New rival to Apple's MP3 player comes with 5GB memory and 20 hours' battery life
vnunet.com, 02 Sep 2004
Apple's iPod mini will face another rival on Friday when Rio launches a smaller and more powerful player at the same price.
At 90g and 6.4 x 8.4 x 1.5cm, the new Rio Carbon is significantly smaller than its iPod mini rival. It also has a claimed battery life of 20 hours compared to the iPod's eight, and comes with an extra gigabyte of memory.
The first 500 Rio Carbons sold will come with a specially engraved casing and three months' subscription to Napster, as well as 20 free downloads.
"As the first company with a 5GB player on the market we wanted to offer our customers something they can treasure for a long time," said Dan Torres, vice president of Rio Audio, in a statement.
"We feel that the 5GB capacity will hit a sweet spot with our customers and the initial response from the media and our retailers to the Rio Carbon has been phenomenal."
US pricing is $249, the same as the iPod mini.
The Carbon uses USB 2.0 to download files and can handle music in MP3, WMA and Audible formats. It is compatible with Mac and PC platforms.
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