I'm pleased to announce that, this week, Rio Car became available from retail stores for the first time. Our first retail partner is Car Toys, an ICE specialist chain with 35 locations in Colorado, Oregon, Texas and Washington.

Car Toys are able to provide a total package for the consumer, including ancilliary components and installation.

In time the product will become available in more states and in more countries, but we consider this first step a significant achievement in its own right. It is often said that the Rio Car must be seen to be believed, and with a retail presence that is something that more of our potential customers will be able to experience.

Rob

Cool. I figured that is why the price on the Rio web site was raised: Now retail stores will be able to offer them at a "discount" which will most likely be what most of us paid a few month ago. Seen to be believed is correct. I didn't order mine until I saw a users video click of his Mk. 1.

32GB (JUST UPGRADED!) Mk. II BLUE
Detroit, MI USA
www.PfeifferBeer.com

just being curious but are you going to give the folks any training as a empeg is a wee bit different to a run of the mill car stereo.

Admitatly it is a good bit easier to use than my alpine head unit that i had with features hidden away under button hold downs etc but it does have its differences

Oh yeah i forgot to say well done empeg has made it into the mainstream. Many congradulations i hope lots of cash and success comes your way as it is deserved

...why the price on the Rio web site was raised...

Isn't the 10G at the originally stated price after the introductory "12G for the price of 10G, while supplies last" sale? Sounds like they're true to their word to me. It's also nice to see larger drive configurations available.

If you're going to beef about the prices, I'd single out the 60G model. $900 is a big margin over the 10G version. Makes one want to buy the 30G version and update it when it fills up (hopefully after the warranty expires). By that time, 48G drives might be available for less than Rio's price step.

Seems to me that Rio should mark up the player for high margins (unavailable elsewhere) and offer hard drives at a more modest margins (available everywhere). Computer companies price hardrive upgrades very cheaply. That would also discourage hardware hacking.

I'm still looking for accessories and faceplate options. Notice that Rio only sells blue faceplates and only shows pitcures of green faceplates. I'm thinking green is better.

-jim 080000260 w/18G in a Carrera

Do they ship Internationally? (...and have a website..)


Amarth

Wow, this means next time I go to Car Toys and talk about an MP3 player that can hold a minimum of 100 hours of music they might not tell me the Rockford Fosgate Smart Media changer one can . (The Car Toys I saw here in town seemed nice for the showroom, but the sales people knew next to nothing about anything beyond a generic CD player. I really hope Rio is giving them training materials...)

I can't wait to go there and start asking questions about the empeg. I wonder what they will have to say? It will be interesting to see how they try to sell the empeg.

Sean

80000078

Website is www.cartoys.com, but they haven't listed the empeg yet, and the people at the store haven't heard of it yet. I imagine this might take a few weeks.
I hope that most of the 35 stores have a working demo and someone who knows how to work it well. That should really help the empeg.

[ johnmcd3 - funding for my empeg purchace: 65^H^H60% complete ]

I had my Rio Car installed at the local Car Toys here in Denver. All of the install guys knew of it, and they were all wowing about it. They knew that they were eventually getting it, and they were glad to have me be their first example :)

Damien Heiser

RioCar / empeg 12GB Blue Mark 2a SN: 120001043

Yeah all of the stores will have a demo and staff will be trained, but this will take a while to roll out. I believe a few major stores have been identified as the trailblazers, but I'm not sure which they are.

Rob

Uurgh.. I just sold my apartment (to buy an empeg, of course.. well no, but now there's no trouble with the funding) and have an undeniable urge to get one of those things in my hands, the linux side appeals to me quite much as I claim some expertise in it.. maybe I could create some interesting 3rd party things for it.

Wish these guys at Car Toys will have an option of shipping Internationally as I can't find an Euro-store link at SONICblue's..


Btw, how fast does Empeg crack RC5-64 (distributed.net)? ;)

I just worry about its safety, right now, there's three car alarms screaming outside (at 01:00 am) next to my new flat.


Amarth

I just worry about its safety, right now, there's three car alarms screaming outside (at 01:00 am) next to my new flat.

No need to worry at all. It's a pullout. You pull it out of the car and take it with you. Nothing safer than that!

___________
Tony Fabris

Btw, how fast does Empeg crack RC5-64 (distributed.net)? ;)

(From my old Mark 1 page:)

On average, I get 175kkeys/s with the player playing MP3's, and 250kkeys/s when it's stopped.

I can't wait to go there and start asking questions about the empeg. I wonder what they will have to say? It will be interesting to see how they try to sell the empeg.

Well, I visited the Car Toys in North Colorado Springs. I went in, asked about the Rio-Car, and the guy thought he knew what I was talking about. He searched the system, couldn't find it, then called around. After getting a sku for it, he showed the price at an amazing $99. I looked at the sku and saw that it was for the Rio 300 SE player. I told him the Rio-Car was an in dash solution, and he is going to look into getting one into the stores here soon if possible.

I guess I'll have to show them mine next time I stop by

Right now any store should be able to order one in. In time all of the stores will - as far as I know - have demo models and some stock.

Rob

I dropped by the car toys in mckinney texas today and they had no idea what I was talking about. I showed them mine, and they thought it was really cool. The saleman wanted to order one for himself at cost. I wanted to find a piece of plastic to fill the small gap between the cage and the din adapter. Has anyone cut a piece of plastic to fill this gap?

Sean

I wanted to find a piece of plastic to fill the small gap between the cage and the din adapter. Has anyone cut a piece of plastic to fill this gap?

You mean like this?



The photo is of my Mark1 installation, but it's exactly the same on my new Mark2. (I gotta take some new pix.)

The plastic was hand-cut from the cover of a black three-ring binder. I just carefully cut the rectangle with an x-acto knife and a metal ruler. It was glued to the front edge of the cage with RTV silicone. When you see it "in person", it looks awesome, it exactly matches the trim of the car, the texture is just right.

The trick is to make sure it clears the "insertion" opening completely or the screw heads protruding from the case will mar it.

___________
Tony Fabris

        Well I finally decided to take the plunge and buy a rio car. However, I remembered reading this thread and figured that I would check to see if the price at a retail location was any lower than the painful $1,299.95 from Sonicblue. However, even one month after this deal was first announced, employees from two different cartoys had no clue what I was talking about. Both claimed to know exactly what I wanted, then described a different rio product. When I described an empeg to one one of them, he asked why I would want to spend $1,300 when you could just use another rio plugged into a tape adapter or microphone input. Sheez.
        Does anybody know (or have any thoughts on) if retail stores like cartoys are going to discount their players from sonicblue's price or you think they'll charge the same amount. I'm probably going to just use the sonicblue site in a day or two, but I'm suprised that the cartoys people don't know about this yet. From what I've seen lurking on these boards for a year or so, it seems like everything related to the empeg is a perpetual wait. Why can't anybody get anything done around here?

[ johnmcd3 - buying an empeg any day now ]

One basic problem with the empeg is it is an MP3 player which to us means an entirly new way of listening to music to those without enlightement it is just another form of cd. In other words one cd at a time which is pretty much forced on you by the normal cd player. It is really a concept you can only taste and apreciate once you have seen the true capabilites of the empeg. Don't knock them theyjust haven't seen the light yet.

I doubt that the margin for cartoys will be a large one, so I doubt they will be discounting them any time soon. I dont think any of the stores have stock right now, but they might be able to special order one for you through their computer system. If production is being retooled, nothing is going to happen real fast. Too bad you werent around a few months ago, when the queue was finished and you could order from stock and have it at your door the next morning! :-(

Sean

they are in stock now just more expensive

good point. maybe 1300 will be the suggested retail price and they will have a everyday low price of 1250.

Stopped by Everett, WA Car Toys today. Spoke with Sherrie Heard, a rep that seemingly didn't know much about the player. Said she sold the first Rio Car from Car Toys in all of US at a recent outdoor Expo. After the sale, she said some of the Rio staff came up and gave her a sweatshirt and took her picture. She knew about Rio's Vancouver, WA headquarters.

Anyway, there are eleven 20G players in the warehouse and could get one into my car within three days. Ten and 60 gig players are also available. She wants to charge me $100 for a "non-standard installation." Price for 20G player = 1499.75 (SKU=RD100-20). I am guessing the other players are RD100-10 and RD100-60. No demo was available.

So if Car Toys doesn't sell more in the next year, perhaps when they have their next tent sale we can get some luv' on the price. Perhaps. I don't think I can wait though...I just recieved my Christmas bonus.

Overall I would give her a 4/10 on product knowledge.She did not have any literature in-store, but offered me an Internet terminal whereby I could get some more information. I was really hoping to try out the Empeg before purchase. Some time ago there was a video circulating of Empeg I in use - has Rio Car's software changed much from that version?

LOL! 100 dollars for a non standard installation! It took me 30 minutes to install it myself. Its simply a matter of matching up the correct wires and crimping them. Then you bend the tabs on the docking cage with a pair of pliers. Of course I don't know what kind of car you have, so maybe it really is a hard install.

Sean

My local Car Toys (Lewisville Texas, just north of Dallas) did not carry them yet and the manager (Greg Poteet) didn't think that they would. He seemed to know what I was talking about when I described it to him but didn't believe the product would sell. I didn't bother to tell him I already had one.

Carl

080000506 12gb-green

To be fair, I don't believe they've had their product training, and they're waiting for the tuner modules before they really roll the product out. Hopefully when all this is sorted more car toys people will get to see them and understand what the whole thing is about :)

Hugo

hrm.. you should have let him know you have one.. gives them some idea that there are people out there that would buy them.

I got all of my accessories (amps/speakers/cabling/etc) from my local audio king, (ok store for most stuff needed.. had to goto a better place for my sub box) I've shown them the empeg, and one of the sales guys mentioned he's seen a couple guys with them a few months after i got mine.

12gig red mk2 -- 080000125

She was correct for the most part...They do have them in stock (in the warehouse.) There are 10G, 20G, 30G & 60G models available, the RD100-10, RD100-20, RD100-30 and RD100-60, as you'd figured. Car Toys should be able to look them up and order them if you give them that SKU #.

Regarding, the demo players for each store, I know they have them as I as I was in their warehouse a week ago putting content on them. ****OK, disclaimer time: The track selections and structure aren't exactly perfect, but are better than distributing them blank and leaving content up to each store... It was all we could legally get our hands on in a very short turn. End disclaimer time****

We've been encouraging them to get the units distributed to the stores, but they are Car Toys property now and there is only so much direction we can offer. They'll have literature once those units are distributed (it is in the display unit boxes.) When we get the training guides finished--they are just about ready to distribute--they should take the staff through a working knowledge of the characteristics of the players.

Go easy on their staff though, as you know: When you live with one day to day, it changes your listening style and your life. The sales staff won't necessarily "get it" right off since they won't have that luxury. I'd sure appreciate it though if you could help them understand how amazing these players are. Presently, they should also be able to order lens kits. Next week they will have additional harness/can's and power supplies. And ultimately remotes (could be up to two months out on these as we had to source a new manufacturer)

Also, we're working to leverage their in store terminal with a more complete demo of the player and the interaction with the software to give customers and staff a better depth of understanding in how the product works.

Hope this helps you understand where things are.

Best regards,
Tim

Greetings!

Please consider putting the "stun/kill" option on the production remotes!!!

Paul G.
SN# 090000587 (40GB Green)

Please consider putting the "stun/kill" option on the production remotes!!!

Lord Help Us! Can you imagine the number of returned remotes?

my stun/kill button doesn't work! I pointed it at my boss and he didn't do anything!

I was trying to kill the road rage driver who just cut in front of me but nothing happened. Do i need new batteries?



that would be an interesting FAQ section! Ha

Murray 06000047
I don't think, therefore I am not.

Quote:
"Regarding, the demo players for each store, I know they have them as I as I was in their warehouse a week ago putting content on them. ****OK, disclaimer time: The track selections and structure aren't exactly perfect, but are better than distributing them blank and leaving content up to each store... It was all we could legally get our hands on in a very short turn. End disclaimer time**** "


couldn't you put anything you want on them and just give the store you give the player to the original CD

I tried the South Colorado Springs store today, and basicially got stonewalled. The person refused to even check their systems. I eventually gave up, figuring that the south store just dosen't have the decent staff the north one does. (I've had other bad encounters down there before on other things as well). I'll have to go back to the north store sometime and tell the manager there the SKU's, since he seemed really interested when I dropped by right after Rob made the announcement.

this would be a great opportunity for a little evangelism. Any empeg owners near a Car Toys could have a "demo days" type thing organized by SonicBlue like Apple used to have, where the users would volunteer to demonstrate the product evangelising it the whole way. This would give their sales staff more hands on with the unit in it's environment instead of on a shelf.


|| loren.cox ||

I tried the South Colorado Springs store today, and basicially got stonewalled. The person refused to even check their systems.

You asked for information about a grand's worth of car stereo, and they weren't interested? How do these people make any money?

Peter

I tried the South Colorado Springs store today, and basicially got stonewalled. The person refused to even check their systems.

The North Aurora store is awesome here. All of the people are waiting to get theirs in. They installed mine, and were totally stoked about it when I told them they were getting it (I knew before they did). I went in two days ago looking for some stuff, and asked about the Rio Car, and they said the Park Meadows store was going to have a huge show where people like Rockford, JBL, Infinity, etc are going to show off their latest stuff. They also said that Rio should have a demo there as well. I don't know if the were just making stuff up or what. But they sounded excited about the product, and couldn't wait to get it in.

On a Side Note. Tim or Rob. I'm pretty sure a majority of us empeg / Rio Car owners would gladly demo the unit for the employees of Car Toys and show them the full aspects of the system, what it can do, etc.

Later!

Damien Heiser

RioCar / empeg 12GB Blue Mark 2a SN: 120001043

If you are talking about the CarToys on Aurora in Seattle, I live about 5 minutes away from it. I'd show up to demo my empeg if there was a meet sometime.
-Jeremy

Mk2/40GB/Blue

We don't have Car Toys in minnesota, the only decent chain is Audio King.. but I would love to demo my empeg for people there.

12gig red mk2 -- 080000125

If you are talking about the CarToys on Aurora in Seattle, I live about 5 minutes away from it. I'd show up to demo my empeg if there was a meet sometime.


Unfortuantely no, I'm talking about the one here in North Aurora in Colorado. hehe Sorry!

Damien Heiser

RioCar / empeg 12GB Blue Mark 2a SN: 120001043

Regarding, the demo players for each store, I know they have them as I as I was in their warehouse a week ago putting content on them.

The north Colorado Springs store now has their demo unit, but it came blank according to a few people. Not sure what happened, but they are going to look into getting it on display soon, once their internet connection comes back up and they get some music onto it.

The people up there were definitly interested though. I showed mine to a few of the employees, and one said something about hitting a co-worker for wanting to do a "trash can toss contest" with it. The employees agreed that it dosen't look flashy so they ignore it at first, but once they see it going they love it.

I'll probably head back up Tuesday with my laptop in the car for any help they might need getting the unit up completly.

Oh, I have a feeling some of the early sales are simply going to be the Car Toys staff. One of the people at the store really wanted it, but he indicated he would have wife problems if he bought one

like audio king is decent
after this car stereo purchase I have given up on all the retail stores
they are all clueless and just make up stuff to appear to be knowledgeable
if you demo the empeg for them they would probably just ask why you didn't just buy a changer

I have had one aberdeen store that almost denied the thing excisted when i showed it to them and then brought out the response of but the japs are bringing out MP3 players tht are far better than that and then showed me the awia head unit that plays mp3 cds.

The other smaller aberdeen store spent about an hour playing with it and genrally go wow and no that isn't possible is it?/

they are going to look into getting it on display soon, once their internet connection comes back up and they get some music onto it.

Drakino, do you have any idea how crazy that statement sounds?

___________
Tony Fabris

Like duh, Tony... Everybody knows you can only get mp3's off the Internet...

/Michael
Maybe they need to get a connection going to whereever they were
supposed to be putting the content on...

Drakino, do you have any idea how crazy that statement sounds?

I can think of 2 things:

1. They need to grab the music from a company server.

2. They need to download CD-Ripping software.

I didn't dig into it much, but the people I talked to also were aware of the bad aspects of Napster (Quality, etc...)

wow, i must be lucky.. most of the staff at the one in roseville, MN are actualy fairly good, and some of the guys have been around there for quite a while.. (atleast a couple years) i guess it comes down to chain store local management. if the managers don't give a rats ass, they won't hire people who care either.

12gig red mk2 -- 080000125