So I'm excited about ordering my Empeg soon... (I'm reg number 12,778)

I've been trying to figure out how to get the most bang for my buck with this purchase...

It looks like I can buy 25 gig IBM 17mm drives for about 400 each. (www.pricewatch.com)

So... If I bought the base Empeg with one 6 gig drive and put two 25 gigers in there, I'd have about 50 gigs for slightly more than I'd have to pay Empeg for the 36 gig model. ($1,999.00 for the base plus 2 drives (plus, I could sell the 6 gig drive on eBay...)) versus $1,949.00 for the 36 gig-er from Empeg...

Empeg, I hope this doesn't offend. I certainly think you guys deserve my gratitude for making such a great product, and I also want to patronize your business as much as possible, but I also want to find away to get the max storage and most aggressive price for my baby.

So I know the question of warranty comes up now... I am hoping that Empeg will honor the normal warranty for "NON-DIY-DRIVE" installation issues. If this is the case, I feel comfortable with doing my own upgrade. If no, then maybe this whole thing is a bad idea...

Thoughts are appreciated...

- Thanx
- Jon

I was wondering, has anybody at Empeg considered offering an extended warranty on the product? I know most retailers do such a thing to "stand behind their product" better. I don't know about you, but I'd be willing to pay for an extended warranty since the unit has to go through mobiity (both in the car, and being taken out of the car). What do you think of this?

Just as an example; at work we buy IBM thinkpad T20s for about $2800 a piece (piii 650, 13.1", 128MB, etc) and we also get the onsite 3 year extended warranty for an additional $147 (I make the buying decisions on desktop/laptops). Our desktops do not get the extended onsite warranty, however are warrantied for 3 years (1 year labour, 3 yrs parts). Our laptops on the other hand are standard 1 year warranty, however since a laptop is "in the field" we opted for the extra warranty simply because of what the units have to go through... I realize that our laptops get out of date in 2 1/4 years (avg lifecycle of a business computer), but I still think it's worth every buck.

Thoughts?

Eddie

An extended warranty option is a great idea that I would be interested in too. Although, usually (for me) electronic products seem to work forever if they don't break right away. Hopefully the estimated lifespan of an empeg car player isn't 13 months. :)


Alex Lear

I'm sure if a larger capacity drive physically fits, empeg will incorporate it into the empeg car product. They have mentioned reasons such as availabilty in quantities and have also mentioned a future dual 50GB/drive player. If you are really looking for that much capacity (which is rare for the average person) you will probably have to void the warranty or wait.


Alex Lear

What I've done (twice now) is buy the largest single drive player available.

The theory is that by the time I've actually ripped that much of my CD collection, drive capacities will have doubled. This was almost true. I had nearly filled my 10G Mk.I when my 18G Mk.II arrived.

Once I fill up the 18G, I'll look at the state of the art, and act accordingly. (Those 25G TravelStars are looking good, but in three months, they'll probably be at 40G.) Though SoundJam MP has sufficiently automated the ripping that the drives fill up fast these days. ;)

As for the Mk. I....Hey Hugo, am I going to need to patch the kernel to go beyond 32GB/drive? I've given serious thought to building the Mk.I into an enclosure with space for four 3.5" drives, and add Maxtor monster-of-the-week drives as needed. Of course, since the Mk.I doesn't have ethernet, to make this useful I'll need to put some minimal host in the enclosure too...anyone have PPP over USB working?

-Zandr
Mk.I #150
Mk.II #39

I don't think you'll have to play with the kernel, no, but I've never had a drive >32G (the biggest anywhere at empeg is 25Gb, part of the 52Gb music server...)

If you format the drive on a PC which *does* handle the size, write the partition table, then put it in the empeg, the empeg will believe the PTBL and just get on with life.

Hugo

Jbauer- listen to n6Mod.

You're best off getting a single-drive player now, and taking your time about filling it up. When things start to get crowded, you can add a second drive. By that time, laptop drives will have greater capacities at lower prices, and you'll have had a chance to live with the unit fully under warranty for at least several months. By the time you need the second drive, you may be comfortable with voiding the warranty, or you may be past the warranty period anyway.

The only reason I'd see for voiding the warranty now is if you genuinely need 50gb right away. In that case, you have little choice. But, do understand that Empeg will be offering larger capacity combinations as the drives become available to them in larger quantities.

___________
Tony Fabris

> It looks like I can buy 25 gig IBM 17mm drives for about 400 each.

I've done this with my empeg. I bought the 12GB model, sold the drive to a
cow orker, ordered two 25GB drives (yes, pricewatch, about $400 each), and
upgraded to a 50GB player.

empeg:/# df
Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root                15863      6015      9848  38% /
/dev/hda4             24364387        19  24364368   0% /drive0
/dev/hdc4             24749755        17  24501922   0% /drive1

Probing primary interface...
hda: IBM-DARA-225000, ATA DISK drive
hdb: IBM-DARA-225000, ATA DISK drive
ide0 at 0x000-0x007,0x038 on irq 6
hda: IBM-DARA-225000, 24207MB w/418kB Cache, CHS=49184/16/63
hdb: IBM-DARA-225000, 24207MB w/418kB Cache, CHS=49184/16/63
[...]
Partition check:
 hda: [PTBL] [3086/255/63] hda1 < hda5 hda6 > hda2 hda3 hda4
 hdb: [PTBL] [3278/240/63] hdb4

It has been running like this for about a month now without any major problems.
Occasionally (twice in this period), the empeg won't wait to detect both drives
and will (try to) start booting after detecting only the second drive (which
has only music on it) and fail. This is a minor inconvenience, which I can
fix in the kernel if it becomes that much of an issue for me.

Install was quite easy, and others here have written howtos (I think) that
should guide you if you have any trouble. If you have familiarity with linux,
it should be quick and painless. But, you _will_ void your warranty. Know
this and consider the ramifications before opening up your empeg.

-j

Now that I think about it, the 32GB limit was mentioned in the context of slapping larger drives into TiVo boxes, which still use a 1.x kernel. (!)

Thanks, though.

-Zandr
Mk.I #150
Mk.II #39