I don't think Tony or anyone else is defending SonicBlues customer service. Instead, he is trying to tell you that despite what has happened, you can take some comfort in the fact that David is in no way connected with it and has an excellent track record for taking care of customers.

SonicBlue is just the company I bought my 2nd player from. I couldn't care less about them as a whole. But the division that is comprised of former empeg employees gets my full respect. Yeah, I'm pissed that my 2nd player was shipped in a huge box with about 10 styrofoam peanuts in it (would have been better to just ship it in the original box) and was knocked around. But the empeg guys have nothing to do with that.

Many of us longer standing members have followed the product development and know that the empeg company was bought by Sonicblue. The original team handles everything related to the player except for the actual sale and I'm very confidant in them. We aren't providing excuses - just diferentiating between the empeg guys and the rest of SonicBlue and hoping you find some comfort in it. With luck, the integrity of the empeg staff will rub off on the rest of SB.