40GB player delayed, possibly cancelled

Greetings!

The beta team was informed today that the "powers that be" at DNNA / Rio have shelved the concepts of a 40GB Rio Karma and any carrying case for a while. We do not know why this decision was made - hopefully a more "official" announcement will be made eventually.

We have been given permission to pass this along to this and other forums.

I have no other information (NDA or not) to provide on this at this point. As more information is available, I am sure it will be posted.

That is bad.

Very, very bad.

And I was getting pretty excited about the Karma too. I really do not want to buy an Ipod.

That's the strange thing. I am not sure why this was done.

There is the 20GB unit, and it is Great...

I know. I am the last person to defend less disk space.

That's sucky. I still can't buy the thing though! Somebody please make them release it in the UK!

My guesses are:

20GB didn't sell as expected so they are canning the player all together. (I hope this isn't the case)

20GB didn't sell as expected because people are waiting for the 40GB so they are putting the 40GB on hold for a while.

Problems with or getting the 40GB drives.

Problems with the 20GB they want to resolve before making more players.

Hopefully the Karma doesn't end up the the Rio Central

I was thinking of cancelling my Karma 40GB order in favor of Nitrus. I guess my decision was made for me.

Hopefully the Karma doesn't end up the the Rio Central

Ugg. Don't say that. I really want to buy a Karma next spring. But if the support of the product goes the way of the Rio Central or Receiver, then I will have a hard time justifying the cash for one. I know it is somewhat a catch 22 issue, but with DNNA already dropping the 40gb player...

The thing has only been out a few weeks... some stores don't even have it yet. My guess is that its survival will be based on professional reviews and sales during the holiday season. Just a guess.

The Circuit City here in Minnetonka, MN just got two 20GB players today.

The future of the 40GB Karma is uncertain at at the moment but Rio does plan on releasing a 40GB Karma in the future. This is indeed not the death knell for Karma - the fun has only just begun! Rio will be making an official announcement about exciting plans for the future of Karma soon.

The future of the 40GB Karma is uncertain at at the moment but Rio does plan on releasing a 40GB Karma in the future. This is indeed not the death knell for Karma - the fun has only just begun! Rio will be making an official announcement about exciting plans for the future of Karma soon.

Hmmm, I think you have to either de-cloak, put the super-secret Empeg BBS password hash in your post, or provide a link to that official announcement.

North?

I was wondering if this FAQ entry needed updating...

Probably.

I think if you look at nanook's posts it's pretty obvious he or she is an insider.

I think if you look at nanook's posts it's pretty obvious he or she is an insider.

Or maybe it's Leo DiCaprio reprising that whole Catch Me If You Can thing! An authoritative impersonator.

I *still* say he gotta use the sekrit passphrase!

Rob kind of implied this at the BBQ on Monday. I didn't want to pass it along as I wasn't sure how public the information was. No one really knows how well the karma is selling though, as it hasn't filled the delivery que, and only a few stores have it in stock. Once you can buy it anywhere anytime, they'll know how many they're actually selling per week. I suspect that for the vast majority of people, the 20GB player is plenty. Since there's no incentives to purchasing the 40 (like getting a dock or remote controll), other than space, they're probably worried about selling enough of them. Or perhaps the HD supplier has 60GB being released any day now. Who knows.

That being said, I got to play with Rob's karma for a bit, and it reaffirmed just how much I need one. The thing is tiny and the firmware is great fun to play with. (and Toby has Big Plans for the visuals)

Matthew

If true, Karma is dead.

Matt, we should get together one of these days. I'm in Minneapolis, too.

Jim

Greetings!

I can confirm that nanook is an insider. I fell asleep before the official word on what could be said came out. That person posted for me... Thank you!!!

I am under NDA, so I cannot say anything more about how positive that announcement will be!

I am under NDA, so I cannot say anything more about how positive that announcement will be!

.......... nice use of the bold font though

I can assure you that if I wasn't under NDA, I could tell you that Karma's most definitely not dead.

...And I would agree with you, and add that there is nothing further from the truth, if I were not under NDA...

Boy, you guys are really thaking these NDAs seriously.

Maybe the 40s are being delayed because they're giving them all away to us charter members of the empeg community.

Boy, you guys are really thaking these NDAs seriously.

We have been warned. Well, threatened, technically. In a nice way. Just jokingly. But they are serious. So all we can do is sit back and not say anything...

Maybe the 40s are being delayed because they're giving them all away to us charter members of the empeg community.

That would be nice. Not likely, but nice.

I JUST WANT TO BUY ONE IN THE UK

/been down the pub

Hmmm... could the 40s be delayed as a 60gb is now available? Hmmmm. (Phil hopes)

I can confirm that nanook is an insider.

/me checks who Nanook is...

Ah, yes. If Nanook says something, listen.

I've ordered my 20gb from neutronexpress who show them in stock, with thier hot swap warranty.
International shipping to NZ.

Cheers,
Jai

Ah, yes. If Nanook says something, listen.


How do I know you're *really* Tony?

How do I know you're *really* Tony?

Can bots lie?

Can bots lie?

Sure, as long as it doesn't conflict with one of the three laws.

I wonder if this has anything to do with Apple's announcments yesterday? Perhaps DNNA wants to play a little catch up before releasing the 40?

-Mike

Send me an email if you ever want to.

well, for what its worth. i was recently at a Fry's Electronics in Phoenix. AZ . and they had a nice RIO endcap on one of the isles, but the Karma was knowhere to be found, Only the little players, not even the nitrus was there.. after about a half hour searching i finally found the karma. there were like 15 of them sitting on the 2nd shelf from the floor in the corner of one isle, totally out of the general eye of customers.. not good.

b

Agreed. Not good. I will post something on the beta board - usually, the marteking types work out some kind of arrangement for product placement on shelves. I don't know if this applies to electronics, but it might be worth checking.

I actually got confused at Circuit City because i didn't realize the hard drive players were on one side of a door (aisle against a wall) and the other players were on the other.

Yeah, what they said. At one Circuit City, the Karmas were in the back stockroom with no indication on the floor that they were there. It took three different people to find one. Of course they had empty display boxes on the shelves for the iPod.

--Nathan

To their credit, no empty boxes for the iPod or the Karma at the State College, PA Circuit City. The places on the shelves for both had only a sign saying they were in stock and to ask an associate. Of course, the associate didn't know they existed or where they were until I though to mention "hard disk player" and that their web site claimed they were in stock at that store.

in that Fry's , all the big IPOD boxes were located right in a main isle, and all at eye level, you could not miss them..

b

booey, which frys did you go to?

also, and i doubt it from the way you mentioned where they were hidden, did they have a display unit set up?

I've spent the last week going to local best buy / compusa. Comp USA doesn't have a signle rio player. And Best Buy is only carring everything but the Karma. I really want a 40gb, and i would have purchased a 20gb if anyplace locally had them instock.

In any case, anyone is interested, I just purchased a Rio Karma off of a site called thenerds.net for $330.00, which when combined with the $20 mail-in rebate on the Karma offered at rioaudio.com makes it a pretty good deal in my book. I am looking forward to receiving what looks like a tiny and very cool little player.
James

I was at the fry's in phoenix, AZ.. no display unit, nothing. as i said before they had a big RIO display at the end of one of the isles, but all they had there were little chiba units.. no nitrus or karmas..
b

I just went to look at the Karma at Fry's (Sunnyvale, CA) today also... awful product placement. I almost thought they didn't have it. Don't get me wrong, I like the store (I have a friend or two working there), but someone at Rio needs to go talk to them about placement.

As opposed to the comments in this thread, there is no Rio display at all in Fry's Sunnyvale (their flagship store, coincedentally). They have a small section in the aisle for MP3 players, and at the left is a small column of Rio players. The Karma was actually at the very bottom shelf near the floor, shoved in faced down. They had two in stock. Wouldn't have noticed it if I wasn't looking for it.

Seems to be getting some curious glances though. Someone looking at players at the same time was looking at the Karma as I was holding it, then put it back. Surprisingly small. Good sign.

Status: In Transit
Shipped to: AUCKLAND, NZ
Shipped or Billed on: Oct 17, 2003

Tracking Number: xx xxx xxx xxxx
Service Type: EXPRESS
Weight: 2.50 Lbs

YAY

I made a special trip yesterday to the Bellevue Circuit City to check out the Karma. It was on the bottom shelf of a locked cabinet and nearly invisible. If I too had not been specifically looking for it, I would have never found it.

I was disappointed there wasn't an open box display of the new Rios. I would have liked to have held the unit in my hands, and compared with the others there. They did have a few of
the other players hanging on the display hooks, but that's not the same. I think the weird over-sized plastic packaging makes it extremely difficult to find space for display.

The Karma did look very small, but the two units were stocked under several 20&40GB iPods. There was a $20 rebate for the Karma, making it slightly less expensive, but the iPod packaging looks so much nicer...

Here's hoping Karma gets some better placement soon.

In reply to:

---

...And I would agree with you, and add that there is nothing further from the truth, if I were not under NDA...

---

Hokay, so I'm out here, in Colorado, second half of my trip. I decide to look online and see if the 40's availalbe yet, and I see this.

Since I respect ya'lls NDA (I'm under a few myself. Nothing to do with this, of course. ) I WILL ask this:

Given what you know under the NDA clause, can you put into your own words the answer to:
I've been waiting for the 40. Should I CONTINUE TO WAIT, or crap out and get the 20?

Me.

There is supposed to be an official announcement "real soon now"... I do not know what they, the marketing folks, are putting into their announcement, but I would defer until that time.

Not helpful, I know...