Sorry, I just want something more specific and integrated.

I'm not quite sure how much more specific or how much more integrated you'd need it to be. Since you haven't got an Empeg yet, you seem to be afraid that its search/playlist functions will somehow be substandard. Trust me, when using the Empeg, I've got no problem finding the music I want when I want it. And I don't have that many playlists defined. In fact, aside from a bunch of artist playlists with album subtrees, I've only got a few "mood" playlists and that's about it. Yet if I want to hear something specific, I can do it pretty easily from the remote.

For example, today I got two new albums in the mail from Amazon. I ripped them and uploaded them to the Empeg before taking a 2-hour drive. As I started off on the drive, I fired up one of the albums, then used the "append by source" feature to add the second album, and both albums shuffled as I took the drive. I didn't have to create a special playlist to do it.

Before you panic about the playlist and search features, wait until you get your Empeg, play with it for a while, and then see what you think.

I also am not so specific in my genres. I have either rock, jazz, or classical.

And I hardly ever search on genre (or year for that matter) anyhow. I usually just search on artist, title or album. It's more than enough for me.

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Tony Fabris