These things are not installed in my car; rather, they’re installed in my closet.

This message is mainly meant for people on the fence. Empeg/RioCar is so good, it makes you hoard electronics to insure you are never without it. You must get it while you can!

I don't know…maybe I’m being paranoid. Attachment description:

From top to bottom:

• 2 extra tuners
• 2 extra car docks
• 1 complete, unused RioCar 10GB

Outside of the pic:

• 9 total extra display color lenses (to match cars I may own in the future)
• 2 unused remotes (1 Kenwood and 1 Rio)
• 1 spare wiring harness

-Rob R
--------
12GB MK2 Blue 090000736 (6166 in the queue)
10GB "Backup" MK2a Blue 030102953

yep you're paranoid

32Gig MK2 In 2001 VW Golf TDI

Only wished i could do the same - but lack of cash prevents me!.

\\Kaare

Where's the fireproof, waterproof safe?

Now THAT's paranoid! :)

-Tony
MkII #554

It's like a bomb shelter for the Empeg, in your closet? Next you will be building a rack system just to store "the goods"

Greg *who hopes he never needs to buy from "the stash"*

Greetings!

You are not alone... I completely agree with you on the empeg hardware and software - I refuse to go back to burning my own CDRs, or to (gack!) listen to the radio. Paranoia is good! Spares are good. The hardware and software of the empeg are GREAT! Special thanks to the folks @ empeg Ltd. for that!!!

1 production RioCar 96GB installed
1 complete boxed spare RioCar 10GB, with associated sled, remote, cables, not counted in totals below.
2 spare 20GB hard drives
2 Tuners, uninstalled
1 Sled, uninstalled
4 Rio remotes (some in use)
1 Kenwood remote
9 uninstalled faceplates (2 smoke, neon green, neon red, clear, blue, green, red, amber)

Paul G.
SN# 090000587 (96GB Smoke)
SN# 030103046 (10GB Blue - Emergency Spare)

You are not alone... I completely agree with you on the empeg hardware and software - I refuse to go back to burning my own CDRs, or to (gack!) listen to the radio.

I dunno... I think you may be going overboard. Yes, there is nothing on the market today to match or even approach the capabilities of our beloved empegs... but the operative word here is today.

I mean, just think: you had an opportunity to stock up on Commodore 64 computers before they stopped being made... but with 20/20 hindsight, that might not have been such a good thing to do.

I am quite confident that by the time my empeg fails, there will be replacement systems on the market (whether from Sonic Blue, or Sony, or Panasonic, or maybe even Altman Enterprises LLC) that will make us wonder how we ever put up with those primitive Linux boxes in our cars.

Time will tell, I guess...

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

Eh... Given that the mass market doesn't pay for the geek factor, I don't think anything *comparable* will show up in the market. HD based mp3 players will appear, but not with the same capabilities, and certainly not with the "hackability."

However I don't have enough cash for a "spare" so I will just hope mine can survive until something roughly equivalent shows up.

-Tony
MkII #554

I don't think anything *comparable* will show up in the market. HD based mp3 players will appear, but not with the same capabilities, and certainly not with the "hackability."

You are absolutely correct. I shouldn't have looked at this with such narrow vision. For my purposes, however, I am sure that future players will be adequate to my needs. The only thing I do with my empeg is play music on it. I hardly ever use the remote, the search capabilities, the visuals, the insert/append, the mark tracks, the group by genre or year, or any of the other fancy capabilities that so many of the true geeks (meant in the most complimentary and praiseworthy manner) on this bbs find so entrancing. I have never installed a special kernal or third-party software. I have never taken the player down to a shell prompt. All I do is play music -- and for that, there is nothing else on the market that can match it. Yet. But gven time, and probably not a lot of time, there'll be something available that will make me happy should the need to replace my empeg arise.

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

The only thing I do with my empeg is play music on it.

How boring. :)

But in seriousness, yes, the Empeg was made to play music, and there will probably be devices showing up which do that with similar features to the Empeg. But as has been hypothesized elsewhere on the board, those devices are VERY likely to:

a) not have Ethernet
b) not be removable
c) be integrated with the manufacturers' other audio products (the way CD changers are)

Furthermore, they will likely be tied to Digital Rights Management in some way. And it seemed to me they depended on you inserting a CD right into the player and ripping it rather than being able to rip your own CD's on your PC and transfer them. If this is incorrect, someone please shed some light... I mean if the unit isn't removable, how else do the tunes get onto the HD?

So even when you take away the geek features and hackability, I find it difficult to believe anything like the Empeg will appear on the market. I can't seem to find the thread that talked about the upcoming HD-based players, but it didn't look like any of them were going anywhere in the Empeg's direction.

Hmm... maybe I WILL scrape together the cash for a backup...

-Tony
MkII #554

Greetings!

True. I hope that by the time I am looking for a new system or car that there will be something better out there. Given the changes in technology and with the empeg folks hard at work at it, I am sure there will be. But, for short term, this gives me a little bit of a backup in case something does happen to it.

Keep in mind, I was toying with the idea anyway, even before EOL was announced. Given the summer discounts, I thought it might be handy to have another one, in case it needed repair or was stolen. I hope I will not need it, but it is nice to know it is there - just like the first aid kit in the trunk (boot) of the car: you carry one, hoping not to need to use it.

Paul G.
SN# 090000587 (96GB Smoke)
SN# 030103046 (10GB Blue - Emergency Spare)

I find this thread fascinating. On the one hand, I hope my empeg lasts me years, at least until something better comes along five or so years down the road. If it doesn't last that long for whatever reason, and if I'm unable to get it repaired, I will be at a loss as to what to do. I would love to have a never-use spare.

On the other hand, I couldn't afford the empeg I *did* purchase, much less a spare for it. I mean, $1400 US is about the most I've ever spent on a gadget that makes me giggle (except for the car). Hell that's rent or a mortgage payment.

I can't say I've been happier with my other gadget purchases than my empeg though. I mean, I love having a fancy camera and a sharp shooting sniper rifle (hunting animals, not people), but I definitely don't get the enjoyment out of those that I do out of my empeg.

What to do.

I guess in the mean time I hope and see if a)my empeg goes bad and b)Hugo and Rob are still around to fix it if it does.

g

RioCar (40Gig) Blue/Red/Green
'01 Audi A4 2.8 Quattro

Well... Sadly I dropped my Empeg last night and broke the handle... I will have a separate thread in another forum applauding the shock protection, because it took about a 3 foot drop onto a cement floor and the broken handle is the only thing I can tell is wrong with it.. It still works flawlessly so far (knocking on wood.) It's out of warranty so it looks like I'll be sending it across the pond soon at my own expense.

I wonder what happened with the plans for a U.S. support center...

-Tony
MkII #554

Just forget that you ever heard about a us support center! I wouldnt want a bunch of goofs messing with something they know nothing about. I'd rather have to pay the 100 dollars (at least) to send it across the atlantic to someone I know isn't going to screw it up. When the mk1 came out, they did have a us support center, in florida I think, and it didn't work out too well.

Sean

You *can* replace the handle yourself if you are very careful. There were a few people who did it on some of the early MK2s that came with chipped handles. There is a thread on it somewhere, and maybe even a FAQ entry. Support should be able to supply the handle OK - mail them and see.

(list 6284, Mk1 S/N 00299 4GB blue [for sale]. Mk2 S/N 080000094 26GB blue)

Email David ([email protected]) and he'll talk to you about maybe fitting your own handle. It isn't totally trivial so if you are going to consider this he will want to explain what you're letting yourself in for.

By the way, we did have a US support centre (back at the beginning) but we found it more effective to provide servicing and support from the UK.

Rob