I have been playing with the MkII for about a month now and have a pretty big list of things I would LOVE to see added or changed. Some minor, some major, some probably mentioned here already. I thought I would put down my full list of tweaks and let y'all have at it. If there are already solutions to these problems or suggestions, pls let a newbie like me know. Thanks!!!

Hardware (Very minor):
1) Sell an RCA to Stereo plug adaptor. I bought one at Radio Shack to connect the unit to my computer speakers but it would have been nice to have one shipped with the unit.
2) Have the unit remember my last active state and not start up defaultly with the Full Info screen. If I shutdown with a visualization running and info off, when I turn the car back on, it should be in the same state. This seems to work with using it as home unit but not in the car.

Empeg Web Site:
1) You have online ordering but how about online tracking? I have 3 items on backorder (colored panels and a bag) and have no clue when they will be shipped. When I order something fro the site, I should have a page I can go to and see where everything is in my shipping process.
2) FULL documentation. The docs shipped with the unit get you started but are very annoying. For example, MkII doesn't have a tuning card in it but the docs tell you how to use it. Further, the MkII does have an equalizer but the docs don't tell you how to set it or store levels. I have figured out how to do this but having a document to show me would have been nice.
3) Details on news announcements for current owners. It's nice to know that S3 and Empeg are merging but does that mean the tuner module won't ship now? Or that back orders are lost? Or that it will have no effect on opperations? Details like this would be nice

Visuals:
1) Probably the largest number of requests you will get in the Wish List section is for new visuals. So why not produce a Visual API package? This way we can develop visuals and distribute them without having at add to Empeg's work load. It could also be distributed the same way as Empeg Logos are.
2) Allow the logos to use the time/date functions already stored in the unit. I hate knowing there is a clock in the unit and I can't reach it.
3) Allow the clock to be 24hr OR 12hr.

Emplode (BIG CHANGES):
1) Make the playlists follow the position number and DO NOT alpha-sort them in the player. If I want the display to show "Frank Zappa" and put the playlist at the end of the list because of his last name "Zappa" I can do this in Emplode. When I sync the unit, it puts the playlist under "F" because of his first name. The until should ignore the title all together and follow the position number. Songs do this, why can't playlists?
2) When the player is connected, give me the option to fully slave the unit to emplode. I should be able to at least play, pause, restart, jump forward, and jump backwards from the emplode intrface and have the audio follow those commands. Currently, I can only play and pause. If I hit pause twice, it restarts from the start of the song and not where I paused it.
3) MASS EDITING OF ID3 TAGS!!!!!!!!!! I should be able to apply a year to an entire playlist by editing one song in a playlist and clicking a box to apply it to all files in that playlist. I loaded about 1800 songs without full ID3 tags before realizing I wouldn't have mass editing ability. Now I either have to delete all the songs from the player and reload them with full tags or go through the tags one by one to change them. For an example of what I am talking about, look at the Music Match player and edit an ID3 tag. They will let you apply your tag changes to an entire CD if you wish.

Developers:
1) I love what the developers are doing but have one minor suggestion. Please post a full description of what your development does. Some people are good about this, others bad. I am trying to come up to speed on a lot of these issues and tweaks and it helps me to know just what the tweak does. I see people post here and say "try this out" and a bunch of posts following which say "COOL. I must have", then I see a post to get it but no description of what the cool thing is or what it does. Also, the "check this out" link doesn't always work. Just a one paragraph description an list of systems it works on would be nice.

Thanks for listening!!!

Wow, that's a lot of things for the wish list all at once!

Fortunately, most of the things you mentioned have already been discussed here on the BBS in great detail. Spend some time sorting through past messages and the FAQ section of the BBS, and you'll find many of your issues addressed. Let's take them one at a time...

Sell an RCA to Stereo plug adaptor.

I agree with this. It has been mentioned before. But the flip side is that many people don't end up using it and it would be a waste. Personally, I got this kind of adaptor with many other devices, and have several extras cluttering up my house, so I didn't need the adaptor.


Have the unit remember my last active state and not start up defaultly with the Full Info screen.

This is deliberate, and it will not and cannot be changed. When this happens, a single button-press (hold the bottom button on the faceplate) will get you back to the visuals screen. This has been hotly debated here on the BBS, so please don't start another debate on the feature in this thread. Check the entry in the FAQ section of this BBS for links to the other debate threads.


You have online ordering but how about online tracking? I have 3 items on backorder (colored panels and a bag) and have no clue when they will be shipped.

Online tracking is a good idea. Perhaps the S3 purchase will allow this to become a reality.


For example, MkII doesn't have a tuning card in it but the docs tell you how to use it.

When the tuner becomes available, the docs will become relevant. The docs currently ARE relevant for my Mark1 player.


Further, the MkII does have an equalizer but the docs don't tell you how to set it or store levels. I have figured out how to do this but having a document to show me would have been nice.

Funny, the manual seems to cover this on page 25. I agree that it could be a little more comprehensive. Future reprints of the manual will probably be more detailed.


Details on news announcements for current owners. It's nice to know that S3 and Empeg are merging but does that mean the tuner module won't ship now? Or that back orders are lost? Or that it will have no effect on opperations? Details like this would be nice

This has been discussed in great detail in the General forum of the BBS. There is no "official" word on their main web site because detailed answers aren't possible in an official capacity. That's why this BBS is so great: The Empeg guys can give unofficial answers here to questions like that.

To answer your specific questions: The tuner module will still ship (some have already shipped as I understand it?), back orders are not lost (in fact, they have caught up in the queue and there are no back orders for players- back orders for accessories are still fine and will be taken care of as soon as they get the parts), and it will have many huge effects on operations- all of them universally positive.


Probably the largest number of requests you will get in the Wish List section is for new visuals. So why not produce a Visual API package?

Whaddya know? Toby's working on that very thing right now. It will be available in an upcoming release (although I don't know WHICH release).


I hate knowing there is a clock in the unit and I can't reach it. (...) Allow the clock to be 24hr OR 12hr.

The upcoming version 1.1 will have selectable clock displays. This is the first time the 12/24 thing has been brought up, perhaps there will be support for this in 1.1?


Make the playlists follow the position number and DO NOT alpha-sort them in the player.

There have been extensive discussions about this on the BBS already. You aren't the only one who feels this way. The problem is that the player allows alphabetic keypresses on the remote to scroll the playlist menu, and such a change would break this feature. The debates that raged elsewhere on the BBS included suggestions to work around this, but the solutions weren't trivial implementations. I don't know whether there will be any changes in this area or not, but you're welcome to find those threads and add your two cents to the discussion there.


When the player is connected, give me the option to fully slave the unit to emplode.

Do a search on this BBS for a little applet called "Displayserver"...


MASS EDITING OF ID3 TAGS!!!!!!!!!!

This has been suggested several times elswhere on the BBS. I agree that it would be a good feature. Generally, though, we tell you to get your tags corrected before you send the files to Emplode. There is no way to retrieve the songs or the tag information back from the Empeg Car, so if you lose the Empeg Car or its disk drive goes bad, any editing work you do in Emplode would be completely wasted. So make sure everything is organized, tagged, and backed up on your PC first. The tag editing features in Emplode are only there for making minor corrections. (And by the way, they don't even edit the tags. They edit the Empeg's database of songs. The actual tags stored in the files are untouched.)


I love what the developers are doing but have one minor suggestion. Please post a full description of what your development does.

This is a good suggestion. Sometimes, though, the developer likes to surprise you. When the Displayserver applet was first posted as running on the web, I was completely floored by it, partly because it was a surprise.

I think it's a good idea for third-party developers to support their applets with properly maintained web sites and documentation, and you're right in that some of the people on this BBS are notoriously lax about this.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with the BBS. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the player after you get a chance to live with it for a while.

___________
Tony Fabris

Thanks for the response. It does shed a lot of light on my wishes. 2 side notes:

1) I did get displayserver up and running and now I see what you mean. Very impressive and I finally understand what the readme tries to explain. Trying to patch the kernel now but still a little foggy on that.

2) I also loaded up the Linux version of the emplode tool (emtool) and tried to get gemtool working. While that hasn't happened yet, I am seeing the simplicity of gemtool just sending batch commands to emptool as an engine for the GUI. So now I am thinking that if I hack a bit more, I may be able to build my wn gemtool like interface (ala Jemplode etc) that will batch change the database like I am envisioning. Of course this won't touch the ID3 tags or run on windows but it could be an interesting exercise in futility.

Greg

I guess I have to make some time documenting things... hehe...

Frank van Gestel