But the amazing promise of the Empeg was wasted away by the mid-sized corporation's big-and-bloated-company-like blunders

For what it's worth, SONICblue has reinvented itself in the last few months. The structure has changed beyond recognition - for the better, I believe. Some of the old problems are not yet solved (customer support for example, but I think you'll agree that Jim Hafner-Eaton has the right approach), but I'm impressed by the group of people I work for and with now.

The automotive situation is going to be a source of anger for many people here, and that's mainly because the new strategy is completely invisible to you. It was time to develop new products (the old car player was ready for EOL even if people were queuing a mile for them) and we're now actively marketing two advanced automotive products to OEM customers - but sadly it's all behind closed doors. Nonetheless I think OEM relationships are the best way for SONICblue to make inroads in the automotive sector, and at some point we should be able to publicise what we have been working on.

I do miss having an own-brand car player, though.

SonicBlue's recent RTV 4000 lawsuits are doing even more to make them look like a big bad corporation with no focus on the customer

I thought the opposite was true.. the features that the networks are suiing over are very customer orientated. The reasoning behind the second lawsuit with Tivo seems clear to anyone who understands how patents are utilised in the USA between corporations, but I certainly can't comment on that. The fact is that the RTV4000 sold it's Q4 allocation in a few days, so it looks like consumers are happy with what they see.

Rob