Rio Carbon 5GB MP3 Player - Silver

RIO Carbon PLEASE Read

Posted Jun 4, 2006 - Nice product that lacks manufacturers backing. Either this is a great business scheme by RIO or they just have a lack of business project management when it comes to caring if the consumer will in the future want to buy any other products due to the lack of customer care thru this products problems. Funny that you can continue to purchase this product new all over the place but no one can repair a part on it. ALL BE AWARE of this issue.

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If your music is stored in WMA format in Windows M ...

Posted Feb 11, 2005 - If your music is stored in WMA format in Windows Media Player, transfer of your songs is a breeze. I copied over 1,300 songs, using a USB 2 port in a few minutes..The I Pod sucks for PC owners. You have to transfer all your music files into I Tunes to be converted by Apple to thier format. Screw that, get a RIO CARBON!

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This is probably one of the best looking MP3 playe ...

Posted Dec 8, 2004 - This is probably one of the best looking MP3 players in the market with an exceptional battery life. The sound quality is excellent! The unit is very sleek in design with a mirror finish. Only problem with that is if you handle it alot the unit WILL collect your fingerprints. Display is also very intuitive and menu is easy to navigate through. I have Windows XP Home and besides using the unit for music files I can use it as a flash hard drive. Everything is basically plug and play and any files you wanna copy from you computer to store on the Carbon is basically copy and paste. My only issue with this unit is the case that came with the unit looks pretty cheap. It wouldn't allow the user to access the any of the buttons and it covers up the display completely. I just hope there are 3rd party cases because it'll be a shame to get such a beautiful unit all smudged and scratched up. Overall I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this unit to anyone because of the memory space, sleek looks, great battery life, and a fantastic value compared to any other MP3 players in the market.

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I was generally pleased with the Rio Carbon. It pr ...

Posted Oct 18, 2004 - I was generally pleased with the Rio Carbon. It provides you with a simple and easy way to listen to a lot of music in a very small player. The sound quality is excellent along with figuring out how to use the machine.

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This is the first hard drive mp3 player I've purc ...

Posted Apr 11, 2005 - This is the first hard drive mp3 player I've purchased, and I've got to say I'm very pleased. I did a lot of research, and this player seemed to be just right for me--enough capacity to store all my favorite songs, plus some, but not too much that I feel the need to put every last song I own onto it. I mostly play it through my car's AUX, and the adapter I use has metal on the 'shoulder' that touches the metal top of the player, and when you move either one, it causes 'noise', or distortion. This can be remedied by getting a new adapter with a plastic shoulder. A couple other complaints involve the carrying case. A clip would be very nice, as I have to put it in my pocket, and pockets are notorious for lint and dirt, and that's just not good. In addition to a clip, a see-thru window for the screen and the ability to push the play/stop/next/prev buttons would be nice. Also, it's just too easy to accidentally turn it on when putting the player in or taking it out of the case--this is where a Hold switch would be nice. There is a hold function once the player is turned on, but as far as I understand, there is no hold once the power is off. The Rio Music Manager is OK, but requires your mp3/wma library to be in good order, i.e. having properly spelled titles, albums, artist names, etc.. If you have a song titled "Artist ft. Another Artist - Title", then it's going to add another artist to the list on the player. It took a little bit to get used to, but once I did I found that it's very easy to change attributes of files, and to change groups of files quickly. Also, the ability to create and edit playlists on the player would be great... *hint* update firmware *hint* I've purchased Rio products before, and I've had nothing but good experiences. Despite my petty little complaints, I would definitely recommend this player to anyone.

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The Best Mp3 player in the market

Posted Sep 8, 2005 - Rio was an unknown brand for me when I bougth it in April 2005. I was a little hesitant about the purchase but the product turned out to be great. I am avid music listener. I liked this player a lot. The most important feature that made me buy Rio Carbon was its equalizer feature which has 5 channels. I guess no other mp3 player has qualizer in the market. I checked the other players, and found no equalizer. It is important for me, as I said I listen the music in detail and I generally don't want to listen the song raw as they come out of the studio. I should adjust level of frequency by myself to enjoy each song in a different setting. The product is very tiny and light. The red color of the controls gives it a nice look. The battery life is excellent. I checked it myself with a long audiobook. It lasted around 20 hours as it is advertised without any skipping and forwarding, while lights are off, etc. The product also also has nice sound quality. It has a voice recorder option, too. I happened to use it sometimes. The price of the product is far less than its competitors with a comparable storage even though Rio has many more features and a nicer look. The only negative I can say is that its case may have come with a window section so we could have seen the LCD screen without takint it out of its case. But I found the solution myself and cut two windows for the LCD and controls with a scissor. So in order to see the minutes left , or to skip to the next song, I don't need to take the player out of its case. I remembered another one. There is 2-inch extension cable for the earphone in the package. That cable breaks down although you use it neatle after 1 or 2 months. I already changed it three times. But it is not a big deal. You can alwasy connect your earphones to the device directly. Another point is that the device bios upgrade on the company website limits the volume level to 90 db. in order to comply with French law. I recommend you not download it. It does not make any difference in device performance and I am enjoying full volume capacity of the device. If you upgrade, the volume level really stays low in an outside environment and you start hearing the outside sounds. As a result, I give a 5 star to this product. I guess Rio should release bigger storage products. 6GB is not high enough. If they release a 20 GB. player, I can purchase it.

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This is a really great product. You can't beat the ...

Posted Apr 23, 2005 - This is a really great product. You can't beat the small size, large space, and inexpensive price. I would definitely recommend the RIO. It's perfect for running, biking, and any other physical activities.

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Of all the MP3 players I have listened to and used ...

Posted Mar 22, 2005 - Of all the MP3 players I have listened to and used, the Rio Carbon is my absolute favorite. The steel case makes it look very sleek and hi-tech, and the package is very small and convenient. The player user-interface is very friendly and easy to learn and use (such as locking the buttons to put the player in a pocket, etc). The 5GB size is cavernous - I have loaded over 1300 songs and STILL have almost 1Gig of free space! You can sort your songs by artist, album, all, or loaded playlists, and you can set the player to random play to get a good mix. Rio has top notch customer support (in my experience) - see below. There are only 2 things I don't like about the Carbon. My headphones tend to crackle at times - I have read it is a problem with the plug type. Although I must say I e-mailed Rio and they are sending me both an adapter and a washer to eliminate the problem. The second problem is the lack of accessories for the player. There are not a lot of sources for cases and other accessories so that you can attach the player to your belt, etc. Also the case that comes with the player is pretty much for storage only - no window so it cannot be used for "play through". The Rio Music Manager software is also excellent -very well organized and very easy to learn and start using immediately. I was up and running with my new Carbon in a matter of minutes! All in all I love the Carbon and will be a big fan of this player for a long time. I have almost had it a month and only had one intermittent problem (crackling headphones) that Rio is taking care of. I highly recommend this player to anyone who is looking for a stylish yet great sounding and great functioning MP3 player.

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This is one of the sleekest looking mp3 players th ...

Posted Mar 29, 2005 - This is one of the sleekest looking mp3 players that I have owned. The player is very functional and stores a great amount information. I have songs as well as voice books to use when I want to.

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This is a great player, I purchased a Zen Micro an ...

Posted Jan 16, 2005 - This is a great player, I purchased a Zen Micro and while a neat player it suffered from quality issues (short battery life, lockups etc) So far I love this player

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You never know how much music you have until you b ...

Posted Feb 21, 2005 - You never know how much music you have until you buy a portable MP3 player, then 100 GB isn't enough. Great little unit, 25% more storage then iPod mini- for less money. If you want to look trendy, buy the white earbuds with the money you saved.

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Very small and thin. extremely portable. good bat ...

Posted Apr 27, 2005 - Very small and thin. extremely portable. good battery life. included headphones are decent. no need to use Rio Music Manager with winXP...just plug and play...the computer sees it as another storage drive.

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this is a very good mp3 player. i highly recommend ...

Posted Feb 27, 2005 - this is a very good mp3 player. i highly recommend buying this player. it has a VERY long battery life, and is very small for its capacity. also very thin. it has a nice silver color. unlike the ipod mini, it not only plays mp3s but also wmas. very good mp3 player for the price.

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Bought this unit to listen to my music while worki ...

Posted Jan 16, 2005 - Bought this unit to listen to my music while working out. I am happy to have purchased it, but had to purchase a separate set of headphones, since the ones that came with it were inadequate for quality sound. Bottom line, for the price, you can't go wrong.

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It has very good design,it looks quite cool ,large ...

Posted Mar 9, 2005 - It has very good design,it looks quite cool ,large storage space,the music quality is so well,the button is very convient and easy to press,I hate ipod's button,it is hard to press,the harddrive has some bit noise

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