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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Friday, August 26, 2005

The day Rio's music died

CNET:

The Japanese company that makes the Rio line of MP3 players is shuttering its portable digital-audio division.

Rio parent D&M Holdings said on Friday that the ultra-competitive business no longer fit its market strategy.

Although it has only a small market share compared to Apple Computer's iPod, the Rio brand name has been linked with the early days of digital-music history since weathering a lawsuit from the recording industry that aimed to shut down the MP3 hardware business.

The company said it will stop producing the Rio line of products at the end of September.

While many Apple fans will foolishly celebrate this event, I find it rather sad. Aside from some personal preferences--the company's recent Carbon device is quite nice, for example--Rio played a major role in the history of the MP3 player market, having released one of the first-ever MP3 players way back in 1998. This isn't good news, honestly.

[ Posted at 6:03 PM | Permalink ]