I wonder if there is some product that is similar or comparable to the rio car/empeg car player.
I am so pleased with my empeg! i have it for 4 years now and it still works fine. I have to spend a lot of time in my car and it's simply great to have such a huge archive and also the menu and search functions are so nice!
I can't imagine what i shoud do if the empeg breaks one day. maybe then i'd start studying electronics and then repair it by myself?

or is there some other product out there which could help out of such a misery?
who can tell me?

Wrong forum to ask if you want an unbiased opinion... I would say, no. While other hard drive MP3 based units are out there, I do not think there is anything that compares with the empeg. The in-dash units seem limited with the user interface, while the portables seem limited with their level of integration and capacity. And nothing else out there (that I have seen) has the pure hackability and geek friendliness of the empeg. Yet.

what a pitty! not that i'd like to replace the empeg! i never would, as long as it works fine! but what if it doesn't work any more because of some defect. no alternative to the empeg that could satisfy my needs then.

and we are all so very spoiled with our empegs, aren't we?

Well, the device mentioned in this thread might have potential - but we still don't know enough about it to tell for sure (or if it'll ever be sold outside Japan...)

but what if it doesn't work any more

Chances are it can be fixed.

There are some pretty talented people on this bbs doing repairs on players, and I am not aware of any player, no matter how badly "broken" that hasn't ended up back on the active list.

tanstaafl.