Quote:
Basically the iPod works a lot like the empeg does. Files are renamed and stashed away on the hard drive while all the real data the player uses is in a database. The main difference is that the empeg rebuilds the database, but with the iPod only iTunes can rebuild it.

Right, but the Empeg's "rebuilding" is just rebuilding it from the *1 files. Without the *1 files written by Emplode/Emptool/Jemplode, the Empeg can't do anything with the tune files, just like an Ipod. Same with the Karma, for that matter. Among Rio hard-drive players, only the Carbon was truly self-databasing and zero-PC-footprint -- although future Karma-derived Sigmatel-based players will also be self-databasing and zero-PC-footprint.

Peter