In 1998, the South China Morning Post was one of first publications to review the Diamond Rio 300, the first widely distributed portable MP3 player on the market.
The first-generation, 32-megabyte Rio looked small and nifty, about the size and weight of a Sony Walkman. It sold in Hong Kong then for HK$1,540.
The Rio was a great innovation and, following years of MP3 hype, triggered a flood of MP3 hardware - from more Rio-like players to MP3 players for the home and car to hybrid portable devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and mobile phones with MP3 functions.
Since the first Rio, lots of improvements have been made to the size, weight and design of MP3 players. Most MP3 players are slim, smaller and lighter than pagers.
Thanks to Sony and Samsung, these super-light audio devices have become fashion accessories popular with students and young executives. While there have been great improvements to the design and sound quality, one big complaint about the original Rio remained.
There are still many fundamental flaws with MP3 music - one is that high-quality music is a memory hog, making it difficult to store large amounts of music on a small, portable device.