The day Rio’s music died

Is this the end of the MP3 player known as the RIO? Could be. You’ll just have to read on to find out…

The Japanese company that makes the Rio line of MP3 players is shuttering its portable digital-audio division.

Rio parent D&M Holdings said on Friday that the ultra-competitive business no longer fit its market strategy.

Although it has only a small market share compared to Apple Computer’s iPod, the Rio brand name has been linked with the early days of digital-music history since weathering a lawsuit from the recording industry that aimed to shut down the MP3 hardware business.

D&M Holdings–which also owns high-end home audio brands including Denon and Marantz, and is close to acquiring Boston Acoustics–said the portable MP3 player business required too much investment, and didn’t offer enough return, to warrant continuing. [Read the rest]