Rio Riot and Lyra Personal Jukebox

dschuetz writes: "SONICblue has the new Rio Riot up on their home page. It looks to me like an iPod killer -- 20 GB hard drive, very nice interface (better than Apple's), built-in FM tuner, powerful "DJ" functions, Lithium Ion batteries. And, at $399, it's priced competitively. The only question is -- how big is this thing? SONICblue has lots of other great systems out there, like the ReplayTV and Rio Receiver (which runs Linux), so the possibilities for hacking and otherwise extending this device are very good." Another submitter sends: "MP3 Newswire has a story on the RCA LYRA Personal Jukebox, a 20GB MP3/mp3PRO player that is the first portable to use the updated digital music compression scheme co-developed by its parent company Thompson. The new Lyra sells for $299. In related news, SonicBlue has released its first jukebox style player, also a 20GB unit called the Rio Riot that sells for $399. Both articles have pictures of the new players."

Comments

Didn't Atari make one of these?

[Lally Singh]

I swear I've seen this device before. My younger brother used to play video games on it. It had the thinnest cartridges... And as everyone's pointed out, iPod killer my hairy ass...

Too bulky, but has an interesting feature

[John Jorsett]

I saw a picture of this being handled on TechTV, and it's much bulkier than the iPod. The iPod is a far more convenient form-factor for a portable player, IMO, and I predict that the Rio Riot's sales will suffer for that reason. That said, it has an interesting feature that the iPod lacks: it will create a favorites list based on your usage, which the TechTV guy loved.

Re:Add a card? get a real computer!

[aka-ed]

amuses me everytime my neighbour says there are far more programs...

I have firewire and USB on my pc, and guess what?
A) It cost me a great deal less than your Mac.
B) There are still far more programs available for my PC than for your Mac.

Re:Why the anti-Apple bias?

[LS]

Geniuses:

Never consider Slashdot editors unbiased, ESPECIALLY when it comes to stories about products. I'm 100% positive this story was paid for by SonicBlue. Where do you think Slashdot gets their revenue? Ad Clickthrus????

LS