What's the word on the wired remote? I noticed on the karma that it had a port around the headphone jack which was definitly for one, but have seen no mention of one. Is the wired remote the same one that has appeared in Japan for the S Series? After having a wired remote on my minidisc player, a wired remote on the Karma would be great.

Matthew

We prototyped one - no plans to manufacture it right now. According to sales and marketing, they don't sell in any worthwhile volume except in Japan.

Rob

<whine>But the iPod has one...</whine> I guess I'll survive without one. How about designer snowboarding jackets with a karma remote built in? That's what the world really needs.

Matthew

lol
i never saw anything on how well those sold. do you know?

It looks like they're still making them, so they must sell a few. At $500 they probably don't sell too many. There isn't a single one on ebay, either.

Inline remotes are great though. With my minidisc player, I hardly knew how to use the controls on the front. Going on a plane? Throw it in the pocket in front of you, clip the remote on the top of the pocket. Walking around? Leave it in your pocket, and pause/unpause when someone wants to talk to you with far less fumbling.

Matthew

The snowboarding jacket was made by Burton, one of the oldest (and biggest) snowboarding companies around. I think it was a great idea, except you had to buy THAT jacket (it wasn't movable to other Burton jackets) and it only worked with a certain player. They had a minidisc version a few years before that one.

I have a pair of Burton snowboarding pants that are 8 years old and still going strong, they make a good product.

Edit: link

Yeah. I was actually looking at that jacket awhile back but the fact it only worked with the iPod put me off. It's probably not that complicated to put a PIC or something in between but it's just the hassle of needing to hack it.

Burton make good gloves as well

I agree with you, I take my minidisc mountain biking, and skiing with me. I just throw it in the camelback and use the remote. It's fantastic!

I've always heard minidisc wasn't audiophile quality (nevermind some people's anti-Sony mindset). Or am I opening up a big ol' can o' worms here....?

Minidisc's use ATRAC compression which to my understanding is supposed to cut off the low end and high end frequencies that are already inaudible to the human ear. So it is compressed, but when biking or skiing, the quality doesn't make that big of a deal to me. I will tell you though, the nice thing about a minidisc is it is small enough to make it easy to get into concerts!

am I opening up a big ol' can o' worms here....

Yes. Extreemly Large. You could go fishing all day with that amount of worms. Minidiscs have come and gone. There's no need to throw one out, but no need to reinvest unless you need decent real time recording.

Rob, by your earlier lack of comment, I assume the S Series remote won't work with any of the current generation?

This thread brings up a question... Is there anything that isn't "big in japan"?

Matthew

The S Series remote won't work with any of the new players. We've moved away from that kind of interface.

Rob

Not having a wired remote is a pain. Any chance of one in the future?

My minidisc player has one, as does SWMBO's iPod. I'll miss it if it's not there as I never use the buttons on either of those devices

Just putting in my vote for a remote as well, having just finished a long day of riding my motorcycle. I am really tempted to get a Karma for when I am riding, and would love to have an easy way to at least have basic control without being stopped.

must get remote....

You could do something like creative did and add an AM/FM tuner. Would it be possible to add recording with the remote?

I think the Rio engineers should stop listening to the statistic and marketing fools who think people don't want a remote. I would be willing to pay maybe like $100 or so if it had an lcd screen with good functionality, am/fm radio and possibly recording. Throw in the option of Infrared and I would pay almost anything for it!!!

The wired remote does seem to be one of the more often requested features..

Is there a marketing@rioaudio.com address we can email?

Matthew

--admin edit, fixed links. URL tags do not use " like HTML

would love to have an easy way to at least have basic control without being stopped.

There's always "snowboarder hold mode". You can fat-finger any of the controls through a jacket, and you'll get basic play/pause functionality.

This feature definitely exists in the Nitrus etc., and I think it was also implemented on the Karma.

snowboarder hold mode

Very cool. I read up on this at the other board, and from the sounds of it, this is a feature that will be implemented soon on the Karma.

Hopefully by the time I buy a Karma for riding season next year, this will be in, along with hierarchical playlists.

I think one should have been included with the player, since the player has the connector for it.
Anyway hopefully one is released soon, it'd be a waste not utilising the connector. Pretty sure there would be demand for it, especially if there is a model with an am/fm tuner inbuilt.

Any further news on this?

Jai

they don't sell in any worthwhile volume except in Japan

Are these available in Japan? If so, I may be able to get some for people who want them....

wired remote with built in FM tuner would be nice, but i think im pushin it, lol

Nope, they're not being made at all as far as I know. However, you could probably make some friends buying some of the extra docks they've got on the japan web site. I still don't own a karma, so I'm not in need.

Matthew