a few harmless suggestions

Next time you make a few harmless suggestions, it'd be nice if you first read the FAQ to make sure you know what you're talking about.

And my imagination did NOT take over. You were saying that there was a lack of features on the Empeg, and it wasn't worth $1500 to the average consumer. Don't try to back off that point now that it's been made clear that's not the case. You said the Empeg failed due to its high price, as if they could have set the price lower and actually made a profit. Again, when you sell a product for less than it cost to make, it's pretty hard to make up for that on volume!

Incidentally, Empeg was not targeting the "average consumer" (whoever that is) because the average consumer is generally happy with a CD-MP3 player that plays CDR's. The product was way ahead of its time, cost a LOT to develop, hence the price. If you read up on the history of Empeg Ltd. before the SonicBlue takeover, I think you'd realize they did God's work just to get the product out given the resources, and the small batches they needed to make since it was such a niche market further complicated this.

Just enjoy your player, enjoy the fact that you got it at a bargain, and be patient about new whiz-bang features. In terms of shoddy marketing and what-not, what's done is done, and the product is what it is.