The Diamond Rio was one of the earliest portable digital media devices. Released in late 1998, it was used for downloading and playback of MP3 files. It sold extremely well and established the MP3 file format. So much so that some sections of the record industry attempted to sue Diamond claiming the PMP300 encouraged music piracy.

The MP3 file format first appeared in the early 1990s and was rapidly gaining popularity on the internet through legitimate digital music distribution sites, closely followed by illegitimate peer-to-peer music swap sites such as Napster.

Apple executives examined the Diamond Rio when they were considering a foray into the digital media player market, although they were quick to fault its lack of user friendliness and capacity.

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