Yz33d,

First of all do us a favor and search around the BBS; there are tons of discussions on this topic, particularly from "Rob" who is one of the HMFIC's at Empeg. He has been very open on this topic and the topic of features and future direction at SB. Actually, start by reading the FAQ at riocar.org and go from there.

Second, you're mixing apples and oranges here. As far as the pricing goes, its much more complicated than just "the price is too high". I don't think the Empeg team passed the crack pipe around and one fine day said lets charge $1500. Determining price is a trickly game between what your expected revenue , profit margins (which is a function of costs), and what the market is willing to bear. There are other factors as well, but these are the main one that companies base their go/no-go decisions. After you have considered all of that, then take a few hits on the crack pipe...
Also, I think there were other factors besides marketing and price that determined EOL of the Empeg. Again, check around the BBS.

As far as new features are concerned I think we'll see many more brilliant things from the Empeg Engineering team in the future. Stay tuned!!

--Andrew