An announcement has been made in the Announcements forum. The brief summary: pricing is reduced by $300 over the summer period (sub $1000 entry point for the first time ever) and the units will be available throughout the world.

The new pricing also applies to Car Toys, from Monday.

Rob

Will you charge in $US from the empeg store to european customers too, or will that be in euro?
If euro, how much?

/Michael

The empeg store will charge in UK Pounds only. I think the 10GB unit will cost 765 pounds excluding tax and shipping. Unfortunately the USD exchange rate is really lousy at the moment.

Rob

But the things are manufactured in the UK aren't they? Why then should the fluctuation of the US dollar have any effect on the price? It would be nice to finally be able to buy some electronic gear in Europe that was actually cheaper than in the US!!!!!

(list 6284, Mk1 S/N 00299 4GB blue [for sale]. Mk2 S/N 080000094 6GB blue)

Gee, that's nice to know, except for the fact that I just spent $1500 on a 20 gig player 4 days ago. $300 down the f***ing drain.

Sorry to hear that, but this was clearly going to be the case for quite a lot of people. You can't pre-announce special offers* and neither can you expect pricing to never change.

Rob

*In fact I DID leak this to the BBS several days ago, in the hope that it would help some of you to save some money. I didn't say any specifics, but I did strongly recommend waiting until July.

Actually, some people do. For instance, Dell will refund you the difference if you buy a computer within 30 days of any kind of price drop.

Rio is a US company - the money goes to the US, and they want the same margin on players sold here as players sold domestically. This makes sense to me.

I think we have adopted a fair approach to this - the price of the product is related to the exchange rate, compared with most consumer electronics where there is a 1:1 relationship between the USD and UKP pricing.

Rob

It's a different way of selling the same thing - if we did that, the promotion would start August 1st instead of July 1st. The same people would get a discount, they just wouldn't know about it yet.

..and then the people who bought 31 days ago would complain.

Anyway, I should have guessed that announcing the biggest price drop in empeg history would get me flamed.

Rob

Now, I wouldn't say it's down the f***ing drain! It's inside your lovely new car MP3 player!

Too bad you ordered like a day before Rob's *wink* *wink* statement

DiGNAN
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, etc.

Rob-

I don't think you're getting flamed. First, I'm hardly saying my situation is your fault. I'm aggravated at the circumstances, not any person in particular. Second, flaming implies ignorant yelling and screaming, which I'm not doing.

Also, I disagree with what you said here -

"It's a different way of selling the same thing - if we did that, the promotion would start August 1st instead of July 1st. The same people would get a discount, they just wouldn't know about it yet.

..and then the people who bought 31 days ago would complain. "

It's all about PR. I would be far less annoyed right now if I'd missed the discount in the manner you described above. It's aggravating to still be unpacking the thing and hear that the price has just dropped considerably. That's why companies like Dell have that kind of policy.

And DiGNAN, you've made a good point. I do think the empeg is worth every penny I spent on it, and I'm thrilled with the product. I'm just frustrated to have spent more than I needed to, that's all. I mean, what kind of reaction did you expect Rob? Most of the people who read and post here have already purchased an empeg - did you expect us all to be thrilled to learn that we could have bought it for less if we had waited a couple of days (especially in my case, since I'd been waiting since the days of the Mk. 1 to be able to afford one of these things)?

-Adam

Anyone else see a problem with the $300 off on this one?

Rio Car Player - 30GB hard drive - Blue Screen
Summer Special Only $1,499! was $1,699

(from this page)

Or how about:

Rio Car Player - 20GB hard drive - Blue Screen
Summer Special Only $1,249! was $1,499

This demonstrates my lack of understanding of the offer - the key words should be UP TO $300 off. Two models have the full $300 discount including the base model.

Sorry for the confusion.

Rob

Ahh, ok. I thought maybe it was a typo of one of the prices. Now to find someone else that can afford one. (The tech slump sucks, I'm the best financial standing person that I know right now).