Firmware, Gain, ID3 Tag, IntroScan | Rio Audio Karma MP3 guide

Rio Karma

Table of Contents

Index

Firmware

Firmware is the permanent read-only software that is installed on the player. Like software it can be updated, but unlike software it can never be deleted from the player.

FLAC

FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. FLAC is a lossless digital audio format, referring to the fact that none of the audio signal is discarded or “lost”. FLAC files decode exactly the same as the digital source material from which the FLAC file was encoded. (MP3, Ogg Vorbis, and WMA all discard inaudible parts of the signal.) Lossless compression comes at a price: FLAC gets much poorer compression ratios than the other codecs. In practical terms, FLAC files are usually four to eight times larger than typical MP3, Ogg Vorbis, or WMA files.

Gain

Gain is the extent to which an audio signal, or a limited frequency range of an audio signal, is made louder or quieter by a filter such as an equalizer. Gain adjustments boost or reduce sounds to produce a more desirable audio output.

ID3 Tag

The ID3 tag is the part of the encoded MP3 or WMA file that contains information about the digital audio file such as song title, artist, album title, encoding bitrate, track time duration, and so on. ID3 tag information is displayed on the Album/Track title line on the player’s LCD.

IntroScan

When in Introscan mode, the Rio Karma will play the first ten seconds of a track and then skip to the next track in the running order and repeat, playing ten seconds, then skipping to the next track. The IntroScan playback mode can only be accessed by moving and holding the RioStick in the up (PLAY/PAUSE) position.

MP3

MP3 is short for Moving Pictures Experts Group Audio Layer 3. MP3 is the most well known compressed digital audio file format. This format allows for near “CD quality” sound, but at a fraction of the size of normal audio files. MP3 conversion of an audio track from CD-ROM reduces the file size by approximately a 12:1 ratio with virtually no perceptible loss in quality. MP3 compression removes the redundant and irrelevant parts of a sound signal that the human ear doesn't hear. This digital sound encoding and compression process was developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits and Thomson Multimedia. The MP3 encoding process is well suited for the transfer of high quality audio files with small file size over the Internet.