i agree, i guess we should create a distinction of sales support and technical support. The issues to which i am referring definately fall into the former category.

As far as the E Store being outsourced.. with this length of time that has passed since it's inception, it is time to fire that group and find another, there is no excuse for that.

I don't think ANY TIME i checked i actually saw the tuners listed as available on the estore.. why even bother to have one? kill it, make it phone in only, and pass teh savings onto the customer, since it is so ineffective anyway.

As far as the EOL notification, i KNEW that the actual EMPEG had been dc'd but i was SPECIFICALLY TOLD peripherals would still be available. i received no e-mail, nothing that said they would not be..

To me that is obvisouly a lack of efficiency within SB. if an existing customer emails you for tech suppt or faceplate, anything they should be put into a database, that whole database should have been mailed specifying that faceplates, tuners, etc. would not be available after this run.

That is a HUGE gripe with me. I see that software releases are still coming, but let's look at one subject there.. WMA. Obviously SB has some licensing agreement in place for their other product line, what is the deal with the empeg? we keep hearing soon soon, but when is soon NOW? HOW HARD CAN IT BE TO MAKE AN AGREEMENT WITH MS ABOUT WMA WHEN THERE ARE ALREADY SOME IN PLACE.. imho the problem is MS probably wants the same money and SB sees the empeg as something that will not make any more money so they aren't going to spend much adding that particular feature when it will COST them.. what was the q4 earning 80m $? god forbid they put that back in and do a tuner run, or license wma, or make some faceplates..typical corporate "could give a [censored] less attitude"

THAT bothers me a LOT.