Rio (digital audio players)
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. The resulting company was renamed 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.
Like other competitors in the digital audio player business, such as Microsoft's Zune, the Rio brand was unable to compete effectively against Apple's dominant iPod series of audio players.[2] 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.[3]
Products
- Rio USA (portable audio players)
- Rio PMP300, the second MP3 player and the first that was commercially successful
- Rio One
- Rio 500
- Rio 600
- Rio 800 (incl. 800 Extreme)
- Rio 900
- Rio Car (aka Empeg Car)
- Rio S10
- Rio S30S
- Rio S35S
- Rio S50
- Rio Riot
- Rio Karma
- Rio Nitrus (incl. Nitrus-S)
- Rio Eigen
- Rio Carbon (incl. Carbon Pearl)
- Rio ce2100
- Rio ce2110
- Rio Chiba
- Rio Forge
- Rio se510
- Rio Cali (Sport)
- Rio Fuse
- RioVolt SP50
- RioVolt SP60
- RioVolt SP65
- RioVolt SP90
- RioVolt SP100
- RioVolt SP150
- RioVolt SP250
- RioVolt SP350
- Rio USA (home audio players)
- Rio HT-2030
- Rio Central (aka HSX-109)
- Rio EX-1000
- Rio Receiver
- Rio Japan
- Rio DR30 (OEM BeatSounds EVR150)
- Rio SU10 (OEM A-MAX Technology PA30A)
- Rio SU30 (OEM i-BEAD i-BEAD100)
- Rio SU35 (OEM AVC Technology Si-100)
- Rio SU40 (OEM i-BEAD i-BEAD200)
- Rio SU70 (OEM M-CODY MX-100)
- Rio Unite 130 (OEM M-CODY MX-250)
- Rio SU15-KJ (OEM AVC Technology)
- Rio Si-200C (OEM AVC Technology)
- Rio Si-300C (OEM AVC Technology)
- Rio LIVE air
- Rio LIVE mini
- Rio LIVE gear (OEM Foster)
- Rio OEM models
- Nike PSA Play 60
- Nike PSA Play 120
- ESA S11
- Motorola M25
- Motorola M500
- Dell Digital Audio Receiver
References
- 1 2 Hart-Davis, Guy; Rhonda Holmes (2001). MP3 Complete. San Francisco: Sybex. p. 613. ISBN 0-7821-2899-8.
- ↑ Turi, Jon (12 April 2014). "Gadget Rewind 2004: Rio Carbon". Engadget. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
- ↑ "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.