Rio pitches Carbon player at iPod Mini

Not to be outdone by Apple's iPod Mini Rio has announced its own mini music player called Carbon. Carbon is powered by Seagate's super small 5GB Hard Drive. Already Carbon has some advantages over its competitor. Besides having 1GB more storage, being lighter, it can also run for up to 20 hours.

Rio will take the fight to Apple's iPod Mini this month when it ships its latest hard drive-based MP3 player, Carbon. The new machine uses Seagate's recently announced 1in ST1 hard disk, which offers 5GB of storage, 1GB more than the iPod Mini. To date, Rio has partnered with Cornice for micro hard drives. Cornice is now the subject of legal action from Seagate and from Western Digital.

Rio Carbon 5GB MP3 playerWhile Apple claims the iPod Mini offers eight hours' play time, Rio reckons Carbon will run for up to 20 hours. Given the player's name, the company should perhaps have settled for 14 hours' battery life, but we won't begrudge them the extra six hours. Apple buffs will also note it's named after one of Mac OS X's three key application programming frameworks. Carbon comes in at 90.7g, Rio said, compared to the Mini's 102g. Both retail for $249.

View: Image of Rio's Carbon Player