Since the death of my SO's nomad we've be awaiting the arrival of the new empeg towers influanced mp3 players.....and it's been a long wait.

But now that there almost here I've a few questions.
Is the UI on the Nitrus the same as the Karma?
Is there any idea of when they will be on the shelves? Amazon says September 3rd.
The Eigen, or the armoured Nitrus: what's the thinking there? Or is it just something different. I kinda hoping the this is intended to protect the mp3 player from bumps and more...

Thanks empeg guys & special thanks to whom ever had the idea of the nitrus, it fills a gap (between flash & HDD) in the market that was partially served (not quite enough space/too big of a unit) by CD based mp3 players with something that it tiny and light weight but with space for ~25 audio CDs.