This is my car stereo

[DiGNAN17]

It struck me the other day that I never told you guys that I got this thing.

For those that haven't heard of it, the empeg is an in-dash HDD based MP3 player that runs on Linux. (hence the penguin)

The empeg is hands down the best car MP3 player. Trust me, I've looked at alot of players, nearly every one that's out there, and none compare to the proffesional way this thing is manufactured.

It's built by a company called empeg Ltd. (yes, the "e" is lower-cased) in Cambridge, UK. The company was recently bought by S3 (now calling themselves Sonicblue - lord knows why...).

I suggest everyone goes to their site (www.empeg.com), and check out the specs on this thing. I think you'll be impressed.

The only downside of this player that I can think of is the price. I worked all summer to pay for this thing, but it was worth it, 100%

Also check out the unofficial empeg bulletin board at empeg.comms.net .

You can see pics of my installation in this thread . I prefer to view the board in "flat mode", which you can get if you click on the box next to the 3 arrows.

ps-almost every day I bring this thing inside with me and hook it up to my PC. It sounds great through the Pro's.

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FURIOS Df>c>

[Dman155]

How much did it set you back?

[Seb]

if i had a car, it could interest me.

hey, maybe I could buy that, then buy the car to go with it?

[DiGNAN17]

Hehe, that's the way some people have done it

My 12GB model cost me about $1300. I know, I know, it's obscene. But damn is this thing great.

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FURIOS Df>c>

[Dman155]

Whats the price range on indash mp3 players? I'm assuming yours is at the top of that range.

How do you navigate all your files while driving? With 12 Gs, thats like 3000 tracks or so. Don't tell me you use your cell phone while finding music and driving too.

[DiGNAN17]

It's very intuitive. You can set up playlists however you want them.

Basically, while in normal play mode, pressing the down button will bring up the menu. The first option int the menu is always "Playlists". To enter that you press down again. I have my music organized by artist->album->song.

Now, my first playlist, since playlist are automatically sorted alphabetically, is AC/DC. So to get to that I press the right button, then down to enter my list of albums. In that I have "Back In Black". To choose that I press right, down. To play the entire album I press down again.

Every time you enter any playlist, the first chosen object is a little triangular "play" button. If you press down with that selected, it plays everything in that list.

This may seem complicated or like it's too many steps to be safe in a car, but after you've gotten used to it you only think about the button presses, which in this example are:

down

down

right

down

----*

right

down

down

*at this point I could just press down again because that is the only album in the playlist.

So what if you have over 60 artists in that initial branch (like I do)? Well that's where the remote comes in.

Say I want to listen to all my Led Zeppelin tunes. After you are in the artist playlists, you press "5" on the remote, which like a telephone, corresponds to the letters "jkl". If I want to go to Led Zeppelin, which happens to come first in the L's, I press the 5 button three times.

This may sound like an inconvenience, but it's really easy to use after a while. However, there are things that you just cannot do while driving, like adjusting EQ settings.

ps-did I mention that all the player and PC software is upgradeable? They are coming out with version 1.1 in a while, and by then they will have incorporated features based on the feedback from users on the unofficial BB. damn I love this thing.

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FURIOS Df>c>

[DiGNAN17]

as for the price range, yes, I would guess that the empeg is at the top of that range. I won't hide the fact that it is expensive, but let me tell you folks, you get a very high quality product for the money.

As far as other in-dash MP3 players go, I can't say because there really aren't any.

Aiwa is coming out with their in-dash CD/MP3 player, which will play CD's and discs burnt with MP3's. But the menu system looks harder to navigate, you still need to shuffle CD's, and you can't use VBR files. But the price, at $200-$300, is good for most users.

The Clarion AutoPC does not count as an MP3 player. It is pitiful. It does not have the memory or processor power capable of playing an average MP3 file. I believe you have to encode your music at sub-quality bitrates if you want the machine to handle it.

There are a few others that I have observed, and a whole slew of alternative products of far lesser quality, and trust me, I've looked at quite a few. This is a stand-out product.

Feel free to shout out any more questions.

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FURIOS Df>c>

[Hofy]

So are you saying my Quadraphonic 8 Track is obsolete? (Yes I do have one, new in the box!)c>

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SO MUCH TO DO, SO LITTLE TIME.c>