Back when I used to have thoughts about mp3s that didn't involve an empeg, I looked at CD MP3 players right before the alpine came out. The alpine was priced at more than twice what the other mp3 players were selling for, and close to empeg prices. I realize alpine is a good brand, but the MP3 feature has a tendacy to attract geeks more than car audio people.

That would be my first guess as to why it's already off the market...

Matthew