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Rio Audio

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Rio Audio
DeveloperDiamond Multimedia (1998–1999)
SONICblue (1999–2003)
D&M Holdings (2003–2005)
TypeDigital audio players (DAP)
Lifespan1998–2005
WebsiteRio Audio (archived January 4, 2005)
Rio Japan (archived July 13, 2004)

Rio was a line of digital audio players and related audio products. Its first release, the Rio PMP300 digital music player (also known colloquially as simply the "Diamond Rio"), released by Diamond Multimedia in 1998, was one of the earliest notable and commercially successful devices in its category.[1] It also became known as the target of an early lawsuit regarding the legality of such devices. Following the PMP300, various music players were released under the Rio brand name by a number of companies until the brand was retired in 2005.

History

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The Rio PMP300

Rio was originally a brand of California based Diamond Multimedia. Rio Audio was best known for producing the Rio PMP300 model that was the impetus for a lawsuit in 1998 by the Recording Industry Association of America.[2][3] That lawsuit eventually failed,[2] leading the way for the portable digital music industry to take off.

Diamond Multimedia merged with S3 Graphics in 1999 - the resulting company was renamed SONICblue. Rio, Inc., a subsidiary of SONICblue, was formed in 2000.[4] The company referred to itself as Rio Digital Audio[5]— in later years this changed to simply Rio Audio. During this time, Rio's president was Jim Cady.[6]

On March 21, 2003, SONICblue filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and then sold off its main product lines; Rio Audio was sold to Japanese firm D&M Holdings,[7] which owned audio brands such as Denon, forming part of their Digital Networks North America subsidiary. Rio Audio was based in Santa Clara, California.[8] Its president from that time until March 2004 was Jeffrey Hastings.[9]

Like some other competitors in the digital audio player business, the Rio brand was unable to compete effectively against Apple's dominant iPod series of audio players.[10] In August 2005, D&M Holdings announced the discontinuation of its production of audio players, after it had licensed its digital audio software technology to chipmaker SigmaTel the month before.[11] The Rio brand and trademarks were retained by D&M Holdings.[12]

Products

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Rio 500, Rio's second player (1999)
Rio 800 (2000)

Rio USA

[edit]
Portable digital audio players[13]
Release Year Player Memory type Memory space Display backlight WMA FM radio Voice recording Battery type Notes
1998 Rio PMP300 Flash 32 MB + SmartMedia No No No No AA
1999 Rio 500 64 MB + SmartMedia Yes No No No AA
2000 Rio 600 64 MB + SmartMedia Yes Yes No No AA
Rio 800 (incl. 800 Extreme) 128/256 MB + SmartMedia Yes Yes No Yes Li-ion
2001 Rio One 32 MB + SmartMedia No Yes No No AA Silver PMP300 design with updated internals
2002 Rio 900 192 MB + SmartMedia Yes Yes No No Li-ion Stripped down Rio 800
Rio S10 64 MB + MMC Yes Yes No No AA
Rio S50 128 MB + MMC Yes Yes Yes No AA
Rio S30S 64 MB + MMC Yes Yes Yes No AAA Sports-oriented
Rio S35S 128 MB + MMC Yes Yes Yes No AAA Sports-oriented
Rio Riot Hard disk 20 GB Yes Yes Yes No Li-ion
2003 Rio Fuse Flash 128 MB Yes Yes No No AAA Keychain style
Rio Cali (Sport) 128/256 MB + MMC/SD Yes Yes Yes No AAA Successors to the S series
Rio Chiba Yes Yes Yes No AAA
Rio Nitrus (incl. Nitrus-S) Hard disk 1.5 GB Yes Yes No No Li-ion
Rio Karma 20 GB Yes Yes No No Li-ion Also supports Ogg Vorbis and FLAC playback
2004 Rio Carbon (inc. Carbon Pearl) 4 GB Yes Yes No Yes Li-ion Upgraded Nitrus with faster drive
Rio ce2100/ce2110 2.5 GB Yes Yes No No Li-ion Similar to Carbon, but no microphone
Rio Forge Flash 128/256/512 MB + MMC/SD Yes Yes Yes No AAA Successor to the Cali/Chiba. Also has FM radio recording.
The Rio Chiba (2003)
The Rio Carbon 5 GB HDD player (2004)
Portable CD players
Home audio players
Car audio players

Rio Japan

[edit]
Rio su40 for the Japanese market

Rio OEM models

[edit]

References

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  1. ^ "Diamond Rio model PMP300 portable MP3 player". National Museum of American History. Retrieved 2023-09-19.
  2. ^ a b Hart-Davis, Guy; Rhonda Holmes (2001). MP3 Complete. San Francisco: Sybex. p. 613. ISBN 0-7821-2899-8.
  3. ^ Sandler, Adam (1998-10-12). "RIAA sues to stop Rio sales". Variety. Retrieved 2020-07-09.
  4. ^ "Rio 800, le nouveau baladeur MP3". 23 December 2000.
  5. ^ "Top Execs to Launch Slacker Inc". Billboard.
  6. ^ Marriott, Michel (8 February 2001). "NEWS WATCH; A New Music Player Marries MP3's with CD's". The New York Times.
  7. ^ "Rio maker SONICblue files for bankruptcy protection".
  8. ^ "Telecompaper".
  9. ^ "ROKU, INC (Form: S-1/A, Received: 09/18/2017 06:11:53)".
  10. ^ Turi, Jon (12 April 2014). "Gadget Rewind 2004: Rio Carbon". Engadget. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  11. ^ "D&M Holdings Inc. to Exit Mass-Market Portable Digital Audio Player Business" (Press release). D&M Holdings Inc. 2005-08-26. Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
  12. ^ "二四六开奖结果|二四六天天好彩开播正版资料免费|二四六天天好彩网手机版". Archived from the original on 2005-11-22.
  13. ^ "Mobile-review.com История торговой марки Rio Audio". mobile-review.com.
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