"...Request Multimedia and S3 have developed new products that may expand the popularity of digital music beyond portable devices and desktop PCs. S3, which markets the Diamond Rio portable MP3 player, today unveiled the Rio Digital Audio Receiver, designed to stream digital music from the PC to stereo speakers throughout a house using existing phone lines. In addition, Request today began shipping a home MP3 player that stores hundreds of hours of MP3-coded music on a 17GB hard drive.

The new AudioRequest appliance from Request is essentially a large hard drive connected to speakers that acts as a digital music server for the home. The 17GB drive can store up to 300 hours of songs and can store songs from a CD after it is played once.

Eventually, Request plans to sell a device that connects directly to the Internet to permit the downloading of MP3 music without a PC. But this first version acts as a middleman: It will receive and store music from the PC and send it to the home stereo. The company also announced a deal today with EMusic, which will provide sample MP3 music to AudioRequest users. The AudioRequest is priced at $799.95.." NULL