Diamond’s 64MB Rio 500 Ships in August for $269

The Rio 500 is coming. RioPort announced today that it has licensed Diamond Multimedia to start shipping the new 64MB digital audio player in August at an estimated retail price of $269, with Diamond as the exclusive retail partner (additional OEM and private label partners are expected). Pre-orders open today through Babbages, Electronics Boutique, and CompUSA.

The 500 follows the popular Rio PMP300 and improves on it in most of the ways that matter: a USB connection for fast transfers, compatibility with both PC and Macintosh, and a larger back-lit LCD on an improved interface. It also carries RioPort’s new integrated Rio Audio Manager software for managing your digital music, with direct access to the RioPort.com audio site built in. The casing comes in teal, purple, or silver. Teal is the correct answer.

RioPort also says more Rio designs are on the way later this year, including models that support Microsoft’s Windows Media Player and IBM’s new high-capacity MicroDrives.