I've had my MKIIa for a very long time now, over 10 years. It's been in my Dodge Dakota for the entire time I've had the truck (since 2000).
The Truck has over 200,000 miles on it and all the paint is coming off of it. It will be repainted in January...
My empeg lost one set of hard drives in 10 years, two Fujitsu drives which they replaced for free. The rotary knob died, the remote had to have the buttons repaired with a pencil, and I had to install the cold weather cap mod for the display.
Other than that, it's been rock solid for the past 10 years. I just blew out my rear passenger speaker (Kenwood), damn you Eminem!
I can't imagine having to use a different player to listen to music with. I've accumulated several other units over the years and will always have an Empeg in my car
My wife's cars, well they are another story! They all get factory GPS units with entertainment systems LOL.