The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) Friday morning issued a statement stating that it filed an injunction earlier in the day hoping to prevent Diamond Multimedia from releasing its upcoming MP3 playback device. Monster 3D sound-card maker Diamond responded quickly by orchestrating a conference call to the press and stock analysts claiming its actions violate no laws and that it intends to retail its device, called Rio, to resellers and retail channels in early November.

　　The RIAA has been pushing hard against the MP3 audio format because it says that people are using the format to rip songs from CDs and give them to others. And it appears that Diamond is part of the plot to stop what the RIAA says is Internet piracy.

　　Popular web sites that support the MP3 format say that there are legitimate uses of MP3 currently on the Web - with support from such artists as the Beastie Boys. That group is releasing music free to the masses via the Web.

　　Is this a case of the audio industry being slow to adopt new distribution methods or is MP3 hurting the industry? MP3 supporters say that digital distribution is already a reality and gives artists a way to tap into the savvy computer market. If users wanted an entire album of digital quality music, they could just make a secure transaction and download the album without ever needing to leave their computer.

　　Contention over the suit concerns a law called the 1992 Audio Home Recording Act. The RIAA contends that the Rio and other devices violate that law. Diamond's vice president of corporate marketing, Ken Wirt, says, "The Rio PMP300 portable music player is a playback-only device and does not record. Rio simply holds audio content that is already stored on a computer's hard drive and plays back that content."

　　Diamond says that the company does not support illegal copying of music files by users and says that it will work together with the RIAA to prevent illegal usage of its Rio device. While it doesn't appear that a quick resolution is around any nearby corner, most tech-savvy gamers are hopeful that the Rio will reach the market soon.