Rio Takes on the iPod Mini.

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Author: Machrone, Bill

Music player pioneer Rio Audio has introduced its first small hard drive player, the Rio Carbon, a 5GB player that's smaller and sleeker than the trend-setting 4GB Apple iPod mini.

The screen is readable and brightly backlit whenever you touch a control. And at a mere upper-right corner is in some ways superior to the iPod's touch wheel, because you feel a click for each line on the menu or each increment in volume.

Refreshingly, the Carbon does not require a driver or dedicated software on the PC. You can drag and drop individual songs or albums directly to the player's disk, and it will sort them by artist, album, genre, and year. Rio recommends that you use the provided software, however, to download playlists and DRM-protected music.

Two additional features might pique your interest: a stopwatch capable of recording up to 10 splits, and a voice recorder. The voice recordings are low-fidelity, 32-Kbps files, but adequate for the task.

The Carbon is also a great-sounding player. The earbuds that come with it are among the best conventional ones we've seen supplied with a player. They're clean in the midrange, with full bass and bright trebles. After-market headphones, however, may cause static if the plug is all metal. The Carbon's tone presets show only subtle differences. But the custom setting is a full five-band EQ with a wide range of adjustment.

If you want a gigabyte more storage in your music player for the same money as the Apple unit, give the Carbon a look.

$24939 direct. Rio Audio, www..rioaudio.com.@@@@*

SLEEKER EVEN than the iPod Mini, the Rio Carbon is tiny.

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By Bill Machrone