone who listens to trance (or other continuous mixes broken into different tracks). I heard that the Karma is the only player that is capable of gapless playback and crossfading. I would hate to rip most of my CDs again in a different format just to get gapless playback (i.e. OGG vorbis).

 

[Servbot]

Read a lot of good reviews on this one and decided to pick one up. Looks like Newegg jacked their price up to $315 before rebate. However, this place has it for $289 still. Not only that, but you can find a $20 off coupon code for them as well. So I got it for $249 AR shipped. Not too bad.

Computers4Sure

 

[schizoid]

Originally posted by: Servbot
Read a lot of good reviews on this one and decided to pick one up. Looks like Newegg jacked their price up to $315 before rebate. However, this place has it for $289 still. Not only that, but you can find a $20 off coupon code for them as well. So I got it for $249 AR shipped. Not too bad.

Computers4Sure

Will CC pricematch this?

(perhaps only if I live in wherever Computers4sure is...?)

 

[grant2]

Originally posted by: Servbot
Read a lot of good reviews on this one and decided to pick one up. Looks like Newegg jacked their price up to $315 before rebate. However, this place has it for $289 still. Not only that, but you can find a $20 off coupon code for them as well. So I got it for $249 AR shipped. Not too bad.

Computers4Sure

Newegg has been out of stock a while, I guess they're hoping to cash in.

I already ordered mine off ebay for $280 shipped. I can't get the rebate, but $270 shipped would have been better of course