SONICblue's Rio Car Takes MP3 on the Road
VANCOUVER, Wash.--Feb. 26, 2001--Rio(R), a division of SONICblue(TM) Incorporated , announced today the shipment of Rio Car(TM), a removable in-dash digital audio player with on-board storage for up to 1000 hours of listening enjoyment.Music fans can now listen to their favorite music without the hassle of CDs or tapes.
"Until now, the car audio experience was cluttered by plastic jewel cases," said Jim Cady, president of Rio, the company that introduced the first portable digital audio player. "By storing all the music they own in one portable device, Rio Car frees music fans struggling to sift through their music, so they can simply enjoy it."
Rio Car holds so many digital music files that consumers could drive roundtrip from Los Angeles to New York City more than 10 times without ever listening to the same song twice. Not only can music fans carry their whole collection with them, but they can also employ the player's powerful features to quickly and easily choose exactly which songs they want to hear. For example, commuters can customize playlists to listen to their favorite bass-pounding music on the way to work and soothing tunes for a stress-free ride home.
Rio Car continues the same Rio experience consumers enjoy with the company's other market-leading players. The unit is programmable to support future technologies and offers simple navigation of music files.
Rio Car Features
The Rio Car makes it easier to enjoy music on the road by conveniently storing an entire music collection in a portable, customizable in-dash MP3 player.
| -- | Massive -- With models ranging from 10GB to 60GB, the Rio Car can store up to 1,000 hours of music. |
| -- | Easy to use -- Simple navigation with the wireless remote or the ergonomic buttons on the unit's faceplate. |
| -- | Flexible -- Rio Car integrates with existing tape decks, AM/FM radios, CD players and amplifiers using additional in and out ports. Better yet, Rio Car slides out of a standard car stereo slot and can be attached to a home stereo system via standard RCA connectors. With this flexibility, music fans can take their music wherever they go. |
| -- | Customizable -- Consumers can put together their favorite mixes on the PC and transfer them to the player using the included software or they can sort through the music by title, artist, genre, album and year on the player itself. Additionally, listeners can assign their favorite playlists and tracks a unique ID number to find them instantly using the player's remote. Ultimately, users can control the music instead of having the music control the way they listen. |
| -- | Informative -- Music fans no longer need to remember the disc and track number for their favorite song. The high-resolution display removes the guesswork from choosing music by displaying album and track name, artist and song length. Consumers can also choose from over 20 cool visualizations ranging from graphic equalizers to dancing patterns that animate in time with the music. |
Pricing and Availability
The Rio Car is currently available at the Rio e-store, riohome.com, for a suggested retail price of $1,199 for the 10 GB model; $1,349 for the 20 GB model; $1,599 for the 30 GB model and $1,999 for the 60 GB model. The Rio Car ships with a mounting tray, software, AC adapter, USB cable, serial cable, 9-to-25 way serial adapter and wireless remote control.