Mark wrote:

My assertion was based on the 96KBit MP3s I've been making for the web, which do sound truly awful.

I've found that the encoder you use can make a hell of a difference. BladeEnc and the Fraunhofer encoder sound pretty similar at 128KBit, but at 56KBit BladeEnc isn't even worth considering. AudioCatalyst's Variable Bit Rate is great to cut down file sizes without sacrificing too much quality (I've found I can trust AudioCatalyst's idea of what sounds OK).

Compaq, working with someone else, are making a Personal Jukebox that has a hard disk in-built. Of course, you can't get larger models, you get none of those pretty visualisations, you have to accept that you'll be passed by when the latest audio formats come out (except if you buy another unit), and you have to hope that Compaq's way of ordering playlists and so forth are the way you wanted to do it. Oh, and you don't get equalisation, you still have to buy an amplifier for a car, and I don't know if it has a radio tuner. They only cost a couple of hundred dollars less than an empeg unit, so you might be better off if you can accept the limitations...

Ultimately, you choose what you play with. The empeg is not the unit for everyone, and if you don't find its features useful then don't buy it. But the fact that you're still having a look around indicates to me that you're as fascinated by the idea as I was when the site was first launched...

Of course, my brother owns the unit that I sat in line for (but that's another story :-)

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