Neither Empeg nor mp3mobile are mentioned anywhere, despite being the first / best of their kind...

Okay, I'm reading threads like this one and the TechTV thread down below, and it's clear we all need a reminder, so here goes...

We're a cult.

Just accept it. The media had its opportunities to love the empeg, both before and after the SonicBlue acquisition, and passed on most of them. Except for some geeklust in Wired magazine and a few high-end audio mags, the empeg hit the press with a barely audible "thud."

The empeg was not a commercial success, and even without the dreadful marketing and order fulfilment following the SonicBlue acquisition, it was never going to be a commercial success. The market wasn't ready for a product as advanced as the empeg, and even if a new batch was made and aggressively marketed tomorrow, there would be no chance at selling enough units to make profit.

Look, I'm willing to bet a majority of the folks who saw the TechTV segment actually *did* believe it was a new product, because it *could* be a new product. Several years later, there have been just a smattering of entries into the hard-drive based MP3 player market, and they're all laughable in comparison to the empeg. As Jan said, "the empeg simply was too far ahead of it's time."

So please, everybody, just accept the fact that the press has always ignored the empeg, and will continue to do so. And enjoy it. Being in a cult is fun, provided Rob and Hugo don't force us all to drink any special Kool Aid.