dont think this was answered yet..
Does the Pearl have the FM tuner?

b

I'm sorry, I'm sure I just missed it, but what is the PC interface, software-wise??

No tuner in Pearl.

I'm sorry, I'm sure I just missed it, but what is the PC interface, software-wise??

Rio Music Manager 2 (a huge move forward from RMM 1) will give the cutest features, otherwise WMP, Real One, anything that supports WMDM, or some nifty Ethernet stuff that I'm not talking about yet but which should be pretty easy to guess (think: multiplatform).

Rob

huge move forward from RMM1 you say but what is it like in comparison to emplode.

Big question can i organise music the same way as an empeg as in i control the playlists and i can have one song copied to many different places but still have only one copy of the song.


Also if we bribe you with beer and food could you talk very nicely to somebody somewhere to get a few for the empeg faithful?

No tuner in Pearl.

That's a realy bad news. Well, maybe not for everybody, but for me it's a bad news.
Even if I have thousand of musics on my player, sometime I want to listen to radio, for news and hits of the moment.

I don't think I've seen a tuner inside any hard disk portable. I daresay there must be one but none spring to mind. This is probably because the reception sucks when you stick a tuner right next to an IDE bus and a fast processor in a very small enclosure, and sucky tuners do more harm than good to sales.

Rob

The music organisation in a completely different philosophy to the car player. Where as the car player had almost no intelligence in music selection on the unit and left everything to the user as a manual process on the PC, Pearl has all the intelligence in the database but provides only for flat manual playlists. Yes, the ideal solution would be to have both, but if you only have time to do one of them for 1.0 then the empeg system isn't saleable and the Soup/RioDJ system is.

We do have one of the best running order editors I've seen on any portable, though.

If any non-US BBS people want to get a Pearl I can look into some kind of group purchase when players are shipping.

Rob

I don't think I've seen a tuner inside any hard disk portable. I daresay there must be one but none spring to mind.

Maybe you missed the memo about the Riot?

Also, this thing.

I have erased the Riot from memory. It's the only proper thing to do.

Besides, I said "inside a very compact case"

Rob

yea, i agree No Tuner is very bad news. I think thats almost a necessity these days.
Almost all the new players are having it. Not all but, more and more.... very bad news for me, i was holding out for the pearl.
might have to look elsewhere now. i really want an FM tuner in my player. dam, this really blows!
b

I couldn't care less about a tuner. All they every put in are FM and the only stations I listen to are AM anyway.

I wouldn't say the tuner is necessary the all mighty ipod has no tuner and no one will say anything bad about it. (other than it costs too much)

All they every put in are FM and the only stations I listen to are AM anyway.

Maybe in the states but here in europe I assure you that FM don't only have FM music. And for me it's important to have live news (you know radios don't only provides musics).

I wouldn't say the tuner is necessary the all mighty ipod has no tuner and no one will say anything bad about it. (other than it costs too much)

Well, that's the main reason I don't have an iPod yet, thought I'm an Apple addict.

No Almost all music stations (large boring corporate) are on FM. When I listen to the radio it usually the local collage station which is on AM.

All the college stations here are on FM, but I never really cared for them anyway.

Stu

A tuner in a product for me equates to "cheap" - a no sale. Glad one isn't in the Karma.

You can buy a portable micro-sized radio for less than a buck, with headphones, in bulk (sure, maybe a container full). But on a scale most people can handle, you can pick one up from one vendor or another at any tech-related tradeshow as a giveaway. Yeah, this is an extreme example showing how cheap a tuner can be.

I think te Pearl is small enough that you can carry two products. What CURRENT product do people use that has both a tuner and radio receiver?

Radio died in 1993 (or maybe it was 1991). The only reason I ever switch to tuner in the car is to avoid having my amps pop when I insert my empeg.

Now if people want to complain that it doesn't play video, then I'm all ears.

Bruno

I think te Pearl is small enough that you can carry two products.

I already carry two products, a mobile phone (SonyEricsson P800) and a PocketPC. The P800 do play MP3, but actually the max memory it 64mb (it's a lot for a phone, but not enough for a MP3 player). I use my PocketPC also for playing MP3, but it didn't have enough storage memory for me (4 albums in 256mb) and the battery last only a day while I'm using it like a player . I don't use moving part memory (Microdrive or Toshiba drive like the iPod) to avoid even shorter battery life.
I was thinking to buy a new product : the Pearl, so I don't want a fourth one to carry around.
Some mobile do have radio inside (Nokia, Samsung, Siemens) but not the P800 .

What CURRENT product do people use that has both a tuner and radio receiver?

What do you mean by this? A tuner could also be used to receive VHF TV signal and a radio could also be used like a receiver/transmitter (like a CB or a walkie-talkie). For me when I say "radio" I mean a radio to receive FM/AM station.

Well, that's the main reason I don't have an iPod yet, thought I'm an Apple addict.

On the other hand a HUGE number of people do have an iPod, so statistically I think we're on fairly safe ground. These decisions are based on market research - some of our new products have a tuner because enough potential customers want one, but they are the lower end products.

Rob

Radio died in 1993 (or maybe it was 1991).


Bruno, Radio died in 1991? what planet are you living on?

what planet are you living on?

Canada.

Which is really weird, as in Canada we actually have comercial-free radio (CBC), as well as good reception of the USA NPR stations in most areas!

I listen 80% to radio, 20% to historic audio (aka. prerecorded MP3s on my player).

Cheers

The only radio I ever listen to is talk radio. In fact, I got so tired of the same repetitious songs and annoying DJ’s that I stopped listening to music on the radio even before I got my Empeg. No, radio is not a necessary or even desired feature for me.

Bruno, Radio died in 1991? what planet are you living on?

Really. It was at least five years earlier than that.

I seriously haven't listened to any significant amount of radio since, probably, 1987. I'd pretty much gotten sick of the dozen songs they play by that point in my life.

These decisions are based on market research

Yes, I already notice that I'm not part of the HUGE part of population. Some hint :
- I have 2 empeg,
- but don't have a car
- I use cable and ADSL for connecting to the net at home
- I use a Mac and a PC at home (only PC at work)
- at work I use COBOL language
- my mother is from US, my grandmother is form Russia, I was born in Africa and I leave in Switzerland
- I still listen to radio
- and my shoes are dark.

I don't think I would ever be even able to listen to music on the radio. I can't find what I like when I like it...

On the other hand I listen to the radio every morning while going to work. It has become a nice habit, but only because there's a radio station I really like that broadcasts talks about current int'l news and interviews and comments which I find brilliant and interesting. I don't think I'd ever want to give up that, now.

well, it sounds like we have a split on the radio issue.. which makes the point that it is NOT such an off the wall feature that only the "Low End" user would want.
Rob, how much would it drive the price up of the unit if an FM tuner was built in?
Why not pack it with as many features as possible?
is the overhead that much more?

b

I don't think I've seen a tuner inside any hard disk portable. I daresay there must be one but none spring to mind. -rob

For the record, Archos makes a hard disk player with FM tuner built in. Creative's Jukebox and Zen players have a plug-in remote unit which also provides an FM tuner.
I happen to agree with your position, though. Radio here is crap and it wouldn't matter to me whether there's a tuner.

The only reason I'd want radio on the Karma would be if had weatherband, so that I'd be able to find out if God decided to piss on me whilst I was jogging (yeah...like that'd ever happen).

I'd much rather see other features. Such as 10m water resistance. That would be useful.

Arse doesn't have the empeg playlist system

Any chance of it making it over to 2.0 karma otherwise it might be bad karma but i shall reserve judgement till i get my sticky mitts on one ,as sexy the ipod is the music selection system sucks in comparisson to the empeg.

How about other features like the insert features of the empeg giviing you a dynamic playlist for the want of another term.

As to the group buy for the BBs folk here in europe i would sign up for one. If not i have two recivers so it isn't immpossible but a group buy would be very appreciated

as sexy the ipod is the music selection system sucks in comparisson to the empeg.

Keep in mind that the Empeg Car is the only product that has the hierarchical playlist system. Not even the Rio Central has hierarchical playlists. I wish it did.