Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc.’s RioPort Inc. Monday announced that its Rio 500 portable Internet audio player can be pre-ordered through various electronics retailers, its own online store, and Amazon.com.
The new player, which is scheduled for shipment on August 18th, supports both the Macintosh and Windows platforms.
“The countdown is on for the retail launch of our new Rio 500 digital audio player,” said David Watkins, RioPort Inc.’s president.
Rio 500 uses a USB connection for faster download speeds and supports digital rights management through InterTrust, ensuring copyright protection for digital content owners.
RioPort-compatible players also feature bookmark and control functions for playing back spoken audio content.
The new Rio players supports playback formats such as MP3, MPEG2.5, G.723 (Audible) and ADPMC. It can store and play back up to two hours of digital music and up to 32 hours of spoken audio content. Its 64 MB of memory ca be supported with optional 16MB and 32MB Smart Media flash memory cards available through the Rioport portal.
The Rio 500 was announced last month in conjunction with the release of the integrated Rio Audio Manager software and the Rioport.com portal.
