Well my wife just got her Karma and I thought both of our initial impressions might be interesting.

About Her:
First of all, she understands computer, but she is far from a gadget freak. The Karma is not something she would have bought for herself, but it IS something she’s been talking about nonstop since I first started showing her pictures. She definitely “gets” the concept of hard drive based mp3 players and has complained for the last two years that I boxed up all of my CDs so she can’t find anything she wants.

Her Impressions:
She waited for me to show her how to use it (I was out of town when it arrived). In a normal situation she’d probably have been quite capable of installing the software and loading music, but she has some hesitation with what she perceives as the complexity of the process and preferred to wait for me to show her since I’ve been into it for a while. Had she not had me as a resource, however, I’m sure she’d have made out fine.

The first thing she said to me was how small it was and how great it sounded. She was VERY impressed with the sound quality, so much so that she mentioned it in the same breath as her pleasure at how small (and “cute”) it was. She also really liks the docking station and they way it lights up. She had no problem figuring out how to play and navigate the music that came on the player. And she even liked the case that came with it- yup the same one everyone else hates. I don’t really think she was thinking of it in terms of protection quality though. So before she had any music on it she was already in love with her Karma. It remains to be seen what she thinks of it once she starts using it. So far her only complaint is that she REALLY wants a car dock that she can plug it into and have it just work in the car. I got her an FM modulator, but it clearly doesn’t do the unit justice.

My Impressions:
I think it sounds fantastic (though note that this was through a new set of head phones I also bought my wife for Christmas). The first thing I put on it were some studio tracks we were working on this weekend so my wife could hear how the songs are coming out. I was blown away with how good they sounded, so much that I made everyone listen to the cuts on the Karma so they’d be really impressed!

I really liked the playlist features and thought everything was well laid out, especially for the number of things it will do. I’ve now loaded hundreds of songs pulled directly from my empeg, and my only complaint is that I wish the “tags” from the empeg stuck with the files as the were transferred from it, but I know why this doesn’t happen and it’s not a problem with the Karma (nor really the empeg, though I wish there were a solution). I thought the Karma was very comfortable in my hand and didn’t find it thick at all. Of course, having never messed with an iPod I can’t really compare, but it seemed a nice size and shape to me. I also didn’t get the feeling it was “cheaply made” the way some have asserted.

The only thing things I found lacking were hierarchical playlists (and with this to really use them the way I want I’d also want the “Play X songs from playlist” feature as well) and I’d like to be able to purchase additional docks.

I think I’m going to have to get one eventually. It really is a lot more convenient than the empeg and I think it looks really sharp (not “cute” ).

In reply to:

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The only thing things I found lacking were hierarchical playlists (and with this to really use them the way I want I’d also want the “Play X songs from playlist” feature as well) and I’d like to be able to purchase additional docks.

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The latest jEmplode exposes both of these features of the Karma if you don't mind being a gineau pig and using ethernet only.

md

jEmplode creates additional Karma docks ! Now that is clever

Really?! I didn't know that. I'm pretty sure my wife isn't realy to be a tester, but I might give it a shot when she isn't looking!

Whoops A little too jumpy with the quoting ...

Perhaps we should get Mark to build similar functionality into Hijack so that it can create additional home docks. He'd have to port your Java hardware generation routines to C though

About the dock for the car - Tony Fabris has rigged something up I'm sure. Can't find the link just now though.

Yeah, I was looking for that earlier and couldn't find it. Maybe Tony could chime in?

In order to this she even implied that she'd give me up for a whole saturday and let me tear up her dash. The latter means it's something she really wants (especially letting me do it).

Probably because he didn't mention the karma by name. I think what you are looking for is this post.

Excellent! Thanks, that's the one.

Yeah, essentially, it's just an aux-in adapter from www.rcainput.com wired to a very clean-looking 1/8" jack on the side of the storage pocket. Keep a 1/8" cable in the glove box and you're good to go.

No, it's not technically a docking station, it doesn't supply power, but with a 15-hour battery life, the Karma doesn't need to be supplied power.

No, it's not technically a docking station, it doesn't supply power, but with a 15-hour battery life, the Karma doesn't need to be supplied power.

I don't think she cares about power, but she does want a nice clean place to stick it when she gets in the care, preferably without having to connect wires. I might be able to come up with something for her to stick it in that will grip it nicely, but I have no solution for the wires.

buy another one, hack the dock. its got the rca out
or, find a connector (not sure if one exists, perhaps someone else might know) that will fit the dock port on the bottom of the karma and grab the pins with rca out.

buy another one, hack the dock. its got the rca out

I'd probably do that if the docks were available separatly. Unfortunatly, if I buy another one it'll be for me, and I'll want the dock for myself!

The dock connector doesn't have positive locking. It's only held in by the weight of the Karma itself. So even if you were able to find the connector alone then you'd have to rig something to hold the Karma.

true, but he did already say he could prolly come up with that bit

Well, it turns out that the Ford Escape (her car) has a little slot that is perfect for the Karma. It slides in and holds really tightly (according to her). She's a bit worried about scratching the face, but we'll probably be able to find something (the carrying case?) to solve that issue. So while it doesn't take care of the "no cords" issue, her Karma now has an assigned place in the car. Oh, and she's actually quite pleased with the FM modulator, so while I'll probably end up doing Tony's solution eventually, I can hold of a bit until I'm ready to undertake that project.

And already she LOVES being able to bookmark Harry Potter and listen to Masha's (our exchange student) music while she takes her to school. Then after she drops her off resume where she left off in the audio book. Not that this type of functionality is news to any of us here, but it's always neat to hear some just blubber about how cool it is!

There was a template posted on riovolution.com for making a screen protector for the Karma. You might want to check that out.

So she has her first complaint about the Karma: It doesn’t the waving tux! I explained to her that the Karma doesn’t run Linux but she doesn’t care. She just wants the “cute little waving penguin.” Just goes to show the far reaching impact your animation has had, Tony.

At least it has the VU Meters!

She just wants the “cute little waving penguin.” Just goes to show the far reaching impact your animation has had, Tony.

Aw, thanks.

They should expose the Karma's boot up animation for editing so we can put Tux back in there if we want.

They should expose the Karma's boot up animation for editing so we can put Tux back in there if we want.

That would make my wife's year (and by extension mine as well)!

They should expose the Karma's boot up animation for editing so we can put Tux back in there if we want.

I think we're all going to have to learn to accept the fact that the Karma isn't going to be as cool or loveable as the empeg since it's not hackable. So maybe it's appropriate that Tux isn't available. Tux is the symbol of open platforms and custom user experiences.. The Karma is, well, a mass-market MP3 player.

That would make my wife's year (and by extension mine as well)!

Someone please tell me I'm not the only one who got a chuckle out of this wording.

I think we're all going to have to learn to accept the fact that the Karma isn't going to be as cool or loveable as the empeg since it's not hackable.

Oh, I understand that. That's why I didn't ask for it (it was Tony who mentioned it). I just agreed it'd be cool. Much like it'd be cool if I won the lottery, even though I don't play.

So maybe it's appropriate that Tux isn't available. Tux is the symbol of open platforms and custom user experiences..

Like I said, I explained this to my wife. She doesn't care about hackability and Linux. She just likes the cute, lovable, penguin who waves.

Someone please tell me I'm not the only one who got a chuckle out of this wording.

No comment.

They should expose the Karma's boot up animation for editing

We already support a user animation under the hood, but have not exposed it because we want to switch to animated GIF for convenience. I thought the patents had all expired in the new year but it seems that outside the US that doesn't happen until June.

Rob