not to mention the writing of all the IDtags for the files that takes time ...

Are you talking about fixing tags for all your existing mp3s? If they're regularly named, then just use a program to go update them. If they're not, how did you expect the empeg to work? Or are you talking about fixing them on the player only? You should fix your ID3 tags before you upload them to the player.

... just for the player to say one day that it's lost all of the settings and have to replace everything, EQ settings, Time, date etc.

?!?

I've had my player in constant use for nearly two years and I've never had to ``replace everything''. Many of the tracks on the unit are the same ones I uploaded the first day I had the player, and they've survived several software upgrades, innumerable Hijack uploads, lots of software hacking, having drives swapped to test my unstable kernel hacks, etc. Never lost a thing.

Maybe you've got a defective unit?