Rio was the brand name of a line of digital audio players, best known for producing the "Diamond Rio"

Rio PMP300

The Rio PMP300 was a portable consumer MP3 digital audio player , and was produced by Diamond Multimedia. It was introduced September 15, 1998, and it shipped later that year.-Features:...

 model that was the impetus for a lawsuit

RIAA v. Diamond

In Recording Indus. Ass’n of Am. v. Diamond Multimedia Sys., Inc., 180 F.3d 1072, 51 U.S.P.Q.2d 1115 , the Ninth Circuit applied the Audio Home Recording Act to the Rio digital audio player, concluding that the Rio was not a digital audio recording device under that statute.The ruling also...

 in 1998 by the Recording Industry Association of America

Recording Industry Association of America

The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

. That lawsuit eventually failed, leading the way for the portable digital music industry to take off.

Rio was originally a brand of Diamond Multimedia

Diamond Multimedia

Diamond Multimedia is a 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 TrackStar, a PC add-on card which emulated Apple II computers...

, which merged with S3 Graphics

S3 Graphics

S3 Graphics, Ltd is an American company specializing in graphics chipsets. Although they do not have the large market share that they once had, they still produce graphics accelerators for home computers under the "S3 Chrome" brand name.-History:...

 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 Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese firm D&M Holdings

D&M Holdings

D&M Holdings is a Japanese corporation that owns several audio and video brands. It was formed in 2002 from the merger of Denon and Marantz. It has acquired several other companies since that time. In 2008 it was acquired by K. K. BCJ-2, a Tokyo corporation owned by investment funds advised...

, forming part of their Digital Networks North America subsidiary. In August 2005, that company said it would discontinue making MP3

MP3

MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...

 players, after it had licensed its digital audio software technology to chipmaker SigmaTel

SigmaTel

SigmaTel is an electronics company located in Austin, TX, which designs mixed audio signal processors, and controller chips for multifunction peripherals. SigmaTel was Austin's largest IPO as of 2003 when it became publicly traded on NASDAQ...

 the month before.

Products

Rio USA (Portable Audio)

• Rio PMP300
  Rio PMP300
  The Rio PMP300 was a portable consumer MP3 digital audio player , and was produced by Diamond Multimedia. It was introduced September 15, 1998, and it shipped later that year.-Features:...
  
  , the second MP3 player and the first that was commercially successful
• Rio One
• Rio 500
  Rio 500
  The Rio 500 is considered the first of the Second Generation MP3 digital audio player , and was produced by Diamond Multimedia. It shipped September 22, 1999...
  
  
• Rio 600
• Rio 800 (incl. 800 Extreme)
• Rio 900
• Rio Car
  Empeg Car
  The Empeg Car is the first in-dash MP3 player developed. In 1998 a British company called Empeg was formed to build the unit, which shipped the following year....
  
   (aka Empeg Car)
• Rio S10
• Rio S30S
• Rio S35S
• Rio S50
• Rio Riot
  Rio Riot
  The Rio Riot was an MP3 digital audio player , and was produced by Diamond Multimedia. It shipped in 2002. It was an early competitor to the Apple iPod.-Features:The Rio Riot featured:*20 gigabytes of storage....
  
  
• Rio Karma
  Rio Karma
  The Rio Karma is a digital audio player originally made by the now defunct Rio. It was released in August 2003. It measures 2.7 × 3 × 0.9 inches and weighs 5.5 ounces . It has a 20 gigabyte hard drive...
  
  
• Rio Nitrus (incl. Nitrus-S)
• Rio Eigen
• Rio Carbon
  Rio Carbon
  The Rio Carbon is a line of digital audio players that was produced by the now defunct Rio from 2004 to 2005. It was similar in size, capacity, and cost with Apple's iPod Mini which debuted earlier the same year...
  
   (incl. Carbon Pearl)
• Rio ce2100
• Rio ce2110
• Rio Chiba
• Rio Forge
  Rio Forge
  The Rio Forge is a digital audio player produced by Rio Audio, Inc. While it competed in the same market as Apple Computer's iPod mini, it is considerably different as it plays from internal memory, SD card, or FM broadcast and runs on a single AAA battery....
  
  
• Rio se510
  Rio Forge
  The Rio Forge is a digital audio player produced by Rio Audio, Inc. While it competed in the same market as Apple Computer's iPod mini, it is considerably different as it plays from internal memory, SD card, or FM broadcast and runs on a single AAA battery....
  
  
• 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)

• Rio HT-2030
• Rio Central (aka HSX-109)
• Rio EX-1000
• Rio Receiver
  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....
  
  

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