MP3 PLAYERS

A FEW YEARS AGO YOU LOOKED POSH IF YOU HAD A 32MB MP3 PLAYER. NOW YOU CAN FIT UP TO 60GB OF MUSIC IN YOUR POCKET. SO GET READY TO RIP YOUR ENTIRE CD COLLECTION AS WE DELVE INTO THE ROCKING WORLD OF HARD DISK MP3 PLAYERS

Rio Carbon

Manufacturer:	Price:
Rio	£199 inc VAT
Reviewer:	Review Date:
	Dec 2004

	OVERALL RATING

SCORE

4/6

Verdict: More features and 1GB more space than the iPod Mini make the Carbon a great choice

The Karma was the first MP3 player to be a serious rival to the iPod and now Rio has decided to take on the massive market and mind-share of the iPod Mini.

The Carbon certainly looks the part, with a lovely, light silver case that tapers away so it slips easily into your pocket. The smart red button details and glowing Rio logo on the front further underline just how much attention has been paid to the Carbon's aesthetics. But, as with the iPod Mini, fancy looks alone don't cut it.

Its technical specs might not be as comprehensive as those of the Karma, but it still beats the iPod Mini. There's an extra gigabyte of storage space, as the Carbon has a 5GB hard drive, and it has WMA in addition to MP3 support. It lacks support for the high-quality OGG format, though. The Carbon also lacks a hold switch to prevent accidentally skipping or fast forwarding tracks, and it only has a cut-down version of the Karma's wonderful RioDJ system too.

Rio has improved the interface software, and the Carbon can be accessed directly in Windows as a removable hard drive, while still sorting the songs using an ID3 tag database. Rio has opted to use a dial mounted at the top right corner of the Carbon for controlling track selection, and although it might lack the tactile appeal of the iPod Mini's click-wheel, it's just as effective.

Battery life is an impressive 20 hours, which is over double that of the iPod Mini's meagre eight hours.

The headphone jack has an irritating problem in that it can create static with headphones that have metal bases on their plugs. You can solve this by wrapping the plug in electrical tape, although this is hardly an elegant solution. Rio claims a fixed version of the Carbon is on its way, but it's still hardly ideal, especially if you want to upgrade your headphones at a later date.

Sound quality is excellent with the supplied headphones, which don't suffer from the static problem, so you'll get trouble-free listening out of the box.

The extra 1GB of storage space and support for WMA files make this a great competitor to the iPod Mini. It may not have the same 'cool' factor, but we still think it's worth the extra £20.

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