Diamond Multimedia Delays Shipment Of Rio

Computergram International, Oct 20, 1998

Diamond Multimedia Inc says it will delay the shipment of its portable music player, Rio PMP300, following the award of a ten day temporary restraining order by Judge Collins of the Central District Court of California at the end of last week. The order applies until a hearing on a Preliminary Conjunction requested by the Recording Industry Association of America is held next Monday, October 26.

The Association issued a bond of $500,000 which will be used to compensate Diamond if it eventually prevails in court. Rio, a palm-sized device, plugs into a computer and can save and replay around one hour of music using the MP3 compression techniques, at "near CD quality." It was due to ship early next month (CI No 3,513). The Association objects to the product because it claims it violates the 1992 federal Audio Home Recording Act, and would enable users to download pirated music from the internet. It wants copy protection technology to be included and is also asking for royalty payments. The association represents five major record companies. Diamond, which was hoping to broaden its product base beyond the difficult graphics and audio accelerator market, had been hoping to sell the devices in volume in time for Christmas. But the San Jose, California-based company says that the judge has already indicated that Rio "is not capable of serial copying" - the action the Act was designed to prevent. Diamond can continue advertizing the device in the meantime.