Hi All

Finally, after years of following empeg, I'm on the verge of buying an empeg based product (I had my name down for a mk2 empeg, but went minidisc instead), my iPods dead so I want a Karma, but can anyone tell me:

1) I haven't got USB2, how fast is transfer via ethernet compared to USB and USB2

2) Can it play .mp2 files

3) I've noticed looking around a couple of the forums that there's been a few HD & wheel problems, is it just a few or is the build quality a bit suspect?

Hoping to be an empegger soon

epwc

Or you could always wander over to the for sale section and buy a Mk2

I think the karma is 100mbit ethernet so shoud be as fast as you want but usb is fast enough the intial upload may take ages but after that you will only be doing small uploads so speed isn't really that much of an issue

USB2 is much faster than 100MB ethernet, where it is almost worth buying a USB2 card to make it happen. 100MB ethernet is faster than USB1.

Thanks for that guys, but I also wanted to know how well built it is, I'm replacing an iPod that packed up after 18 months, I want something that'll last a bit longer

My karma seems to be pretty sturdy, I haven't had any of the issues you see others posting about. But then I don't try to use mine for a hockey puck, either.

I'm quite happy with mine... the only issue I have is the screen issue (it scratches VERY easily). I need to take the time to make myself some screen protectors, though, and since I haven't done that yet I really can't complain too much.

-- Gary F.

Greetings!

I am biased because I am a beta tester for the Karma. Full disclosure there...

I have had no hardware problems with either the hard disk or the wheel. But then, I have not dropped mine on the wheel or done any bouncy exercise while using the Karma either.

With the hard drive, keep in mind that it is just that - a mechanical device involving a read head, arm and rotating platters. While they can be insulated from shocks to some extent, it is still a mechanical storage medium that will a) have some percentage of failures and b) not like being shaken or dropped very much.

As for the wheel. I have read a number of reports of people having problems. I have not read postings of people not having problems. Unless you are someone making a point about not having problems, you very rarely see good posts of "everything's great" on the web.

There were some recommendations a while back about getting any extended warranty your retailer offers. I kind of agree with this - not because I think the Karma will break or that it is not well constructed: mine has always been very sturdy. But 90 days is pretty short, and it is nice to be covered if you do find that you have trouble later on.

1) I haven't got USB2, how fast is transfer via ethernet compared to USB and USB2

The ethernet transfer is a lot slower than you would expect. It's faster than USB1, but it's a lot slower than USB2. If I had 20 gigs of tunes to load all at once, I wouldn't do it via ethernet. Ethernet is great for playlist management (especially since Jemplode allows hierarchical playlists) and for loading a few albums at a time. But for the initial "fill the player up" tune squirt, USB2 is the only way to go. Definitely get yourself a USB2 card (they're not expensive).

The main reason I upgraded the motherboard was for USB 2 with nitrus and karma, it makes a huge difference. It is also a great excuse to buy new a new motherboard and processor.

It is also a great excuse to buy new a new motherboard and processor.

Yeah, USB2 for the Karma was one of the reasons I did my last mobo upgrade.

Thanks for that Tony, I've noticed this "heirarchical playlists" thing being mentioned all over the place, what is it? Oh, and can the Karma play mp2s?

I've noticed this "heirarchical playlists" thing being mentioned all over the place, what is it?

If you have an empeg, you already know what they are. If you don't have an empeg, there is a picture of hierarchical playlists here.

Note that the picture shows the playlists being simple artist/album trees, which isn't very useful on the Karma because it can sort by artist/album already without playlists. But playlists can be freeform as well. Also note that you can link to a sub-playlist multiple times and they are "live", so if you update one copy, then all the other copies are automatically updated as described here.

For example, I have a playlist called "Low Key" that's for quiet background music. In many cases, I have copied individual tunes into this playlist, but there are a few complete albums in there, and those are linked sub-playlists. And I have a playlist called "Oh Yeah" that's for uptempo high energy stuff, which has similar sub-linked playlists. I have a third playlist called "Road Trip" for which "Low Key" and "Oh Yeah" are linked sub-playlists, as well as a few individual loose tunes.

Additionally, you can tag a sub-playlist with the ignore as child option for even more flexibility.

Oh, and can the Karma play mp2s?

Not sure. But first, a question for you. By MP2, do you mean "Mpeg-1 Layer 2", or do you mean "Mpeg-2"? Those are two different specs which might carry the same file extension.

Wow! ( I don't have an empeg)

I mean mpeg-1 layer2

Thanks

Current Karma firmware will only play layer 3 files. So most files with an "mp2" extension won't play. We're hoping to get this addressed in the future.

Peter

That would make the Karma just about perfect for me, I record a lot of DAB radio (mp2) which I listen to in the car, used to re-encode to mp3 for my iPod

I record a lot of DAB radio (mp2) which I listen to in the car

The language isn't clear... If you're not already transcoding to MP3, how are you listening to it in the car?

Or are you saying you somehow use your car's DAB radio to capture the MP2 files?

Or are you saying that you used to transcode it to MP3 and listen to it in your car and you don't any more?

Speaking of heirarchical playlists, I know you can do it with jEmpload but a quick 2 minute attempt didn't work for me (jEmpload didn't see the Karma). Is there a good thread that explains what I need to do to make it work? It may just be that I didn't upgrade jEmpload properly. This isn't a critical thing, as my wife doesn't care about them and it's her player, but I do get to use it every once and a while and I'd like to take advantage of the "feature" if I can.

I used to transcode to mp3 till my iPod (which I listened to in the car through a cassette adapter) died, It already had 0 battery life, but since yesterday it's RIP, it is an ex iPod.

It may just be that I didn't upgrade jEmpload properly.

Possibly. You must download the latest JAR file by hand and run it by itself. Where did you get that JAR file from?

Also, you have to realize that Jemplode only works over ethernet. If you are trying to use the USB connection to the Karma, then it won't work.

If you have the right JAR file and you're using ethernet, it's possible that you haven't set up ethernet properly on the Karma. Can you see the Karma via ethernet with RMM?

If you can't see the Karma via ethernet at all, check the lights on the ethernet port on the dock. If they are both lit up solid (instead of one solid and one off or blinking), then the karma is incompatible with your hub and we're on to a whole other diagnostic process at that point.

I used to transcode to mp3 till my iPod (which I listened to in the car through a cassette adapter) died

Ah, then the Karma would be no different.

I did download the latest JAR from the jEmpload site, so I think that worked.

I hadn't thought to try ethernet with RMM; that's a good next step.

Like I said, this is pretty low priority so I probably won't get around to diagnosing until next week sometime, but I'd really like to get this working. I'm planning on getting a Karma of my own some day, and at that point I'll HAVE to have nested playlists working.

karma has hierachical playlists now when did this happen it must of slipped under my radar

karma has hierachical playlists now when did this happen it must of slipped under my radar

More accurately, Karma will use hierarchical playlists if Jemplode puts them there. But it's not available by default in the RMM software. But since you're on a mac, you wouldn't be using RMM anyway. So Jemplode will make hierarchical playlists on the karma, yeah. You can also copy and paste them from the empeg to the Karma in Jemplode if you want, or use a couple of command line utilities to do a bulk copy of all your playlists from the empeg to the Karma. I also noticed the Karma honors the "ignore as child" flag properly so your're really set if you like the hierarchical playlists.

In reply to:

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I did download the latest JAR from the jEmpload site

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By jEmplode site, you do mean the super secret http://www.inzyme.com/rio/empeg, right? Not jempeg.org?

um, no. Missed that. Probably will work much better from there, hunh?

Consdering the one at the jempeg.org doesn't support the Karma, I would give that a strong yes

I keep meaning to make a new set of installers and put them up at jempeg.org, but the thought of uploading 20+ megs of data on this connection makes me cringe.