empeg Mark 1 unit

Rio branded empeg Mark 2a unit

The empeg car is the first in-dash MP3 player developed. In 1999 a British company called empeg was formed to build the unit, which shipped later in that year. Image File history File links Picture of the empeg-car Mark 1 unit File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Picture of the empeg-car Mark 1 unit File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Image of the Rio Car (empeg-car Mark 2a) player File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Image of the Rio Car (empeg-car Mark 2a) player File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... MP3 is a popular digital audio encoding and lossy compression format invented in 1987 by the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits in Erlangen, Germany. ... 1999 is a common year starting on Friday of the Common Era, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

The empeg car was a linux-based unit that transferred MP3 tracks from the user's computer to the player via USB, Ethernet, or a serial port connection. Prices started at $1,100 US for the 4GB version and went all the way up to a $2,400 28GB unit that utilized two laptop drives (to accommodate what was then considered huge capacity). The empeg car garnered quite a following and became beloved among the small group of users who ponied up good money to own one. This article is about Linux-based operating systems, GNU/Linux, and related topics. ... Note: USB may also mean upper sideband in radio. ... Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Token ring, FDDI, PPP RS-232, EIA-422, RS-449, EIA-485, 10BASE2, 10BASE-T... Ethernet (this name comes from the physical concept of ether) is a frame based computer networking technology for local area networks (LANs). ...

SONICblue - the former S3 company that had already acquired both the Rio line of MP3 portables by purchasing Diamond and the Rave-MP line by purchasing Sensory Science - took notice of the unit and decided the empeg ear would fit into its plans. On November 1st 2000 empeg ltd. was acquired by SONICblue Incorporated and the unit was renamed the Rio Car. The original British development team was rolled into the company and eventually took responsibility for all audio software development at SONICblue. SonicBLUE was an American consumer electronics company formed as the result of the 1999 merger between computer peripheral maker Diamond Multimedia and graphics chipset maker S3 Inc. ... S3 can refer to: The S3, a line on the Berlin S-Bahn. ... Rio was the brand name of a line of digital audio players, best known for producing the model that was sued in 1998 by the Recording Industry Association of America. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... SonicBLUE was an American consumer electronics company formed as the result of the 1999 merger between computer peripheral maker Diamond Multimedia and graphics chipset maker S3 Inc. ...

Unfortunately, SONICblue did not have a clear game plan with how to promote the Rio Car. Rio did little to market it and soon left it to languish. Despite their owner's strong devotion to the product sales of new units were modest and on September 24 2001 SONICblue discontinued the line. Less than 6000 players were ever produced. 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...

Most of the resources, including people, code and design work, behind the empeg went into the following products:

• Rio Receiver - Network enabled client for streaming music off a computer to anywhere in the home
• Rio Central - A home stereo component that riped CDs to MP3s and stored them on an internal hard drive. Supported Rio Receivers as clients.
• Rio Karma - Portable 20gb music player

The former empeg employees still with Rio have also been a major resource behind the Rio Carbon, and several recent flash memory players. CD may stand for: Compact Disc Canadian Forces Decoration Cash Dispenser (at least used in Japan) CD LPMud Driver Centrum-Demokraterne (Centre Democrats of Denmark) Certificate of Deposit České Dráhy (Czech Railways) Chad (NATO country code) Chalmers Datorförening (computer club of the Chalmers University of Technology) a 1960s... MP3 is a popular digital audio encoding and lossy compression format invented in 1987 by the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits in Erlangen, Germany. ... This article needs to be wikified. ... The Rio Carbon Player The Rio Carbon The Rio Carbon is an digital audio player similar to Creative Labss Zen Micro or Apples iPod mini. ...

External links

• Diamond Rio Buys Car MP3 Player Company - October 2000 MP3 Newswire article
• empeg home page
• unofficial empeg discussion boards
• Riocar.org - Home of the empeg FAQ, and other empeg information