I loved my Karma, but when it finally died with the click of death, I had to go iPod. Cost-wise, replacing the drive is probably the cheapest option, but getting that sucker open isn't going to be fun, either...

An ipod for me is out of the question. They're marketing monster is the reason why sonic blue and rio had to severly cut down their line. Last I checked, which I admit was years ago, they were more expensive and less featureful than the competicion and required you use itunes. (Part of the appeal for the rio was you could load it from other OSes, like linux with rmmlite, but I know I can't get that feature again.)

I blame ipod for killing the karma and any future ancestors and for brain washing the world to think of ipod as the only mp3 player. I will give them credit for impressive marketing.

I hear you... I do miss the thumb wheel more and more. I was never a big fan of Rio's software, though, while gktpod works well under kubuntu. If I can find my Rio links I'll dig out the HD models and instrux for cracking open that box...