Did Empeg have anything to do with Turtle Beach's newly announced product the Audiotron? It's a stereo component with ethernet on the back that will play your mp3s off of a server on your LAN. It comes with IR remote control.

Check it out,
http://www.zdnet.com/zdtv/freshgear/products/story/0,3679,2569029,00.html?

I doubt it -- it runs WinCE.

Alex

Although we're involved with a number of major OEM projects, we can't give any details at the moment. Of course the areas in which we specialise are well known, and I imagine some people will put two and two together. Don't expect any confirmation, though!

Regarding WinCE - good observation! I think we'd need a very good reason to drop Linux.

Rob

Looking at the details, it looks like getting it to see and play files off the empeg Mark II may be possible. According to Fresh Gear, it scans the network for windows shares and looks inside them for MP3's. To get it to see the Mark II, Samba could be run on the unit, and from there it can look at the files. (A few minor issues exist here, but should be resolvable if someone tries this.) Or, since it was indicated that Shoutcast support will probably be possible on the Mark II, just stream to the AudioTron, and use the empeg for music control.

Either way, it looks like a nice product from Turtle Beach, and the Mark II can complement it.

Also, it probably runs WinCE for ease of finding windows shares, and also HomePNA support. These would probably be possible in Linux, but this brings up the fact that it really dosen't matter what OS an embedded system uses as long as it works well.

Urrr WinCE? Nah, that'd be much better if it used Linux & an ARM cpu.

[grins mysteriously]

Hugo

Rob, do you suppose that there will be other products competing with the Audiotron by Q3 of this year, or are they a little farther out?

-Hoagy.

Hmm, well that's a very general question about the industry which I can answer in a very general way, drawing on my personal opinion...

This is an up and coming area of digital audio, and I'd bet that some guys might even beat Audiotron to the market. We'll see!

Rob