The $1200 I paid for my empeg Mk2 was a steal! The only thing it needed was more advertising...

I agree with you on both points. But if Pioneer can't market an expensive hard-disk based player, then no one can.

Of course, companies like Pioneer and Sony might choose to keep marketing certain high-end products even if they're taking a bath on them. I get the feeling that many of the more expensive products in their lines are like the opposite of loss leaders: only there to make the buying public feel good about purchasing the cheaper models. Every company needs to have a "top of the line" product just so that there's a comfortable middle ground where the bulk of the consumers can spend their money.

Of course, in the case of a hard-disk-based player like this one, it's expensive because it really needs to be expensive, not just because its speaker connectors are gold plated and it's made with a heavier casing material. So maybe this doesn't fit that category.