ebay just sold a tuner for $372.50. I suspect SB didn't blow-out many of these as the demand for these units appears to be fierce.

Now if I had a tuner, I would put it on ebay for 1,000$ and with this money flight to US at your annual meeting...

Now THAT is the best justification i've seen. =] I couldn't argue with that one.

pathetic

at that point you could buy a really nice cd deck to go with the empeg and just use that tuner.

If you have space for two DIN units. Otherwise you have to buy a new car. And some people are willing to part with $300+ to avoid getting a new car.

Bruno

It's getting ridicolous now isn't it ? I more than wonder if there is a market for the empeg and accessories now ?

\\Kaare

Yeah, you gotta wonder: If people are willing to pay $372 for a tuner, why wouldn't they pay $699 or more for the full unit? I guess it comes down to supply and demand. When people think it's not EOL'd, they think it's too expensive. But, when you know that they'll never be made again, you suddenly are willing to pay a premium.

<<when you know that they'll never be made again, you suddenly are willing to pay a premium. >>

I happily paid $1900 for my 36GB. Late last year, fearing that S3 wasn't doing well financially, I attempted to purchase a 2nd unit on their Web site for ~1K (?), but their site wouldn't accept my order. When I saw their blow-out pricing, I purchased 10 units :-)

So, you're right. I would never have purchase 10 units for myself. But I figure with a MTBF of 5 years (likely much longer), I'll be 80+ when they bury me with my empeg.

Having worked in IT for 16+ years, I know not to say that it doesn't get any better. However, I doubt I'll see a color plasma screen mpeg 1.x player with a xx TB hard drive (and of course Linux not WindBlows) hit the street anytime soon. So, I was willing to stop the clock and increase my stake in the empeg. I suspect S3 is wondering what's going with their faster than expected fire sale.

As for S3, I hope they can get their act together. I dropped an email to their CTO explaining the problems with their order entry on their Web site (family and friends couldn't sucessfully place online orders). No response, and the problem still exists.

Sean

i would hate to be that guy who spent Near $400 for a tune, when knowing how this commuity works since there is such a high demand for them.. they have to make more sometime weather it be in a month or in a year.. i would feel great.. if that was me.. i bet the guy who bought it wont tell a soul on the board.. heheh

Let's make this clear: your bought 10 empegs as backups, not for resale, not even for friends and family!? Wow! That's really something guys@empeg can boast about! I hope you will lend some of them to those you mentioned not being able to order ones of their own.

It would probably be more useful to send your comments to the VP of Customer Service, Jim Hafner Eaton. He has previously ask me to provide his email address to customers who have had a bad experience - jimhe@sonicblue.com.

Rob

Post deleted by blitz

Has anyone (like the folks @ carplayer.com?) talked to SonicBlue about licensing the Intelectual Property for the Empeg line? I know that there have been quite a few Multi-Player game systems that when the main company EOL'd them; the user comunity set up a non-profit/S-corp/LLC/whatever to take it over.

I would think that if "we" (the comunity) had the IP rights, we could find a manufacuter to make small lots of items like the Tuner (I need 2!) and the unit itself.

Casualzen
<still waiting for my 2 MkIIa's>

Blitz,

I can totally agree with you. Even if one spent $400 on the tuner and $400 on the empeg itself, they would still be far under the reatail price of the Empeg alone 3 months ago. I would happily pay $375.00 today if anyone wants to sell me thier new tuner.

Lets be honest with ourselves, mp3s are great, but when you have good radio stations in your area, nothing can make up for Live FM radio. At least not yet

BTW, seriously if you have a tuner and want to sell it, email me...i will pay the ridiculous price for it!

ED7

Rob is working on getting a user funded tuner run under way, he is still waiting on information from the manufacturer at this point. There will be new tuners some day most likely.

It's someone like you that will end up buying one of my backup empegs for $2000. Sweet.

I think most people here can afford the $400 tuner. That's not the point. The point is that they don't feel "right" about doing it, considering they were being sold for $70 in December. They don't feel right that someone emptied out the Rio store for the purpose of grey-market selling them on eBay.

Next, the person who speaks loudest about comparing income statements is usually one deluded in their own pathetic existence. A fool and his money are soon parted. I didn't notice your name was "Bill" by the way. Also, leave the religious talk out of the forums.

Bruno

And congratulations. Great way to make friends.

[edit: He's from Texas... That explains it. Everyone from Texas is born with a chip on their shoulder - only the lucky ones manage to lose it.]

If you've got so much cash that's burning a hole in your wallet, there is an opportunity to make a lot of money by investing in another tuner batch... There seems to be just a *little bit* of interest in the tuner, and you'd be helping a lot of people out...

Post deleted by blitz

wow, well.. hehe i dont knwo what to say.. i decied to go xm mainly for the paoint that i got free gear thru my company, i just have to pay for 11 months of the service, and yes i can afford $400, but the point is exactly what hybrid said, and i do understand what u were thinking about the combo of the 2 being about the same or a lill less than when they had the blowout sale.. im not trying to be rude.. and im not saying you are.. just kinda shocked me that someone would put that kinda of money into fm radio, its something i havent used in my car since i got the player.. and i feel my $70 went to waste, i have it more of a safty thing rather than for music, becusae i would like to know about traffic, and emergency information, that the empeg cant do on its own. well no hard feelings

"He's from Texas... That explains it. Everyone from Texas is born with a chip on their shoulder - only the lucky ones manage to lose it."

Hey! Watch what you say on here, we have many Texans on this board! ;-)

Sean

ElectricD7,

I'm sort of interested in selling my new tuner (tested in the Empeg, but not installed). I was planning to use it if/when I installed my second Empeg in my other car. But for what they're bringing in the marketplace, I can live with my current CD changer and use the Empeg at home or sell it.

So do you still need one? I'm in the Bay Area in California. You in the US too?

Barry

Yep, Im in the US. How much do you want for it?? You can email me directly at chad@weblifeinc.com. Thanks.

Great! Add me to that list! >grin<

I was thinking a little larger though... Pulling in the whole line, so that "we" could then have an ongoing source of product. (Heck, make a few new converts out there as well, I would hope!!)

casualzen
(trying to figure out how to do something w/ a DIN & 1/2 opening... >grrrr< )
- waiting (still) on my 2 Mk2a-30g's >fingers crossed<

I do not regret at all any of my empeg purchases. In fact, I think it was perhaps the best purchase I have made in recent memory. Even my dead remote did not upset me.

No different than when the first Mk1's came out and there was a year+ waiting list of people. Someone who had a reg number less than 400 (mine was 586) got their hands on a couple first batch empegs and put one up on ebay. I don't recall exactly what it went for, but it was a 6GB Mk1, original price 1199$ (I believe) and sold for well over 2100$.

IMHO: That was kind of a jerk-maneuver.. but I guess its the epitome of consumerism. Same situation here.

I can't believe that people want FM that bad! Even when I only had about 1000 tracks on my empeg, I didn't miss radio at all except for traffic and weather. Simply putting the TV on while I get dressed for work fixed that (radio traffic updates never did me any good because I had already chosen my route to work and couldn't do anything about an accident).

My guess is that the only people who would pay over $100 for a tuner are the same people that didn't "get" what the empeg truley was. Not because the total price (clearence price + ebay tuner) is still cheaper than original MSRP though. If you really understand the empeg, and know that it was designed to carry your entire music collection, there is no need for radio. If you love radio so much, then you probably don't own many CD's because you are happy hearing Linkin Park 20 times a day (ie, mp3 isn't really for you.)

I hope I didn't come off as being elitist to our new members. It is easy to see why so many people didn't "get" the power of the empeg because Sonicblue did very little advertiseing. I didn't "get" the empeg until I had been reading this BBS for a few months, realized its community would be around to support it, knew that the community included the actual empeg team and saw a long video demo of the unit. Even after that, I needed a little nudge. But, being an "old-hand" now (hehe), I can say, from a year's ownership experience, I have never wished I had an FM radio (soooo lo-fi) and would have felt I wasted my money if I had spent $100 on one. I've wanted to post this more often, to maybe save ONE person from getting ripped off on eBay, but I didn't want to, in the same stride, reduce the chance of the independantly funded tuner run mentioned in this thread.

So IF you want a tuner, wait for the next batch, but it's not worth $300! (get a FM Walkman (do they still make those? ) and hook it up to the Aux. The reason many of us long-time members get upset is because this whole community has been based on people going out of their way to help others out of generousity. Even the empeg team encourages you to upgrade your own hard drive if they feel you are up to it! I don't think Frank got paid for his Displayserver or Mark got paid for his Kernal hack (other than some kind donations). The smoked lens were very affordable. No $$ is being made off of this BBS (no ads! ) or RioCar.org. I could go on and on and on.

I hope I didn't come off as being elitist to our new members.

Hey, how about old members???

I actually have a tuner module I am keeping right now just because of the Sony wired remote interface. However, if I didn't have one, and if it had happened that the WRX had been delivered as a single-DIN, I'd probably be hunting for a tuner on eBay. Somehow, I can't make the Empeg receive Car Talk and/or KEXP without a radio of some sort (a design shortcoming!)

OK, so money is an issue and I don't think I'd be bidding $300+, but there are reasons folks want tuners, even given the sorry overall state of radio.

I don't think that "getting" the empeg concept and wanting a tuner are mutually exclusive. If they were, then the Empeg guys probably wouldn't have made any!

There are times when I want to hear the news or weather, a new drama, or whatever. Or just fancy a break from my music. Not to mention others who follow sport or The Archers.

Not that I'd pay those silly prices for one, mind.

One use for a tuner that hasn't been mentioned here is to hear new music that isn't already in your collection. It doesn't matter how many hours of mp3s you have on your Empeg, you're just not going to hear anything new in them

I'm lucky that Boston has some good radio stations, and short journeys are when I'm most likely to tune in to them.

You still wouldn't catch me paying that much for the tuner module though...I'm keeping my old HU for now so I don't really need it.

And if anyone here has too much cash, feel free to send me some

I guess I didn't try hard enough at not offending. I appoligze. Can I make it up by saying "nice car!"

Is there any way to time record Car Talk to mp3 via MusicMatch? That would be a pain doing a sync for each airing though... oh well!

I am getting a kick out of reading the thread I linked to however!