Hey Jim...go back and re-read both of my posts on this thread. I said both times that I love my Empeg (as long as it keeps working) and will continue to enjoy using it.. Even more when 2.0 comes out. That doesn't change my view of Rio for what they have done here...and to some extent the folks in Cambridge (sorry guys, but that's how I see it).

I'm sorry that you feel that you now feel a need to take personal cracks at my personality because I feel this way.

I really hope that in the coming months or next couple years that not too many will get burned with $2000 heaps of metal that can't be fixed because there's no support for it. I bought my Empeg about a year ago. I can't even remember what the warranty is(guessing a year), but I certainly had full expections to use it for at least 3-5 years....for the $2000 that it cost me. Any comparisons that people have made to computer games which are not supported on new platforms is a ridiculous comparison. They don't cost $2000 for starters.

After hearing some of Hugo's comments (not Rob's..he takes everything too personally and gets all upset over everything). After hearing Hugo's comments on this thread and a few others...I can see that he definitely wants to try as hard as he can to support us Empeg users for as long as he possibly can. For example...putting photos up of how to fix the Empeg ourselves when it breaks. This isn't exactly the same thing as being able to send my pioneer deck into a pioneer service center to get fixed, but at least its SOMETHING and I appreciate the fact that he cares to do that notwithstanding this news that Rio is going to discontinue the carplayer(which probably comes as a great dissappointment to the guys in Cambridge as well). The only acceptable response from those folks right now is "We never meant to 'screw you over' and we hope to make every effort to support you for as long as we can". This has essentially been Hugo's response. Rob's response has been more along the lines of "You don't have any idea what you're talking about so shut up". Wrong answer. All I want to know is that if and when my Empeg breaks 2 years after buying it...that I will be able to get it fixed. If I can't...then I am going to be one pissed off dude... And mark my words...this wil happen sooner or later to somebody somewhere...and after spending this kind of dough..you can rest assured they are going to be ticked off people.

You think someone who walks into CarToys today and buys a Rioplayer is going to be happy in 18 months from now if it doesn't work...and he can't get it fixed? Hello.... He's going to be ticked. You can't market a consumer product (and regardless of the geek factor...this has absolutely been marketed as a consumer product...for sale in car audio dealerships such as CarToys)....you can't market a consumer product for $1000-$2000 and expect your consumers to be anything less than completely pissed off when it breaks 2 years later and can't be fixed. That is simply wrong. If they put a big sign on all the marketing material and on the website that says "Buy a disposable car player today for only $999" then maybe that would be fair. But there is most definitely an unwritten (or perhaps it is written somewhere in some consumer protection document) that if you buy a product that doesn't imply "disposable"...that its not disposable and you should be able to continue using it for years to come. I'm not about to pursue something like this...so don't take it this way, but class action suits happen all the time over false advertising and other such craziness.

Believe me, I appreciate how cool the Mk2 is. I'm going to be one bummed out dude when it doesn't work anymore. But if I could go back in a time machine...I'm not at all sure whether I would have spent that kind of money if I knew that a year later they were going to pull the plug on being able to support it, get parts, fix it when it breaks, etc..

Say what you want about me...it makes no difference. But the Empeg WAS a great product. The business decisions that have occurred in the past year...not so great. Call it what you want. Call it "Selling out", "screwing us over", or less colorful and more politically correct ways of showing your dissappointment. The fact remains that over the next few months and few years....the guys in Cambridge will show their TRUE colors of how they will support those of us that bought this machine from them. I will wait and hope that I am not dissappointed. I hope that everything I am saying right now turns out to be completely unwarranted.

In the meantime... I will add that I'm glad that the software technology the Cambridge guys developed will end up in other future Rio products (though I may be boycotting Rio now anyway). Even if my Empeg becomes a $2000 paper weight...at least there should be some other cool products coming out with Empeg technology inside.. So good luck with that guys..