One last thing you might try - go check the equivalent price of some Levi's or some consumer electronics in the UK and the US. Discover how the empeg store pricing compares.

For me, it all comes down to the price of labor for something. I can buy one empeg 10gb model ($1000) every 70 hours of work after taxes, or around 47 before taxes. That's in a low end, but decent tech paying job, and a location that I could rent a five bedroom house for $1295 a month (And it was rather nice). Compare that to the price of living and such in the UK. While the exchange rate may speak one story, your average hourly rates speak another. I believe this thread had similar insight using Big Mac meals at McDonalds as a good basis.

I had to keep remembering I was on vacation and supposed to have fun when I was in Scotland a few years back. But I kept doing the conversion in my mind for what I was buying and it was killing me to think about the difference.