Jake Ludington's Digital Lifestyle

New portable audio players seem to hit the market on an almost daily basis. The only obvious feature difference is price. The Rio Karma stands out from the me-too pack by using a base station to connect to your network via wired-DHCP, and connect to your home theater system using the familiar red and white RCA connectors. A bookmark feature keeps your place in audio books (something Rio was the first to understand). Support for WMA, OGG, and MP3 makes the Karma one of the more versatile players in its class. The 20 GB hard drive is big enough for storing a large music collection at higher quality encoding settings. At 2.7x3.0x1.1 inches and 5.5 ounces, the Karma isn't the smallest player on the market, but it fits nicely in my hand and the navigation works smoothly using only a thumb. Built-in cross fading, a 5-band EQ, and an on-board DJ make the listen experience as good as you can get from something you put in your pocket.