RioPort, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Diamond Multimedia Systems, announced the new 64MB Rio 500 portable MP3 player, which sports an iMac-friendly USB port. Here’s the details from the press release (“RioPort Inc. Rocks the Digital Media World With New Rio Portable Internet Audio Player“):
The 64MB Rio 500 can store and play back up to two hours of digital quality music and up to 32 hours of spoken audio content (more than twice that of the original Rio PMP300). Optional 16MB ($59) and 32MB ($99) Smart Media flash memory cards allow for additional hours of playback. The Rio 500 runs off a single AA battery for 13 hours of continuous playback. A direct-connect USB cable (included) negates the need for a dedicated docking station for data transport. The Rio 500 package includes the Rio player, earphones, a USB cable, carrying case, battery, Rio Audio Manager software and sample content (see below).
The Rio 500 is also the first portable digital audio player to support the Macintosh platform (iMac/G3 systems) and ships with Casady & Green’s SoundJam MP digital audio system. SoundJam MP provides a powerful suite of digital audio tools for iMac users, including MP3 encoding, playback and downloading to the Rio 500.
Wickedly cool. We want one. The Rio 500 will ship in August for US$269 and you can make preorders now.
