Karma dead

Long time no see, but have no idea where else to ask this question. My Karma no longer communicates when I plug it into the dock (tried 2 docks). I reckon I'll just buy a new mp3 player, but does anyone know of another player that lets you set bookmarks like the Karma did? I've had iPods and iRivers before (a long time ago) but neither of those did.

Any help appreciated

(There's actually a "Rio Hard Drive Portables" section of the bulletin board.)

Perhaps we can get your Karma working again for you.

First question: Have you used the paper-clip reset switch?

When you said "it no longer communicates", please be more specific. Does the computer detect its existence at all? If it does, is there an error message when you attempt to run Rio Music Manager?

Are there any errors displayed on the player's screen? Aside from the connection issue, does the player work normally without showing signs of trouble?

Have you installed a new operating system onto the computer recently, for example, upgrading to Vista? Have you tried re-installing Rio Music Manager since doing so?

Have you tried using both the USB cable connection to the dock, as well as the ethernet connection to the dock? Do you get different results for each?

You said you tried different docks, but did you try different USB cables? Did you try plugging the USB cable directly into the Karma instead of the dock? Did you try a different USB port? Did you verify that the USB port and USB cable work for other devices other than the Karma?

If you'd rather just toss the player instead of diagnosing it, perhaps someone here on the BBS would like to take it off your hands.

Regarding your main question: I don't know if the new iPods have bookmarks or not. You could try one out at an apple store if you have access to one of those where you live.

The iPods don't have manual bookmarks like the Karma, but it will save your position in a file if it is marked as a certain type. If it is an audiobook, podcast, or a few other formats, the players will auto save position and even sync this info back to iTunes.

Yeah, not what I need though. I listen to a lot of spoken word recorded off the radio, typically a playlist of 100+ programmes, sometimes I get the urge to play some music so I set a bookmark and come back to where I was in the playlist. A really really cool feature.

Just to add to Tony's suggestions, have you tried using the Ethernet interface on the dock? I have always used that in the past.

I will take the unit off your hands for spares if you are going to chuck it out. My Karma is going to be used instead of my empeg in my car shortly (I want something I can hide in the car and not take with me so that's the iPhone ruled out )

Cheers

Cris.

I always thought you could craft a spectacular car mount out of a Karma dock.

Tony, the reason that I asked here rather than the Rio HD Portables section is that I'd tried all the things I could think of (paperclip reset, new dock, new usb cable, different usb port, plug/unplug, restart PC, restart player etc), and kind of guessed I'd be looking for a new player, not a fix.

I have recently changed from Win2K to Vista but have had no previous issues with RMM.

The only thing I didn't try that you've listed was to plug the player in direct to USB/power cables, have just done that, and guess what? It worked. Whenever I dispose of it I'll definitely let the guys here know, I've got 3 lots of accessories and 2 (both now functional) players in nice leather cases.

Many thanks, as usual

I'd forgotten it even existed

You must have read my mind

The new smart comes with a lockable glovebox (all together - WOOOOOHOOOO!) so the 2 options were empeg in glove box or karma in glovebox. Both won't let me select or skip tracks, still thinking on that one.

Anyway, this is pretty off topic

The karma is well worth saving, still the best music player I have ever used. I really miss the hard buttons on the iPhone to skip tracks when it's in my pocket.

Cheers

Cris.

By far the best player I've used, and I kind of like it's lumpiness. I use mine almost exclusively in the car, it's plugged in to the CD changer jack on the back of my headunit (Audi), all that's visible is a bit of cable with a 3.5mm plug on it that I tuck under the seat when not in use, this means I can control it while driving.

Still would have been on-topic for that section. "What is a good Karma replacement?"

Which, from the looks of things, is still an unanswered question for you, since the iPods don't have the bookmarks feature.

I've gotta say, the Empeg guys seem to have a knack for inventing must-have features that no one else can duplicate. After 8 years, I'm still carrying my Empeg-Car with me everywhere I go because I can't live without some of its features. Things like "Enqueue" that the iPod and its ilk still don't implement.



Ah! Bad dock, then, or since you tried two docks, more likely a bad dock-connector on the Karma. Perhaps enough years of inserting and removing the thing from the dock have messed up its connector, perhaps breaking one or more of the solder joints that connects the dock-connector to the circuit board. Possibly fixable.

In any case, I'm glad you got it working for now.

Oh hey, hang on. Do the Karma docks *require* the AC adapter power in order to get a connection going? If so, maybe that's the source of the problem, a bad AC adapter power supply. When you tried the two docks, did you use the same power supply for both of them?

Same PSU in both docks, and direct to the Karma

When plugging that PSU direct to the Karma, does it work and does it charge the Karma?

If so then my guess is it's probably the dock connector thing I said rather than the PSU thing.

Yup, looks like it's the docking port on the Karma that's buggered

FWIW: vibez has the same Bookmarking as the Karma (dubbed "Sessions" for some reason) and has Enqueue (not sure if behaves exactly like the empeg but I use it all the time).

Still waiting on a 16 GB flash version that was due to be available this week. 32 GB has also been promised, but no ETA on that.

I completely agree. When I was skiing last winter on the chair lift. I was thinking, it would be awesome if Hugo coded a quick double press on the iPhone mic clicker that would skip the current playing track. So I tried, and it does. Thanks Hugo! This has helped me quite a bit with using the iPhone as my main portable mp3 player.

I'd much rather have my karma at all times, however it's alot easier to buy another iPhone than a karma, so mine just hangs out on my desk in the dock.

Forgot about the vibez players, will take a look when my karmas finally die.

Just been reading the "CF card in karma" thread, looks like my Karma's will live for a while yet

Not my feature idea, but yes most useful... in the 2.1 builds a triple click skips back a track, too

Hugo