Everybody?s got a favorite element. And it?s true that all 117 of them do their part in making this crazy mixed-up world go around (except for meitnerium ? what is that guy?s problem?). Big ups to hydrogen, no doubt. Oxygen, much respect. Stay gold, silver. Lithium was there for us when we needed it most. And we?ve had some pretty good times with sulphur.

But if we were stranded on a desert island and we could only take one element with us, we?d go with carbon. Not only is it the basis of all known life, it?s also the basis of every bubble in our sodas and every diamond in our tiaras. What?s that? You want to put on your rayon Hawaiian shirt and drive your oil-burning car to the store to buy a plastic case for your graphite pencils? Good luck with no carbon!

By the way, you seem a little weird lately, with the Hawaiian shirts and the pencil case and all. We?ll admit, we?re a little concerned. But whatever, it?s your life.

While the Rio Carbon 5 GB MP3 player may not be quite as essential to that life as its elemental namesake, once you?ve owned one, you?ll wonder how your cells ever converted and stored energy without it. A sleekly mercurial casing holds an ample-but-not-too-showy 5GB hard drive and up to 20 hours of play time on a single battery. And it?s easy to load with MP3, WMA, and Audible files via the swift USB 2.0 connection. Sure, life on Earth could go on without the Rio Carbon ? but can you really call that living?

• 5GB of memory stores up to 1250 songs
• Built-in mic for voice record
• Drag & drop data and music files
• Rechargeable battery ? up to 20 hours
• USB 2.0 for faster downloads
• Charge from USB or Power Adapter
• Plays MP3, WMA & Audible

• Windows 98SE, 2000, ME, XP and MAC® OS X v10.2 or later.
• Intel Pentium II 233 mhz or higher.
• 64MB RAM.
• 35MB available hard drive space.
• USB Port.
• CD-ROM drive