Wow! This looks really cool! Great job guys!

The left handed mode rotates through 180 degrees, and remaps all of the controls correspondingly. This feature might have something to do with a certain empeg founder being left handed

The Ethernet docking station is standard as far as I know, and is 100Mbit. We have some neat features lined up for this, and empeg owners will be familiar with some of them already

A file taxi is included, yes.

I don't want to go into much more detail now as it will spoil the surprises!

Rob

I KISS YOU!

Finally a gadget that works left handed. My roommates were seriously worried I was gonna load up a machine gun and go storming into a computer company with it if ONE MORE RIGHT HANDED ONLY gadget was released.

Thankfully, the empeg guys pulled through.

A few mouse makers are gonna get it though. The right handed regime angers me.

In reply to:

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The left handed mode rotates through 180 degrees, and remaps all of the controls correspondingly. This feature might have something to do with a certain empeg founder being left handed

The Ethernet docking station is standard as far as I know, and is 100Mbit. We have some neat features lined up for this, and empeg owners will be familiar with some of them already

A file taxi is included, yes.

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Right,

I want one - how & where to do I sign up/pre-register to join the queue to get my hands on the most expensive model then?

While you're holding back a few surprises, this little add-on for the iPod has been released by Griffin Technology - the guys who make that really cool Volume Knob with the blue LEDs , the Griffin PowerMate.

Follow the link for the info in the iTrip FM transmitter module for the iPod.

Whats really cool about this design is that its self-powered from the iPod [via the headphone socket] and you select the FM frequency to broadcast by "playing" certain files to the unit - very,very clever. It also "powers down" the FM transmitter after 30 seconds of silence - e.g. when you stop playing.

This could be one cool add-on for the "Pearl" - of course, you may already be planning such capabilities...

... If not, then maybe its not too late to look at something like this as a after market add-on.

Don't know anyone that wants to buy a riot do you

Here's a better image.

I am with you. I have an S50 that might come up for sale in a few months...

...another in that series of product shots showing unlikely tracks playing...

Here's a better image.

Any chance of a pic with something else in the frame for size comparisons? I know it is supposed to be roughly the size of an iPod, but the curves and squarer shape make it look bigger I think. Would be interesting to see it in comparison to a deck or cards or something like that (or an iPod even).

OK, here's a comparison, but it's not an official SONICblue image. I believe I have it approximately correct. Pearl is shorter than the iPod, but slightly wider and about the same thickness as the 20GB model.

One area where the Pearl can't compete with the iPod is the styling. Is that the final "look" for the Pearl ?

P.S. Rob, try not to have flashbacks to the Mk2 fascia "unveiling"...

In fact it's the first hard model. Colours and materials are subject to change, but the shape is likely to remain the same. From experience the final product always looks about 100% better than the first hard model, and in this case I think the model already looks quite good.

There's no point trying to beat the iPod in minimalist styling - I don't see how it could ever be improved upon. May as well go for something different..

Rob

From experience the final product always looks about 100% better than the first hard model

That's true enough, I hated (and that is not an exageration) the first Mk2 pictures, now I love it.

There's no point trying to beat the iPod in minimalist styling - I don't see how it could ever be improved upon. May as well go for something different..

Boo! Is that the attitude that brought us the "Dog Bone" styling of the Riot? Ick! I am very interested in how this device pans out, but the goof-ball shape is going to make it near impossible to find any sort of aftermarket case that works.

I think Creative had it down. I didn't like the Nomad Jukeboxes too much, but the portable CD player shape instantly had hundreds of carrying case / car mount options. Even my somewhat homely Archos fits nicely in a variety of digital camera cases...

Blast you Rob. You keep tempting me with a product I'll have to wait 6 months for and will STILL be out of my price-range.

-Biscuits

but the goof-ball shape is going to make it near impossible to find any sort of aftermarket case that works.


Can you say "Business Opportunity" ?

Rob, I can’t believe you used a US Quarter in your comparison!

You better be careful, if you keep that behavior up, somebody might mistake you for a yank...

here's a comparison

Cool. It is definitely smaller than it looks*. I am not crazy about that styling either, but I think this is going to be one of the things that I should see in person before making up my mind. Thanks for the pic.

-Mike

* So I have Tony educating me on the finer points of audio pitch and frequency in the other forum, who wants to be the first to explain that something can't be "smaller than it looks" in this one? ;-)

It seems like this will be another great product killed by poor styling. I think I am going to stay with my open source Archos Recorder. Hack the source at rockbox.haxx.se

I don't like the '1970s' orange and black colours - On either of those products. Slicky sounded *great* till I saw the picture. It could be a REAL killer product if it was attractive. Thats where ipod wins, and the s series of rio players. Maybe its just me though.

It's not just you, the S series look far more sexy.

Didn't I read somewhere that one of them was going to be offered in brushed aluminum?

Sexy ALWAYS wins, *especially* if its marketed correctly. Why do companies not learn this? It doesn't make one shred of difference to Johhny Consumer how many gb it has, or how good the software is, because if it looks like crap, it'll get left on the shelf.

You'd have thought Sonicblue would have learned that lesson. I thought it had with the S series. Take the Empeg - by far and away the best car stereo ever to grace this planet. Even I have to admit though, its not really attractive, and my friends prefer their sony CD players because they look better. The niche market just couldn't support it - will the same thing happen to these new products?

To offer a contrasting opinion, I believe this is much better looking than the iPod. Sure, I'm one of those guys who has owned closets full of Apple products, and thinks everything to come out of Cupertino is the bees knees, but for some reason, large expanses of white just don't do it for me. I'm looking for something smaller to replace my PJB-100, and unless there's some catastrophe (product never released, battery life of 40 minutes, plays everything in mono, etc.), this really looks like the device for me.

Now, to switch to another topic, is there any chance this is running Linux, or is it regular old embedded device development, like on the S series?

Even I have to admit though, [the empeg is] not really attractive, and my friends prefer their sony CD players because they look better.

While I don't think that the empeg is very attractive either, this is what they think is attractive?

Haha, well i'm not saying that all sony, kenwood etc cd players are attractive. Some are down right tacky.

Edit: Sorry for referrring to Empeg as 'it' in my last post!!

`It' is perfectly reasonable; I just wanted to be clear in my quote by not having an indefinite antecedent, and using more of your text just to get that context seemed excessive.

Edit: I misspelled anticedent. It was a typo or a braino, I swear. I really know how to spell antecedent.

by not having an indefinite anticedent

...or an indefinite antecedent?

I have to say, I think that the Empeg MkII is significantly more attractive than any other car stereo I have seen on the market today. Most aftermarket stereos look like tacky mobile discos with far too many buttons. The Empeg's understated looks and large, clear display are much better than this.