Rio Carbon (5 GB) Digital Media Player

I'll start by saying that if your computer runs the Vista OS, it will not detect this player at all. There's no way around it. I have searched for hours online trying to find a driver compatible with Vista, but appearently none exists, leaving your new Mp3 player completely useless. Make sure before you buy that your OS is compatible with the Carbon by visiting Rio's website. Having said that, the Carbon is a great player. The controls are simple and intuitive. Virtually anyone familiar with mobile media devices will have absolutely no trouble operating this thing. The backlit screen displays the current track, album title, track info, song length, time elapsed, current time and date, remaining battery life, and is very easy to read. It also has a voice recorder and is relatively small. All in all, this is a very nice Mp3 player for anyone who has a significant music library and isn't interested in video capabilities. I almost forgot, it has custom playlist functionality as well.

I've used my Rio Carbon for a few years and it's performance has been satisfactory for my needs. My complaints against this Rio is how slow it seems to boot-up (near full storage has a factor), and that it produces a noticeable high pitched hum while in operation (which does not transfer through audio). Rio Music Manager program is a little tedious (even infuriating) and the time and date never remains correct (resets to Jan. 1970 ?!?), but these are trifle quirks and concerns.

I would consider charge time and holding a charge to be fair. After a full charge the battery will drain quickly regardless of daily use or not. But on the other hand, the Carbon will hold some power for nearly a week.

It's a know fact that small, frequently used, portable gadgets like MP3 Players are bound to take a few hard knocks (and survive), but not when it comes to the Rio and it's volume dial. Granted the knob placement is comfortable for the thumb, handy access for use on the go, but its also an Achilles heel. My Rio took a bump on the top right corner and my volume button was smashed down inside the frame, not easily fixed. This rendered my Rio next to useless because there is no other way to manually adjust the audio (like through the internal menu for example). The same thing happened to my sister who owned an identical Rio Carbon. An estimate on having it fixed was next to buying new.

Vulnerability of volume control in its construction design is an important characteristic to keep in mind when considering the Rio Carbon. I suggest buying a protective case (other than the one that it comes with) if you are still interested in a Carbon. Even though as a personal player, my Rio is useless with earphones and high non-adjustable volume, I still am able to use it through hookups with other external audio systems where I can regain some volume range (such as car radio, home stereo, etc.). This is still limiting but adequate for the time being. My sister was not quite so lucky. In the future it is uncertain that I'd consider purchasing a Rio Carbon again when shopping for a replacement MP3 Player.

I had Rio Carbon for almost a year. It is smaller than iPod mini. In fact it was the smallest 5gb mp3 player of its time (before nano came out). The price is truly unbeatable. The design is flawless and intuitive. Battery time is the longest I've experienced. It plays for 15-20 hours on one charge, unlike 8-12 on the ipod. My favorite feature is equalizer. The sound comes out rich with amazing 'high bass' mode. It also has a sound recorder and a stop-watch.

Cons: The one and only setback is it's lack of on-the-fly playlist creation. The latest firmware update allowed to browse music by folders, but scrolling through songs is still a hassle.

Overall this is one of the best portable music players with unbeatable price to features ratio. This is truly a smart buy.

I've had a Rio Carbon for 9 months. It plays for 20 hours on a recharge. I play it every day and it works great. It has many eq settings and all sorts of catagories to store and file your music. I also use it for my audio books. This player can hold many hours of audio, in book form as well. Ipod blogs in mp3 format play very well also. The software provided works well and is easy to use to load and organize your library of music and/or books. It comes with all cables and software needed to use right out of the box. It also can be powered with ac power as well as the internal batteries. There is a small device that plugs into the wall and the player then operates/recharges thru the usb connector. Strange but it works well.. I love my carbon player because I have complete control over the use of it. I'm not tied to using the itunes software to load my device. It comes with ear buds. I don't like ear buds. You can use any headphones you want. I also have a pillow speaker that I use at night. I just plug in the pillow and listen softly all night.

This was my second mp3 player. When I decided to upgrade from my Creative Zen NX, I wanted an mp3 player that was very compact, but it also had to have good sound quality. The Rio Carbon did all this and more. It is very small, about the size of an ipod mini, has a very attractive design, and the sound quality is great. It can hold 5GB of songs, which was more than enough for me, at a price less than that of an Ipod or Ipod mini. Like all mp3 players you buy though, you'll want to invest some money in a better set of headphones/earbuds than the ones that are included. The software is also very easy to use. I was transferring songs from my computer within minutes. It may not have a lot of fancy features, but what it does, it does well. The best thing though is the battery life. The newest generation of Ipods are listed with a battery life of 14 hours per charge. The Rio Carbon is listed with a battery life of 20 hours per charge. Obviously, the actual battery life isn't quite that high, but it is superb nonetheless. I probably use my Carbon a couple hours a day, and I can make it through a whole week, sometimes two, on a single charge.