Article DetailsThe First MP3 Player? |
| Date Added: May 28, 2008 11:54:51 PM |
| Author: |
| Category: Music: Electronics |
| The Rio PMP300 is practically cemented in technology as the first ever MP3 player. It shipped in 1998, and it was all black with an LCD screen and a circular pad sporting the control buttons. Diamond Multimedia took full credit for the first ever MP3 player. As you would expect it had multiple design flaws, and was nothing like the modern day iPod. The battery compartment door flap was notorious for breakages, and the MP3 player had about 64MB memory. They were sued for breaking the Audio Home Recording Act, and were quickly forgotten. But a new MP3 has come into the light. New, as in new information. Apparently, before the Rio PMP300 was even made, there was another kid on the block called the MPMan F10 from Eiger Labs. It was released in the summer of 1998, a few months before the RIO. It carried a puny 32MB, and it was a very basic unit. It also was not user expandable though owners could upgrade the memory to 64MB by sending the player back to Eiger Labs with a check for $69 + $7.95 shipping. There was another F20 version, which was a similar model that used SmartMedia cards for expansion, and ran on a single AA battery, instead of rechargeable batteries. Its specs are not really of any interest. Why has the Rio made it to the scene as the "first MP3 player"? Mostly because of the lawsuit that it was involved in. After all, no one has ever been famous without some sort of lawsuit involved in their career. So if you look at it this way, in terms of improvement. It has been 10 years since the MPMan was released with32 MB. The modern day iPod Classic holds 80GB, it plays video, you can play games on it, it has a color screen - the list goes on. A vast improvement in ten years. But I would not mind owning one of those MPMan F10 players. The root of all MP3 players. |
