Diamond Multimedia's $199 Rio has been cleared for shipment by a Los Angeles judge in the teeth of objections form the US music industry. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) had previously been granted a temporary injunction (see earlier story) against Rio pending yesterday's hearing. Rio is a portable device that can play music downloaded from the Internet, and the argument in court has been about whether it can be counted as an audio piracy device, as the RIAA insists, or whether it is exempt, under US law as computers are. The latter is Diamond's argument. The judge decided Diamond wasn't responsible for any piracy by Rio users, but diamond isn't out of the woods yet. The first injunction lasted ten days, and yesterday's hearing was simply for the judge to decide whether or not to extend it. But the case itself continues, and Diamond may still be compelled to make alterations to Rio. According to the RIAA it's still probable that Rio will be defined by the court as a digital recording device, and in that case Diamond will probably be forced to incorporate anti-piracy features in it, as the RIAA wants. ® Click for more stories