Quote:
Are UI features anywhere remotely comparable to those of empeg?

As one of the contributors to the Rio Karma UI, I may be biased, but here's my take on this.

Apple are undoubtedly highly capable in the design of intuitive user interfaces. When there is a tradeoff to make between intuition early in the learning curve and convenience later in the curve, they always go for the solution that is fast and easy to learn. I find this can make some aspects of the iPod UI a little cumbersome after becoming familiar with the product (i.e. after 30 mins). Nonetheless there is nothing horrible in there - some aspects are cleaner than the Karma and vice versa.

It is featureset where the Karma and iPod start to diverge. Both Karma and iPod have many advanced features, but the Karma features tend to be oriented toward core functionality (i.e. audio playback) while the iPod's unique features are more esoteric (for a DAP), many of them having nothing to do with music at all. For example, Karma does gapless playback, has a fully parametric equaliser and supports OGG and FLAC. iPod has PDA features, games, and will play iTMS content.

If it wasn't for hard disk capacity I would definitely suggest that any empeg owner is likely to be more comfortable with the Karma. As it is, you need to decide whether 20GB is enough (you can always cycle content) - and don't forget the better battery life. However, I would strongly recommend that anyone purchasing a Karma does so from a high street store and takes an extended warranty (that coming from someone who would usually never consider doing such a thing). Consider the number of iPods sold vs the number of Karmas, then google for the failure stories..

Rob