I just read Loren's post about losing his Empeg to theft...

it'd be kinda nice to have a password protection scheme on the unit so they can't be sync'd without it. And if the wrong password is put in, the unit disables will only power up with a LOGO I think ALL EMPEG users should have put on their unit by now with a "If Lost - " message... maybe an anonymous return contact should be put together or something...

I suppose a larger question would be, does the anti-theft devices on other car stereos actually deter theft? If you saw a faceplact missing from a pioneer player, would that stop you from stealing it?

Any thoughts on this for anyone??

-Ben

This has been discussed before.

There is no password protection on the empeg because any system implemented can be overridden simply by applying a software upgrade and/or formatting the drives.

The only proper secure password protection would be built into the hardware (which it isn't) and even if it were, it would be a pain in the ass to administer, would be a pain in the ass to legitimate users, and would require a support team at SonicBlue to answer phone calls from legitimate users who forgot their password.

Oh, and not only that, it wouldn't deter the theft. (Since the thief wouldn't discover the protection until after he stole it). It would just mean the now-worthless player is discarded instead of re-used or re-sold by the thief.

Right... granted that was in my original post... would the Empeg gain a reputation that would make it unpalattable to thieves... but as you correctly re-affirmed... thieves aren't that smart.. (If they were, they'd be employees, not thieves. )

Best offense is a good defense. When you leave the car, take the player with you. <heheh>

See yaz,

-Ben