Rio Carbon (5 GB) MP3 Player

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.

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.

Rio out of business so Firmware is old. Volume control is weak link of this player - mine just broke but luckily it was set on high so I can control it other ways. Great value if you get it for under $100.

I love my Rio Carbon. The sound is great. I use it mostly for audiobooks. It is very easy to download and holds a lot!! It has a bookmark feature which is essential when listening to audiobooks. The only problem I have with it is that the bookmark always tends to mark at a place several minutes earlier than I have selected. This is somewhat annoying but not nearly as annoying as the last MP3 player I tried which started at the beginning of the book every time I turned it on. All in all, I think it is an excellent buy!

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.

I'm new to the mp3 game. The Rio Carbon proved to be easy to use. It comes with a disk that loads the driver, for the unit. I had no idea how to get the music I liked to wma format.I was very surprised that the unit automatically loaded into this wma format when it pulled my music files from my windows10 on my computer. I loaded quite a few disc into my windows in my computer and the unit loaded all of this music and had alot of room to spare. The sound quality from the unit was also excelant with sound separation. I have systems in all of my cars,and was surprising satisfied with the sound quality.
The Rio Carbon is pleasing to view and has a good feel to it. Some of the other units I saw seemed like nothing was there. While the unit is far from heavy, it has a nice feel to it, not like just a piece of a plastic card. The screen is viewable and not difficult to read. If your looking for a very comfortable unit, thats easy to use,and excelant overall performance,get this one. I think you'll be very satisfied with it. I am!!

I needed a player with a large capacity to download audible books and I didn't want to spend a bundle and this one filled the bill. I currently have 3 books, one very large, and still have lots of space for more. The controls are easy, the display easy to read and it's really a very nice looking player. As players go, it is on the larger side but fits very comfortable in my palm. This is one of three players I have and I truly like this the best. I have no dislikes at this time.

I am an avid audio book listener, and the Rio Carbon is the easiest MP3 player I have used (of several) to listen to audio books. Unfortunately, Rio is no longer in business, so when my most recent Carbon showed signs of being on it's last legs, I replaced it on EBay. Of course, the purchase was used, and shows signs of it, but It works well, and will hopefully get me down the road for the next few years at least.

The Rio Carbon I purchased lasted 2 weeks before dying. I will never buy any electronics off of EBay again.

It has been almost more than A month and I have still not recieved my purchase. Granted it must come from Canada, but it has still been more than a month.

the rio works but was not in excellent shape as told. i can see why he included the case. the rio had some big scratches on it.