Rio Unveils the ce2100, Adding to its Award-winning Family of MP3 Players

Rio Unveils the ce2100, Adding to its Award-winning Family of MP3 Players Rio provides customers a new choice in value, along with a new color for the Rio Carbon LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Introducing the latest standard in hard disk MP3 players, Rio(R) today announced the Rio ce2100. Sharing the same unique, ultra-slim and tapered design and boasting an industry-leading battery life of up to 20 hours like the award-winning Rio Carbon, the Rio ce2100 features a 2.5GB(1) hard disk drive that is capable of holding up to 40 hours of MP3 (80 hours WMA) music(2); perfect for the typical consumer's entire music collection. Customers now have a choice in the amount of music or audiobooks that can easily slide into their pockets with the Rio ce2100 or the Rio Carbon. Additionally, Rio is also introducing a second color for the Rio Carbon, giving customers the choice of the classic silver version or the new pearl Rio Carbon. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050107/LAFRU5 ) "Rio understands that music players reflect the attitude, personality and status of the customer. The addition of the Rio ce2100 and the pearl Rio Carbon 5GB1 to Rio's award-winning line of MP3 players, expands the options for customers to choose a player that expresses who they are," said Dan Torres, VP of Product Marketing at Rio. "Whether it's a choice between a sophisticated, ultra-thin pearl or silver 5GB MP3 player, a sleek and competitively priced 2.5GB MP3 player, or a rugged and durable flash-based MP3 player for fitness and sports, Rio MP3 players are designed with a variety of lifestyles and budgets in mind to meet consumer demands." As the inventor of the MP3 player in 1998, Rio draws on its innovative heritage of providing only the best quality, performance and usability for a superior customer experience. Rio MP3 players are compatible with a host of on-line audio stores such as Napster, Yahoo!, MSN music Audible, eMusic, and more, so customers' content can be tailored to their individuality. Rio Carbon 5GB and Rio ce2100 The Rio Carbon 5GB is capable of holding up to 80 hours of MP3 (160 hours WMA) music and the Rio ce2100 2.5GB is capable of holding up to 40 hours of MP3 (80 hours WMA) music(2), both with up to 20 hours of battery life on a single charge. The pearl Rio Carbon will also ship with an included premium carrying case, designed for durability, carrying ease and access to controls while in the case. Supporting WMA, MP3, and Audible file formats, users can easily download content from most of their favorite online audio stores. The Rio Carbon also includes voice recording and both the Rio Carbon and ce2100 support USB 2.0 for high-speed transfers. Microsoft Windows XP customers will enjoy additional benefits of our integration with Microsoft's Windows Media DRM 10 download capabilities, as well as automatic synchronization features of Windows Media Player 10. Availability and Pricing The pearl Rio Carbon and Rio ce2100 are expected to begin shipping in the first quarter of 2005. The products will be available through retail outlets in both the U.S. and Europe, and at www.rioaudio.com. Estimated manufacturer's suggested retail price for the Rio ce2100 is $199 while both the silver and pearl Rio Carbon players are $249. About Rio Rio, a division of D&M Holdings US, is the inventor of the MP3 player and pioneered portable digital audio technology with the launch of the Rio PMP300 in 1998. Since then, Rio has become a leading brand of portable MP3 players by developing a host of award-winning products that let music lovers take their music with them wherever they go. For more information regarding Rio, or to purchase a Rio digital audio player, please visit www.rioaudio.com. About D&M Holdings Inc. D&M Holdings Inc. (TSE II: 6735) is based in Tokyo and owns the Denon, Marantz, McIntosh Laboratory, D&M Professional, ReplayTV(R), Rio(R) and Escient(R) brands. Denon, Marantz, McIntosh and D&M Professional are global industry leaders in the specialist home theater, audio/video consumer electronics or professional audio markets, with a strong and long-standing heritage of manufacturing and marketing high-performance audio and video components. The ReplayTV, Rio and Escient brands represent award-winning technologies in digital home entertainment. Additional information is available at www.dm-holdings.com. DISCLAIMER Statements in this release that are not statements of historical fact may include forward looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the company. We wish to caution you that such statements are just predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. Forward looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties surrounding competitive and industry conditions, product changes or delays, market acceptance for the company's products, risks of litigation, technological changes, developing industry standards and other factors related to the company's businesses. Rio is a registered trademark of Digital Networks North America, Inc. (1) 1GB = 1 billion bytes. Actual formatted capacity less. (2) At 128kbps MP3, 64 kbps WMA Media Contact: Colleen Henley Porter Novelli for Rio +1.408.988.2100 colleen.henley@porternovelli.com Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050107/LAFRU5 AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/ PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com Source: Rio CONTACT: Colleen Henley of Porter Novelli, +1-408-988-2100 or colleen.henley@porternovelli.com, for Rio Web site: http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/ http://www.rioaudio.com/ ------- Profile: International Entertainment