SONICblue Ships Rio 800; High-End Portable Digital Audio Player Rounds Out Rio Family: Provides Optimal Choices For Varying Consumer Lifestyles

Business Wire, Dec 20, 2000

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VANCOUVER, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 20, 2000

Rio, a SONICblue(TM) company (Nasdaq:SBLU) announced today that it has shipped the Rio 800.

This stylish, full-featured digital audio player joins the Rio 600 and Nike psa\play 120 and 60 to round out the Rio family of portable digital audio players. The Rio 800 offers up to two hours of music storage (64 MB), a voice recorder, rechargeable battery, remote control and works with a selection of other Rio accessories such as Backpacks, an FM tuner and a car cassette adapter.

"Unlike others on the market, our family of Rio portables allows people to pick and choose the features, storage and accessories they want in a digital audio player," said Jim Cady, president of Rio. "If someone wants a digital audio player that provides a high-end experience, we believe that the Rio 800 is the choice to make."

Each member of the Rio family of portable players is developed for specific consumer lifestyles in design, form and function. The Rio 800 is a perfect companion for the business traveler who wants high-end digital audio with added storage and features, while the Rio 600 is designed for college students and teenagers with an hour of memory, personalization features and a more affordable price. For the fitness enthusiast, Rio partnered with Nike to deliver the psa\play 120 and psa\play 60, both built for exercise and high endurance activities.

Rio 800 Features

Following are the features of the Rio 800:

Voice Record -- Record and store up to four hours of personal memos or conferences using the Rio 800's built-in microphone.

Rio "Backpack" Memory Expansion System -- Rio Backpacks are new expansion accessories that provide ways to increase music storage in the Rio 600 and Rio 800 portable players, while adapting to current and emerging memory standards. Rio Backpacks available this year offer one hour (32MB) and two hours (64MB) of built-in memory at a cost of $99.95 and $169.95, respectively. Backpacks supporting Microdrives and MMC/SD removable memory are expected to be available in the first half of 2001. All Backpacks operate interchangeably between the Rio 600 and Rio 800 players.

Unique Style and Design -- Ergonomic shape, large display and an on-wire remote control provides the ability to better control the Rio music experience.

Simple Access to Multiple File Formats -- The Rio 800 supports MP3 and Windows Media Audio (WMA) music formats and can be upgraded for emerging audio file formats such as Audible and AAC.

Music Label Support -- The family of Rio portable players continues to garner unprecedented music industry support. DreamWorks Records, Astralwerks and Ritmoteca have partnered with Rio to pre-load music onto the Rio 800. Customers who purchase a Rio 800 will get to sample new music from DreamWorks artists Kina and Elliot Smith, Astralwerks artists Primal Scream, Les Rythmes Digitales, Q-Burns Abstract Message and Gearwhore as well as Ritomoteca artist Joy Enriquez.

Upgraded Audio Manager Software -- The Rio 800 is bundled with Rio Audio Manager 3.4 software, designed by RioPort, Inc., enabling music files/content to be transacted, acquired and managed within a single application. Tracks can be sorted and categorized with the playlist manager while the integrated browser connects seamlessly to the Internet for access to online digital audio tracks. Personal CD collections can be downloaded as MP3 or WMA files, and loaded directly on the Rio 800 in seconds.

For Macintosh users, the Rio 800 ships with Casady and Green's SoundJam MP to easily manage audio files.

Pricing and Availability

The Rio 800 is shipping to North American retail outlets including Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA and Fry's Electronics as well as the SONICblue e-store (www.sonicblue.com) with a suggested retail price of $279.95. The package ships with high-quality earphones; a USB cable; rechargeable battery; audio management software for PC and Macintosh and a user's guide. More information about accessories for the Rio 800 can be found at www.riostuff.com.

About Rio (www.riohome.com)

Rio, a SONICblue company, is a pioneer and acknowledged leader in digital audio. Focused on delivering a family of digital audio products designed for various lifestyles, Rio is dedicated to engineering superior portable, home and car digital audio products for consumers.

About SONICblue Incorporated (www.SONICblue.com)

A leader in the converging Internet, digital media and consumer device markets, SONICblue holds significant financial assets, global marketing capabilities and a focused technology portfolio, that includes Rio(R) digital audio players, HomeFree(TM) home networking solutions, Diamond(TM) Internet access products and frontpath(TM) Information Appliances.

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including statements as to the expected availability, features and benefits of the Rio 800 and the Rio Audio Manager software with which the Rio 800 is bundled, (the availability of new music samples,) and the expected release of future Rio Backpacks supporting various memory formats, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to, manufacturing difficulties, possible delays in the release of other products, the ability of Rio to integrate emerging memory formats with the Backpacks, and other risks detailed from time to time in the SEC reports of SONICblue Incorporated (formerly S3 Incorporated), including its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2000. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. SONICblue and Rio disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.