i seem to recall that new product(s) were going to be revealed once CES starts, which is today. wondering if its going to take place any time soon. most likely why empeg.com got updated, right?

I hope it's some sort of iPod killer or a new car product. Either of those would be cool.

According to a post here, it is probably an OEM automotive product.

Marius (Escort Cab + MArk II)

I know, I'm just hoping because once Rob mentioned this.

I don't think anything like that will be on the show floor..

Damn, that's something I'm really waiting for...oh well...the year is still young...

I don't think anything like that will be on the show floor..

translation from rob-speak: you'd have to break your way into the hospitality suite to see it.

--dan.

Note the phrasing: "don't think" and not "know" or something similar.
Sounds like such an Ipod killer is in the pipeline, but nowhere near complete enough to show at CES.

What is the software like on the Rio Riot and S series? I presume neither has the processing power yet to approach the empeg-level of software sophistication?

To get an Ipod-killer, you would need:
1. Small size (S Series)
2. Large capacity (Rio Riot)
3. Better interface (Empeg)
And possibly other new features, all in one package. The main hindrence is the storage medium. Something as good as or better than Ipod's hard drives needs to be found.

-Biscuits

Pray tell, might this be the announcement?

In reply to:

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Portable Video Players
Some buzz has been generated by the possibility of a first look at a joint product by ReplayTV-maker SONICblue (Quote, Company Info) and Intel (Quote, Company Info): a ReplayTV Portable Video Player (PVP) that will allow users to store television programs transferred from ReplayTV, as well as video, audio and photos transferred from a PC, and play the content while on-the-go. First announced in September, the walkman-sized ReplayTV PVP would have a 4-inch screen and a hard drive large enough to store about 10 hours worth of video content.

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as found in this article? Hmm... Tasty.

I remember when that was first announced, but is it really an Ipod-killer?

I'm really not sure how they think we'll use those things though. I know I won't watch a full-length movie on one. If I want to do that, I'll use a real TV, or, at worst, a laptop or car screen. There won't be many games for it either, not with gameboy having a stranglehold on the market. Wireless web browsing would be interesting, but that is still limited at present and the phone/PDA makers expect to corner that market.

When I am out of the house, I am very rarely in a situation where I could use one of these. I don't think the cops would appreciate me driving while watching one, nor do I think my professors or boss would like me using it on their time....

-Biscuits

> The main hindrence is the storage medium. Something as good as or better than Ipod's hard drives needs to be found.

Well there is the 4GB microdrives that Dignan17 brought up the other day, and the CF solid state 1GB cards, but after having my 60Gig Empeg, even the 20GB that 1.8 drives gives me is going to seem a tad constraining (and pgrzelak is going to be SOL for a long time. ). I think any iPod killer is going to have to stick with those drives for the foreseeable future.

I can't be sure, but I think Apple is making a killing off every iPod it sells, considering you can now get a 20G Riot for less than half the price of a same-sized iPod. Of course, Toshiba does not release pricing of their 1.8inch drives anywhere AFAIK, so you can't really know, but given Apple's history I would suspect that they are charging quite a bit more than it needs to be. Any iPod killer would be a good thing because it would force Apple's prices down. Of course, one with a cool interface put together by a certain group of people in England would be ideal.

I can't be sure, but I think Apple is making a killing off every iPod it sells, considering you can now get a 20G Riot for less than half the price of a same-sized iPod

Doubtful. When the first iPod shipped with 5gb of storage, it was retail $399. Toshiba PCMCIA 5gb drives were also retail $399.

> When the first iPod shipped with 5gb of storage, it was retail $399. Toshiba PCMCIA 5gb drives were also retail $399.

True, but that price is retail, and it was a PCMCIA card and not a bare drive. It would be interesting to see what they charge for those bare drives, it being undoubtedly the lion's share of the total cost of the unit, but I looked all over the Internet and couldn't find, and I doubt Toshiba would tell me if I called them up and asked.

Hmm, might it be "Project Perl"?

Is that like "Sed Jam"?

Wow, I would be so all over that if I could buy one now.

Now that sounds like a darned cool product. July or August most likely? Maybe I won't feel so broke then...
I just spent a bundle of cash on replacing my Empeg, and buying a ReplayTV to go with my Go.Video DVD player and Rio Receiver.

I'm hoping the price goes down considerably on the smaller units. $200 for 10 gB is about my indifference point.

-Biscuits

Wow, that indeed sounds like a VERY sweet player! I sure hope the software it runs is from the hands of the Cambridge guys.

I had NO IDEA they were going to announce those projects without NDA!

There are some factual errors in the article, but in those cases the actual spec is better than stated. Don't worry, Pearl does NOT run the Riot software, although it has an evolved version of the Riot UI (which is actually very nice). The software is based on the post-2.0 empeg codebase, with some very sweet new features (such as the cross fader which was mentioned in the article, and Ogg Vorbis support which was not).

The photos don't really demonstrate scale. To put it in context, the Pearl player (the one with the bright organge rotary control in the corner) is about two thirds the length of an iPod, and a little wider. It's very small!

The tiny 1.5GB player is based on the S-Series software with better database for music selection. It's about the same physical size as an S50 and uses some brand new miniature hard drive technology.

So now it's out - these are the two projects that are occupying most of our time at the moment. In my rather biased opinion they are both going to be absolutely killer products - but Pearl is the one that car player owners are going to want

Unfortunately you're going to have to wait a few months!

Rob

I'm hoping the price goes down considerably on the smaller units. $200 for 10 gB is about my indifference point.

You missed the point - that product is the same size as a flash player, but with twelves times more storage. If you put the biggest SD card you can get into a flash model you'd still only have a third as much storage and it would have cost two to three times more than the miniature hard disk model.

You're paying for the form factor. If you don't mind the player being a bit bigger then Pearl clearly offers more bang per buck. Personally I can think of applications for both of them.

Rob

Rob, if you don't mind my asking, could you explain a little more about the display on the Pearl? Like, uh, well, why does it look so crappy?

Is this a new info mode (perhaps called Segmented LCD/No Dot Matrix Here)?

I'm pretty sure that's a piece of cardboard in the photos.

The real display looks very cool.

..and Toby has contributed

Rob

That sound you just heard is a collective sigh of relief. I now seriously can't wait to see this thing in person.

I didn't realize it was quite that small. The main things are storage space and interface for me, although size and weight are also important.

There were several products shown in that article, with prices estimated (although the writer did not say who did the estimating!).

Pearl 20 gB $400 (July-August)
Pearl 40 gB $500 (July-August)
"Slicky" 1.5 gB $300
"Slicky" 1.5 gB exec. $350
s20 USB Bullet 128 mB $130
s20 USB Bullet 256 mB $175

Two most interesting:
Pearl 20 gB $400
"Slicky" 1.5 gB $300

Current Product Pricing
Ipod 6 gB $300
Ipod 10 gB $400
Ipod 20 gB $500
S - ? with ? for 1 gB upgrade

My indifference point (seems like I'll have to wait quite a while longer or settle for something inferior)
10 gB - $200
20 gB - $300

The estimated prices are about 20% cheaper than the current Ipod pricing. I wonder if prices will plummet with about 10 companies all releasing their products at the same time (bad for Sonicblue but good for customers). That is, of course, unless Pearl ends up carving a niche out as the performance player, which the others cannot touch.

I haven't played with the Ipod much, but it doesn't compare to the empeg software sophistication.

-Biscuits

Awesome. Wow, I wish for something on these boards, and within 12 hours I am informed it is coming true.

6 months though...sigh. <Veruca>I want one NOW!!!</Veruca>

The software is based on the post-2.0 empeg codebase, with some very sweet new features (such as the cross fader which was mentioned in the article, and Ogg Vorbis support which was not

[whiny kid]when are we gonna get those?[/whiny kid]

I'm hoping the price goes down considerably on the smaller units. $200 for 10 gB is about my indifference point.

You missed the point"
Well, not really. This seems like an Ipod killer and I want one. It is similar in size (few people realize how small those things are), and better in storage and features, as well as being lower in price. It should steal a lot of market share. My point, however, was that the prices are still too steep for me (one person) to buy, not that these things wouldn't sell like hot cakes, with good reason.

In reply to:

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6 months though...sigh. <Veruca>I want one NOW!!!</Veruca>

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Quiet down there young whippersnapper, some of us old timers 'round this 'ere BBS, had to wait much longer than 6 months for our right to purchase some new-fangled technology from the hands of Hugo, Rob and company.

And we paid a lot more for it too!

In 6 months or so, you'll be able to buy 1 each of all the most expensive types of products mentioned in this thread and still have change left over compared to what we paid for our original Mk1 or Mk2 empegs.

I never have change left over; I spend it on something else.

Its good to hear that the actual display would be better, becuase the ones in the photo, are well, disappointing - not even up to Rio SXX standard.

BTW: I *love* the idea/concept that I can use it in my left hand and the display can be rotated by 90 degrees as well - not everyone in the world is right handed, and finding a concsumer elecronic product that caters for left handed people is a refeshing change. question though - does the "play/stop/rewind etc" pad rotate as well or are we lefties stuck with a different arrangement of control there?


I have question though - the article on the Pearl at ign mentions a Ethernet docking station being available [I assume its an optional extra].
Is this a 10Mb/s or 100Mb/s connection - I'd assume 100Mbs as you support USB2 with its high speed capabilities.

Also, will the Pearl be able to store files other than mp3/ogg files?
This feature would be very useful as a large portable hard disk drive ala the iPod and would be what would make me me buy one.