RIAA Setback: Rio Gets a Go

Oct 27 1998

A federal district court judge on Monday denied a request by the record industry to block the sale of the Rio portable MP3 recording device, reversing its decision of 10 days ago and allowing Diamond Multimedia to move ahead with production of the product.

The Rio enables Web surfers to download sound files to a pocket-sized device for playback. The recording industry fears it will encourage the already widespread proliferation of illegally copied MP3 music.

The RIAA's main gripe against the Rio - that it didn't contain what's know as Serial Copy Management Standards or the ability to distinguish between illegal pirated MP3 files and legal copyrighted MP3 files - was negated by the judge. Because music downloaded to a Rio could not be copied, either onto another player or even back onto a computer, implementing SCMS would be "an exercise in futility," U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins said.

Although she ruled that the Rio is likely to be considered a "digital audio recording device" and would have to comply with the Audio Home Recording Act, she declined to require Diamond to implement SCMS at this stage. The matter will now be investigated by the Secretary of Commerce, a process that could take two years, to determine whether the Rio in fact does "prohibit unauthorized serial copying."

Cary Sherman, senior executive VP of the Recording Industry Association of America, said he was disappointed with the ruling.

"We're gratified that the court ruled the RIO would be covered by the DHRA as a digital home recording device. We're obviously disappointed on the conclusion on Serial Copy Management Standard. Artists and consumers looking forward to online commerce might not be able to realize that this will undermine the creation of a legitimite market."

The RIAA claims that it is unable to stamp out the proliferation of pirated music download sites, which spring up by the hundreds each day. Sherman stated that the only viable solution to prevent free downloads is to attack the problem on the receiving end - which means making sure that digital home recording devices like the Rio only accept the download of MP3 files with the header information and watermark, which contain the track's copyright information.

Diamond VP Ken Wirt disagreed. "Trying to go after the device is the wrong thing to do. It's like trying to ban inkjet printers because someone might print out copyrighted editorial from a Web site, then distribute it. So the RIAA has to hire three more people to surf the Web looking for pirate music sites. They can do it."

Potential high demand for a Walkman-like device that would allow the consumer to download and erase invididual tracks from the Internet, saving herself the cost of purchasing an entire CD for the love of two songs, has prompted other consumer electronics companies to develop their own players. Samsung, for instance, reportedly has one in the works, to be released by Christmas of this year. Music encoding companies Liquid Audio and A2B also have prototypes they hope to bring to market in the next year.

Both Liquid Audio and A2B say their players will not accept pirated files. Legitimate encoded music downloads usually have a pricetag. If the Rio is allowed to go to market without having to implement anti-pirating features, other players that choose to make nice with the RIAA by refusing pirated files will suffer stiff competition.