We like Rio they don't take themselves too seriously which is easy to see from just one glance at the Rio Karma MP3 player, pitched quite squarely at the Apple Ipod the Rio Karma is quirky to look at and yet packed with features the MP3 connoisseur is looking for.

Inside the Rio Karma sits a 20gb hard drive which will hold about 5000 MP3 tracks, the Karma also supports Ogg Vorbis the new emerging music format which can store audio at the same quality as MP3 in files half the size while its not widely in use its good to know that this MP3 player is future proof. Files are transferred onto your Karma through USB 2.0 although 1.1 will also work, now a clever and very useful addition to the Karma's docking station alongside the RCA output is an RJ45 Ethernet port, yep you can network this device and give it an IP address which opens up a wealth of possibilities for the devoted gadgeteer. Sure you can use the supplied software to transfer tracks but with the device added to a network ( all configurable from the Rio) you can just drag tracks in and it will read the ID3 tags and populate the devices mini database.

The lithium ion battery gives a good 15hrs replay from a single charge but is not user replaceable and the overall size 75mm x 78mm x 25mm while not exactly small is about the same as the competition if not a bit thicker which will only upset those of you wearing tight trousers!

What makes the Rio Karma special and made us all sit up is the software, control of which is via the little joystick located at the top right-hand corner of the unit, this will be familiar to any Rio users as the little red joystick is somewhat of a trade mark on their MP3 players. When used in conjunction with the scroll wheel on the top of the Karma you can navigate the whole menu structure and that's when you really start to see the quality of this design, for instance when you select a function it does it immediately, be that to play a track or show a listing, no lag no wait instant response, this doesn't sound much but we've never experienced it before.

The top of the unit also houses the volume control and power / hold switches, the hold switch is important as its easy to knock the shuttle wheel and start playing random tracks if its not engaged when you stuff the Karma in your pocket, the Rio menu system is as easy to navigate as its Apple opponent and the software has a number of Ipod killing features.

Firstly the one feature which is truly amazing, the Rio Karma DJ system, it has a number of modes which can help you decide what to listen to, MP3 is a great format but you get that problem where all your tracks just blur into a list of names and artists and you can't check the CD sleeve for a clue, so the Rio has a few tricks and options to help you select tracks.

The first is simple "entertain me" generates a playlist from the most listened to tracks on your devices for a pre defined time, "Play all" will work its way through your collection by album, artist, genre or year, "New music" will generate playlists from tracks recently loaded onto your device and the opposite "memory lane" picks tracks you haven't player for a week, month, six months or year. Then you can select modes to play by year or decade i.e.. all 80's, De Ja Vu which must be a bit like commercial radio repeating your most listened to tracks and good old random shuffle.

All of this funky functionality can be accessed via the Rio's blue backlit screen which can be customised to show track detail or VU meters during playback of tracks and to ensure that the Rio Karma sounds as good as it looks and feels it comes equipped with Sennheiser MX300 headphones which give a good warm bass sound and if you have an MP3 player and hate the way you get gaps between tracks even off mixed albums then you'll love the Karma's in built cross fader feature.

Now there are things missing, unlike other MP3 players it doesn't do any tricks, so no FM radio or direct recording and it can't be used as a portable hard disk but then we have to ask why would you want it to, the Rio Karma is a good accomplished MP3 player and it does what it says on the tin. This is an MP3 player for those who like their gadgets stylish and with a great user interface and a few useable tricks like the auto DJ and the ability to network via RJ45.

Is it an Ipod killer? well at £280 for this 20gb version its only £10 cheaper so probably not but then despite the Ipod being a design icon you can get too much of a good thing and the Rio Karma provides a breath of fresh air in the MP3 market.

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