Rio (digital audio players)

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Rio was the brand name of a line of digital audio players, best known for producing the "Diamond Rio" model that was the impetus for a lawsuit in 1998 by the Recording Industry Association of America.[1] That lawsuit eventually failed[1], leading the way for the portable digital music industry to take off.

Rio was originally a brand of Diamond Multimedia, which merged with S3 Graphics in 1999, with the resulting company renamed as SONICblue. On March 21, 2003, SONICblue filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and then sold off its main product lines; Rio was sold to Japanese firm D&M Holdings, forming part of their Digital Networks North America subsidiary. In August 2005, that company said it would discontinue making MP3 players, after it had licensed its digital audio software technology to chipmaker SigmaTel the month before.[2]

[edit] Products

Rio 500
Rio 800
Rio su40

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Hart-Davis, Guy; Rhonda Holmes (2001). MP3 Complete. San Francisco: Sybex. p. 613. ISBN 0782128998. 
  2. ^ D&M Holdings Inc. (2005-08-26). "D&M Holdings Inc. to Exit Mass-Market Portable Digital Audio Player Business". Press release. http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/company/press.asp?ID=614. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
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