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#69220 - 09/02/2002 18:06 Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised)
hybrid8
carpal tunnel

Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
Since there are tons of new people here, I thought I'd post a link to this comparative table looking at the Riocar (empeg Mk2a), PhatNoise's Phatbox and the SSI Neo. I've updated it to reflect the recently added support for WMA on the empegcar as well as a few other minor changes for the other players.

Direct clickable link: (auto)mobile Jukebox matrix
Plain copyable link: http://www.mypocket.com/mobilematrix/index.php

If anyone has any corrections or ideas for additional criteria, let me know. There's at least one new player on the market which would make an interesting addition. The recent Sony 10GB and Pioneer units might also make it into a future revision (though I'm leaning to disqualifying anything that doesn't support MP3).

Bruno
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Bruno
Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software

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#69221 - 09/02/2002 19:17 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: hybrid8]
caseyse
member

Registered: 07/10/2000
Posts: 112
Loc: CA, USA
Great job. Accurate and complete. I recall seeing another product comp. matrix where they errored in certain of the empeg's specs. Probably because they were an estore selling the other units.

Sean

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#69222 - 09/02/2002 19:22 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: caseyse]
robricc
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
Might you be speaking of this one? If so, they have a reason to bend the truth and leave out many categories.
_________________________
-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736

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#69223 - 09/02/2002 19:28 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: hybrid8]
robricc
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
Bruno, There is now an nnofficial phatbox forum. You may want to add it as the content is probably more interesting.

http://www.go-racecar.com/uphatphorum/
_________________________
-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736

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#69224 - 09/02/2002 19:55 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: robricc]
hybrid8
carpal tunnel

Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
Added. Thanks. I also rev'ed the descriptions for the forum cells of each product to mention what BBS software they run.

If anyone has memberships at other In-Car-Entertainment/Stereo-related boards, or at one of the other MP3-car product boards, please post a link to the comparison matrix. It's just about as non-biased as I could make it.

Bruno
_________________________
Bruno
Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software

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#69225 - 09/02/2002 20:31 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: robricc]
hybrid8
carpal tunnel

Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
I'm adding a very important update right now. The PhatBox has been EOL. Yup. That's it. Poof. The only unit now available is the Kenwood Branded 10GB unit. And of course they're working contract deals with OEMs like Visteon. No news of them offering another product retail.

Bruno
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Bruno
Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software

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#69226 - 09/02/2002 20:42 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: robricc]
caseyse
member

Registered: 07/10/2000
Posts: 112
Loc: CA, USA
That's a good one. It took me a few minutes to find this again, but this is the gem.

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#69227 - 09/02/2002 20:50 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: hybrid8]
caseyse
member

Registered: 07/10/2000
Posts: 112
Loc: CA, USA
EOL, but you can buy their domain name here.

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#69228 - 09/02/2002 20:51 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: caseyse]
robricc
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
Ahh yes... I have seen that one before. Since its layout is so crappy I never read it all the way through. Horizontal scroll bars on a website, especially one using a table, is unacceptable.
_________________________
-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736

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#69229 - 09/02/2002 21:01 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: caseyse]
msaeger
carpal tunnel

Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 3608
Loc: Minnetonka, MN
phatnoise is their website phatbox was probably a cyebersquatter or something

they win for stupidest name anyway "music keg"
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Matt

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#69230 - 09/02/2002 21:04 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: caseyse]
hybrid8
carpal tunnel

Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
Oh, I've got far more interesting domains I'd be willing to sell. Just see the domain of the same name as my posting handle.

Bruno
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Bruno
Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software

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#69231 - 09/02/2002 21:33 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: hybrid8]
robricc
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
whitevanspeakers.com? This reminds me of stories on audioreview.com of guys selling "designer" speakers out of a white van. Apparently the speakers were bogus and many people fell for the scam.
_________________________
-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736

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#69232 - 09/02/2002 21:51 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: robricc]
hybrid8
carpal tunnel

Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
Thats why I registered the domain. Someone at work bought a pair of those speakers last year. I was laughing all day. I registered the domain almst immediately after he told me the story. Never did get around to making into a nice joke site though. Time time time...

The best I saw was someone selling white vans out of the back of a stereo shop. Complete with a picture of a tractor trailer filled with white vans. It was hilarious. The white van thing is global by the way: Europe, Australia, Canada, USA...

I just renewed some of the domains. Some I'm going to let expire because they're no longer part of any plans.
_________________________
Bruno
Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software

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#69233 - 09/02/2002 21:52 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: robricc]
robricc
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
Here's the reviews for the "white van speakers."
_________________________
-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736

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#69234 - 09/02/2002 23:21 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: hybrid8]
drakino
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
FYI, empeg only offers technical support via e-mail now, the phone number listed in the manual rings to a message informing callers of this. I was a bit suprised by that when I had my friend Ted call, but I can understand since it would have required the continued staffing of an off hours worker in tough economic times.

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#69235 - 09/02/2002 23:39 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: drakino]
hybrid8
carpal tunnel

Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
Perfect. I just wanted 100% confirmation before I removed that bit of info from the table.

Bruno
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Bruno
Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software

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#69236 - 10/02/2002 01:16 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: hybrid8]
cwillenbrock
enthusiast

Registered: 30/12/2000
Posts: 249
Loc: Dover, NJ
I just noticed this...
Can Be Used as Portable Hard Drive
Only allows uploading of songs to the unit, does not allow downloading for legal reasons


That's not quite as true as it used to be
_________________________
- Chris Orig. Empeg Queue position 2

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#69237 - 10/02/2002 04:05 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: robricc]
andy
carpal tunnel

Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5916
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
Right up there with one of my stranger domains http://www.girliespeakers.com/

(dedicated to a work collegue who admitted to buying a rather pathetic surround sound system)
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Remind me to change my signature to something more interesting someday

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#69238 - 10/02/2002 05:20 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: drakino]
rob
carpal tunnel

Registered: 21/05/1999
Posts: 5335
Loc: Cambridge UK
In practice the phone lined is manned about eight hours a day on average, but we can't guarantee the specific hours.

It's very rare not to get a reply to an email or a voicemail the same day.

Rob

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#69239 - 10/02/2002 10:12 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: msaeger]
Chao
member

Registered: 01/01/2002
Posts: 144
"phatnoise is their website phatbox was probably a cyebersquatter or something

they win for stupidest name anyway "music keg" "

They're going after the elusive "frat boy music pirate with too much money on his hands" market :P

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#69240 - 10/02/2002 10:14 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: rob]
hybrid8
carpal tunnel

Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
Ok, so I'm adding the phone note back in. What about calling the US 1-800? Will that get people anywhere?

Bruno
_________________________
Bruno
Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software

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#69241 - 10/02/2002 10:28 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: cwillenbrock]
hybrid8
carpal tunnel

Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
I'll visit this point right now... I've made it a bit more robust by including two categories instead of one. Now it covers both music transfers as well as non-music.

Bruno
_________________________
Bruno
Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software

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#69242 - 10/02/2002 13:38 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: hybrid8]
TheAmigo
enthusiast

Registered: 14/09/2000
Posts: 363
In the row for "Can Play Music Outside of Car (Home, etc.)" you might add that with 3rd party software (hijack), the empeg can also be used as a network mp3 server.
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--The Amigo

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#69243 - 10/02/2002 13:41 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: caseyse]
TheAmigo
enthusiast

Registered: 14/09/2000
Posts: 363
Gem?! Have you read it?!

There's many error WRT the empeg and many "unknown"s. Overall it's a terrible comparison.
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--The Amigo

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#69244 - 10/02/2002 14:00 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: TheAmigo]
wfaulk
carpal tunnel

Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
I think that was his point. Did you notice that their red ``especially bad'' things for the empeg included some things that were the same for other players, but not marked red?
_________________________
Bitt Faulk

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#69245 - 10/02/2002 14:23 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: wfaulk]
ijustdontknow
new poster

Registered: 10/02/2002
Posts: 11
Exactly what is this comparison to be used for? What is the purpose?

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#69246 - 10/02/2002 14:58 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: ijustdontknow]
hybrid8
carpal tunnel

Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
Tables and charts are usually marketing devices used to show the strengths and weaknesses of one product compared to others.

I don't think it was the intent of Scott at HotMP3Gear, the other chart being mentioned, to be unfair. He just didn't have the detailed information needed for all the players. Plus some features have changed and/or expanded over the past year.

Now, the purpose of MY table? Just to show the various features of the various units from an objective view. People can use it while shopping or just to know what they have compared to what else is out there. There is also information in there that a lot of people might not know about without reading all sorts of other resources.

I'll eventually update it to include a master list of hacks and 3rd party software for the empeg. Just haven't had any time for that lately.

Bruno
_________________________
Bruno
Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software

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#69247 - 10/02/2002 15:12 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: hybrid8]
ijustdontknow
new poster

Registered: 10/02/2002
Posts: 11
I'm not knocking the comparison but it appears to little more than regurgitated spec sheets. It doesn't hurt anything but just wondering what the usefulness is since empeg/riocar isn't made anymore. Given that, it seems largely a waste of time. Surely anyone on this bbs already has a player installed.

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#69248 - 10/02/2002 15:21 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: ijustdontknow]
genixia
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 08/02/2002
Posts: 3411
Nope. I have one on order. I used the chart before ordering to check that none of the competetion had surpassed the Empeg.....Very nice chart it is too.
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Mk2a 60GB Blue. Serial 030102962 sig.mp3: File Format not Valid.

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#69249 - 10/02/2002 16:10 Re: Car MP3 Player comparison chart (revised) [Re: ijustdontknow]
hybrid8
carpal tunnel

Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
The matrix has been up since December 1. Again, largely in part just for fun and because the others that were out there were kind of one-sided or just plain wrong.

Now the empeg is EOL and sold out everywhere except Carplayer.com and eBay and PhatBox has also ended production except for the Kenwood Music Keg.

It's a tight space to fit a lot of pointers to more information. Like the BBS, the FAQ, web addresses, locations to buy, etc. Plus I think it looks kind of cool. And it was the first time I had used any PHP at all (very minor use to swap out part of the html to pull up smaller images).

Bruno
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Bruno
Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software

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