Rio was the brand name of a line of digital audio players and related audio products. It was a pioneer of the DAP ("MP3 player") industry when it released "Diamond Rio" player in 1998 that was the impetus for an infamous

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

. Various music players were released until Rio came to an end in 2005.

History

Rio was originally a brand of California based

Diamond Multimedia Diamond Multimedia is an American company that specializes in many forms of multimedia technology. They have produced graphics cards, motherboards, modems, sound cards and MP3 players, however the company began with the production of the TrackSta ...

. 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 The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. That lawsuit eventually failed, 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. The company referred to itself as Rio Digital Audio - in later years this changed to simply Rio Audio. During this time, Rio's president was Jim Cady. 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 D+M Group, formerly known as DMGlobal and D&M Holdings, was a Japanese corporation that owned several audio and video brands. It was formed in 2002 from the merger of Denon and Marantz. It had acquired several other companies since that time. Prio ...

, which owned audio brands such as

Denon is a Japanese electronics company started in 1910 by Frederick Whitney Horn, an American entrepreneur. Denon produced the first cylinder audio media in Japan and players to play them. Decades later, Denon was involved in the early stages of de ...

, forming part of their Digital Networks North America subsidiary. Rio Audio was based in

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...

. Its president from that time until March 2004 was Jeffrey Hastings. Like some other competitors in the digital audio player business, the Rio brand was unable to compete effectively against Apple's dominant

iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...

series of audio players. 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. The Rio brand and trademarked were retained by D&M Holdings.

Products

Rio USA

;Portable digital audio playershttps://mobile-review.com/mp3/articles/rio.shtml Rio Chiba 256

;Portable CD players * RioVolt SP50 * RioVolt SP60 * RioVolt SP65 * RioVolt SP90 * RioVolt SP100 * RioVolt SP150 * RioVolt SP250 * RioVolt SP350 ;Home audio players * Rio HT-2030 *

Rio Central Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

(aka HSX-109) * Rio EX-1000 *

Rio Receiver The Rio Receiver was a home stereo device for playing MP3 files stored on your computer's hard drive over an Ethernet or HomePNA network. It was later rebranded and sold as the Dell Digital Audio Receiver. With a design derived from the existing L ...

;Car audio players * Rio Car (aka Empeg Car)

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 Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine given ...

* ESA S11 *

Motorola M25 Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...

* Motorola M500 *

Dell Digital Audio Receiver Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rio (Digital Audio Players) Digital audio players Consumer electronics brands