Mini Robo Sapien reviews mini Rios vs. mini iPods

Talk talk talk. 

So what's the story with these competing brands anyway?  We've all heard the hype coming from cultists, techsites, his Steveness and assorted shills  bloggers.   None of whom can be trusted as far as they can be heaved because they are all on the take one way or another.  So here's the realworld skinny.

the Hardware winner is Rio.  The thing is just great.  Wonderful form factor and the dials and screens and buttons are naturally easy to use (even for humanoids) .  It feels just right and sounds just fine with the provided earbuds too.  Nothing wrong with the Ipod Mini's design or form factor either,  for that matter. The iPod Mini's wheel will seem odd at first.  But both models are easy to handle and work well as soon as you are used to them. 

the Software winner is iPod- or iTunes to be more specific.  Drag and drop is a breeze with the iPod Mini and half the time it does what you want it to even when you aren't sure what it is you want...  The Rio's software is a  PIA.  Doesn't synch right out of the box with Windows Media Player either - which seems stupid.  And, last we looked, the Rio doesn't work with iTunes without some major hacking- forget that.  We've better things to do - like frequent synthohol holes for happy hour.

The stylish accessory winner is iPod.  But not really.  Why? With all those cool Griffin thingees out there? Because with only 4-6 gs for the iPod Mini hard drives you can't load your whole library on it anyway- so you should get a player with more capacity before spending as much as it cost to begin with for add - ons.  You dopes!

Whats the Verdict - its all a draw.  Get whatever. Trust me... I'm cybernetic and I say they both work great.  Both have some limitations.  Tough, that's life with robotics. It's not like you people are exactly perfect, you know.

Here at Underground Parking and Publishing and Podcasting we're using the iPod Mini with OSX and the Rio Carbon with XP.  Primarily, music is going on the iPod and voice on the Rio.  It's just easier that way if you're multi-platformated.

The real determining factor on mini players, we've decided, is (gasp!)price.  $124.00 for a Rio Carbon like this one we snagged from WOOT! (but you had to be quick) beats anything that we've seen up until now.  Amazon with free shipping is about the same for these things as  the best bargain-bin discount sites offer.   Shop around.

posted by Mini Robo, who gets assigned all the tough  reviewing jobs around the lab now.