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The MP3 player turns 10

12 March 2008 7:09 by Matti "Siggy" V�h�kainu | 10 comments

A decade has passed since the world's first MP3 player hit the shop shelves. Saehan Information Systems' MPMan F10, a Korean wonder at the time, was the first music player that was capable of playing MP3 files. It had a inch-or-so wide LCD and a whopping 32MB of Flash storage that could hold around eight songs. F10, measuring 91x70x165,5mm, was announced at CeBIT show in Hannover, Germany as a prototype but soon was put to mass production for both European and US market. One could get their hands on the first ever MP3 player for a mere $250.

MPMan F10

Following MPMan F10 came the F20, but that wasn't the success story most of us remember. Half a year after the F10, Diamond Multimedia release the device often considered to be the first commercial MP3 player, Rio PMP300. Even though it had the same parallel port connection and 32MB Flash memory as the previous F10, the one features that made all the difference was the Smart Media slot which allowed users to increase the storage capacity of their precious Rio. It also had a larger LCD and a much improved UI.

Rio PMP300

However, even these impressive features were not the main reason many of us remember the Rio case. The device was the first MP3 player to be struck by a RIAA lawsuit. Rio PMP300 was temporarily banned, but only for a ten days, after which Diamond Multimedia sued RIAA for trying to stop the growth of digital music market. After back-and-forth suing the court determined that Rio was not a recording device and that it wasn't affected by the 1992 US Home Recordings Act. In 1999 the companies settled their differences.

Now, in 2008, these kind of gadgets are commonly called iPods.

AfterDawn.com Hardware Section

Apple iPod shuffle 2GB

Apple iPod nano 8GB (3rd gen)

Apple iPod touch 16GB

Creative ZEN 32GB

Creative ZEN Stone Plus 2GB

Portable mp3 players

Permalink to this article | Topic: MP3 & Digital Audio

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Andersen wants to end the RIAA (5 May 2008)

Creative settles MP3 player capacity lawsuit (2 May 2008)

AOL, Real and Yahoo! could lose $100m to songwriters (1 May 2008)

Judge shuts down RIAA in music piracy case (30 April 2008)

Sunlink introduces media player with built-in projector (20 April 2008)

EU picks DVB-H mobile TV standard (18 March 2008)

Apple updates Safari browser, supports Windows (18 March 2008)

BenQ introduces "thinnest ever" 24-inch monitor (17 March 2008)

Japan will block Internet access for illegal file sharers (16 March 2008)

Nine Inch Nails' "experiment" nets $1.6 million USD (16 March 2008)

Japanese iPod Nano emits sparks (12 March 2008)

Samsung and Adidas to compete against Nike+iPod (9 March 2008)

Apple releases iPhone / iPod Touch SDK (7 March 2008)

iPlayer coming for iPhone, iPod Touch (6 March 2008)

Sony's MP3 player (16 November 1999)

Rio goes WMA (15 November 1999)

A real killer MP3 player is released! (11 November 1999)

Diamond released a new Rio (23 September 1999)

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Discuss this article!
c.trigger (Newbie) 12 March 2008 7:51
they will all ways be mp3 players to me, but I am a semantics Nazi. [ + quote]
elfman12 (Newbie) 12 March 2008 9:05
Yup, I got one of the PMP300's the week they came out, and got a clear green one later. It was funny how most people I would show it to had no clue how it worked or why anyone would want to listen to music that way. Hehe, amazing how much can change in 10 years. [ + quote]
jookycola (Member) 12 March 2008 11:34
It still cracks me up how people think the iPod created this segment, and must be the best because they invented mp3's. And when I tell them all Apple did was take (then) current technology and add top notch marketing. And of course DID NOT invent mp3's. They look at me like i'm crazy. Even moreso when i tell them there are OTHER mp3 players on the market. Deer in the headlights. Amazing how apple could take others technology and somehow put such a stamp on it they even get all the credit. I love my iPod but i'll always love the simplicity of my Creative Zen. [ + quote]
vinny13 (Inactive) 12 March 2008 12:15
Lol the Zen and iPod are like the same :P My first MP3 player was a 1.5GB Rio, served me well until I bought my iPod 5.5G 30GB Video :) Now even that's too small for me :P [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 12 March 2008 12:18
vinny13 (Inactive) 12 March 2008 12:17
Damn quote button.... [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 12 March 2008 12:18
o0cynix0o (Junior Member) 12 March 2008 13:31
*Originally posted by vinny13:* Lol the Zen and iPod are like the same :P My first MP3 player was a 1.5GB Rio, served me well until I bought my iPod 5.5G 30GB Video :) Now even that's too small for me :P I've Got the same problem with my Touch....not big enough. And I now have a iPod 5.0gen 30gig memory card!!!! [ + quote]
Moomoo2 (Member) 12 March 2008 20:22
*Originally posted by jookycola:* Amazing how apple could take others technology and somehow put such a stamp on it they even get all the credit. Ah, like a GUI on an operating system? Cough Microsoft/windows? [ + quote]
WierdName (Senior Member) 12 March 2008 22:27
*Originally posted by jookycola:* It still cracks me up how people think the iPod created this segment, and must be the best because they invented mp3's. And when I tell them all Apple did was take (then) current technology and add top notch marketing. And of course DID NOT invent mp3's. They look at me like i'm crazy. Even moreso when i tell them there are OTHER mp3 players on the market. Deer in the headlights. Amazing how apple could take others technology and somehow put such a stamp on it they even get all the credit. I love my iPod but i'll always love the simplicity of my Creative Zen. That's just one of the reasons I strongly dislike Apple. I have an iPod though, and like it. It's just that Apple gets this reputation of having invented everything technological and that even Steve Job's literal crap is worth hundreds of dollars, provided it comes in that solid color box with a solid white human figure. Anyways, back on topic, as stated earlier, it's amazing how technology can change so much over such a seemingly short period of time. Who wants to bet in the next ten years we'll have a 500GB music player supporting every format and the size of just the screen plus a mere couple millimeters? Or what about 500GB sunglasses that superimpose the display over the lenses with photo, video and music support? EDIT- er, "Steve Job's" possessive, not "Steve Jobs" plural... [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 12 March 2008 22:30
DXR88 (Senior Member) 13 March 2008 17:44
AH grats MP3,But im currently Trading you off for your big brother MP4 sorry. [ + quote]
voyager (Junior Member) 16 March 2008 16:54
My first MP3 player is the Zune,30g,My first and last....hope so. [ + quote]