Hi guys,
Just bought my first Empeg off Ebay. I've been wanting one of these for years now and finally got the deal off ebay that I've been looking for. I've been reading up on it recently, and trying to find all the information I can. Is it safe to say that JEmplode or Emplode are programs that are used to load the latest firmware as well as other utilities. I'm still trying to figure this out. Also, is the Hijack Kernal something in the Firmware, or is it something different. I do have some experience with Embedded programming, but nothing with Linux before, feel free to use technical terms. Also if you have any suggestions on things to read (other than the FAQ) or other things to prepare for before I receive it, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot,
- Ben

Welcome!

Emplode and jEmplode's primary function is to manage your music collection (organize playlists, move things around, tweak database metadata originally derived from ID3 tags, and, of course, upload (and, in the case of jEmplode, download/backup) the music). They are also used to upgrade empeg software (both flash and disk resident parts). These utilities are necessary because empeg does not implement network/USB storage interface, and offers much richer set of options for organizing the music collection than that simplistic model.

HiJack is replacement Linux kernel (which resides in flash) for empeg (that is, roughly speaking, the part of Linux implementing scheduling, memory management, I/O drivers, that kind of stuff). It adds a wide range of interesting functions, from UI-related ones (like additional menus, button remapping, command macros), to some internal tweaks (so that, for example, the player no longer performs unnecessary and time-consuming periodical disk integrity checking), to volume 'auto-leveling' to ftp and http servers. Amazing piece of software.

I would suggest that you first read the original user manual (though it is a bit obsolete, especially if you install HiJack with, say 2.0 final version of SW, which is, of course, highly recommended), then Tony's FAQ linked at the top ot the page. That and playing with the player will get you going pretty quickly. After that, there is searching this board and just asking.

Have fun!

Fur Sur Man! Read the FAQ!!! Tony has done an awesome job of collecting and putting it together...plus, if you have read the FAQ and still need to ask, people will be much more likely to assist, and you will have a better idea of what is going on. However, don't be thin skinned! And Congrats! It looks lke we have another convert!!! Welcome to the wonderful world of Empeg!

A friend of mine got an empeg a bit over a year ago. I sent him a long email with a list of things to do. When just beginning, I recommend using emplode rather than Jemplode, unless you don't have a Windows PC. With the exception that I don't talk about Jemplode, it still looks good to me, so here is that email:

Since you have your new player, may I suggest the following:

1. Go here:
empeg player software

and download the 2.0final version of the emplode PC software and the *developer* image for the Rio Car. The PC software allows you to change contents of the player and manage playlists, etc. The PC software and the software on the player must be the same version. The PC software contains an upgrade utility to allow you to install the software on the player via the serial cable.

2. Go here:

hijack kernel

and download the latest pre-built kernel for the Mark2/Mark2a players. Save the file.

3. Go here:

Tony Fabris Logo Editor

and download Tony Fabris' logo editor, which contains a utility to upload a new kernel to the player.

4. Run the logoedit program, and choose "Kernel Flash Utility" from the File menu. Use the utility to place the kernel image you downloaded in step 2 onto your player via the serial cable.

Now you're ready for some really cool stuff...

6. Go here:

empeg web interface

and follow the instructions to put a nice XML interface on the player's internal web server (the modified kernel contains a web and FTP server for the player, which is one of the reasons its critical). This is extremely cool and easy to install. It provides remote control and streaming of the player in a nice GUI from a web browser.

7. There's lots of other stuff to do with it:

Customizations and Accessories

including a Palm Pilot playlist generator (where you beam the playlist to the empeg via infrared), GPS unit integration (haven't tried it), Text to Speech clock (that vocalizes the time when you boot up -- also haven't tried), alarm clock, and boot up logos.

8. Play around with the player! My favorite things to do (assuming the latest build and the hijack-kernel are installed as described in 1-5, above):

- The "tweak order" functionality deserves a Nobel prize...
- Hijack supports right/left time delay, which allows you to move the soundstage so that music sounds "centered" even though you sit closer to the left speaker in your car. I use a 1.7ms shift in my car and its perfect.
- I like the Spectrolog visuals, but I think most of the visuals are hokey. Some people really like them.
- I like making up playlists on my Palm Pilot and beaming them to the player. Lets me play DJ... This involves software on the palm and the player, as well as a playlist on the palm. It is explained in detail in a place linked off of #7, above.

9. Read the entire FAQ. This is easily the best written FAQ on the planet.

10. You can use the player as a "file taxi". With hijack installed, your player has an FTP server. You can put files there. Read the FAQ, though, because the player defaults to "read only" mode on the disk drives (which prevents corruption on a sudden power down -- like yanking it out of the dash). You send a command to put the drives into read/write mode, upload your files, then put the drives back into read only mode. This is all explained in the FAQ, I believe. Also read the Hijack FAQ.

11. Most recommend 1-2GB transfers to the player, but using the updated player (2.0 final + hijack), I routinely do 10-20GB transfers with no trouble. I queue up the transfer and let it run overnight. Ethernet is the way to go for loading music on the player. If you aren't familiar with TCP/IP networking, the FAQ will help you get the empeg on the ethernet.

Jim

I prefer Mark Cushman's xml interface over the web interface you link to... it loads faster. And if you need a "virtual" empeg on your desktop, Tony's empegface works great.

to add to list

12 base all future car purchases on empeg compatibility

13 have great confusion at mortal car stereos that don't give track names etc

14 become very anal about tagging MP3s

15 wonder if tony is real or some robot that answers all questions

16 be scared and amased by patrick and his soldering iron and circuit design

Awesome,
That is the exactly the guide I was looking for. The hard part now is waiting two weeks until I can go get the player.
- Ben

Take that time to organize you mp3 collection. Get ALL the ID3 tags in order and accurate. You can rename songs and artists etc after you have transfered the music, but it's WAY better to do it before hand.

And welcome to the community!

Welcome to the community! Definately spend those two weeks ID3 tagging like SE_Sport_Driver said. Batch ID3 taging software such as Tag&Rename can make it very easy. Have each album in its own folder? Taggers can download that album's information and populate all the ID3 fields in just a few clicks.

I found that Emplode and the empeg could outsmart those taggers sometimes. They found corrupt tags hidden in the files that the taggers couldn't. I don't have the resolutions onhand, so try a search on the BBS for "corrupt ID3". Whenever I saw the empeg display a tag that I sure-as-heck didn't set, I'd just drop the file into Wordpad, find the offending text (generally at the end of the file) and delete it. I found my MP3s highly resiliant to me hacking them apart in Wordpad, so it's a good quick fix.

Good luck, have fun, search the BBS, ask questions, don't get too mad if we sound snappy because we probably just forgot to put the in there indicating that we're just kidding around, and enjoy the best car stereo ever!

Another good, powerful tagging SW is MP3 Tag Studio. Probably best to have both handy.

T&R said V1's were clear and V2's were populated (as intended), but the empeg got its info from some random text at the end of the file. I think the tag section wasn't preceeded by the string "TAG"... but I forget.

In every case of the corrupt tags, the strings "Brava Software" and "Musicmatch Jukebox" were near the bitter end of the file when viewed in a text editor. I think we know who the culprit is.

Technically, ID3v2 tags can appear anywhere in the mp3 datastream. Well, in between any two given blocks and at the beginning and the end. It's not usually done like that, but it is part of the spec. Maybe the code the empeg uses supports that and remembers the last set tag.