I want to install a MP3 Car Player in my car. I have a stereo already, and my local installer said he will do the install for me. I have narrowed my choices down to the Empeg Rio Car Player and the Neo 35. Either way, I am going to get the 60GB model of either one, so I was wondering which one you guys would recommend and why. MOney is not a real issue, however the Empeg is noticably more expensive than the Neo, and if the price isn't justified, I would just as soon go with the Neo. LEt me know what you guys think

Well, you're on the Empeg Car BBS, so you're going to get very biased opinions here. We all think the Empeg/Rio Car is the better of the two. The extra cost is worth it.

Something you might want to consider is simply replacing your current stereo with the Rio Car. That's what I did, and I haven't looked back. I don't miss my CD player one bit. Although if you're certain you want to keep the existing stereo, then you can do that, too. Just make sure there's room in your dash for both.

There are some main advantages the Rio Car has over just about any of its competitors:

- Shock-mounted disk drives.

- Uses laptop disk drives, which are designed for harsher conditions than 3.5" disk drives.

- The software and user interface are VERY advanced, allowing for some extremely complex searching and playlist capabilities that you won't find on any other product.

I could go on and on about how cool the empeg is, but that could take all day. Perhaps it's better if you ask specific questions about features, and we can answer them?

___________
Tony Fabris

Hmm, peeking at the specs for the Neo35, I can see that it has one possible advantage over the Empeg/Rio Car: They offer a Jukebox version designed for trunk mounting. If trunk mounting is critical to you, then it's a better choice. The Empeg/Rio unit won't work well in the trunk.

But if you intend to put it in the dash, then the Empeg's got all sorts of advantages over the Neo. Sure it costs more, but as anyone here can attest, it's worth every penny.

You definitely won't be sorry if you buy the Rio Car. This is one of those cases where paying a little more for a higher quality item really is worth it.

___________
Tony Fabris

I've got a Neo Installed, and I can tell you : I'm still looking at the Empeg every day. But I decided to get the Neo. Why? Mostly because I don't have a Double Din slot and I didn't want to get rid of my 900$ Head unit.

The Neo is a good product, but it lacks some features the empeg DOES have :

1) it does NOT have a search function. And believe me, this is a hassle when you've got the 60gig version (7000 + songs)
BIG MINUS!

2) The remote display is not as clear and doesn't show the cool graphics the empeg does.

3) It comes with a 3.5" drive. (though there's nothing stopping you from using a laptop harddrive with it if you want to). I personally haven't had any problems using a 3.5" HD though (touch wood)

4) The firmware is not yet optimized. There are some known problems with playlists playing and Id3v2 tags. Nothing major though.

But some words in the Neo's defence too :

1) It's cheaper. (though that was not really an issue for me - and if you start using laptop HD, prices become comparable)
2) Sound quality is good.
3) The second gen product (neo jukebox) is now noise free too.

I haven't regretted my purchase yet, but there is no doubt in my mind that, if I hadn't had that 900$ Head unit already, OR I had another free din slot I would've bought an Empeg. The Neo was simply a better choise for my needs at that particular moment.

Well, I have a pretty state of the art Stereo system as it is. I have 2 amps, Focal Highs, and a JL Stealthbox 10W3. I have a Crewcab Chevrolet Truck, the 2001 Silverado HD, and I have a DVD head unit, but I also have a cassette deck that came with the truck that is below the CD player, so my local installer said they can take that out, cut out the whole to be a little bit bigger and then fit the Rio in there flush. I think this is what I am going to do. My thing is since I want the 60gb version, #1 will the Rio be able to take bigger HD's as they come along, and #2 with such an extensive list of MP3's , is it fairly easy and quick to find the song or album you want?

#1 will the Rio be able to take bigger HD's as they come along,

YES, someone on this BBS put two 48gb travelstars in his unit just a couple weeks ago. 96 gigs! Wooo!


and #2 with such an extensive list of MP3's , is it fairly easy and quick to find the song or album you want?

YES, it's better than any other competing product in this respect. Their software really separates the men from the boys, as it were.

The only caveat is you need to have all the TAGS on your mp3 files filled out carefully ahead of time, before you drop them into your empeg. If you've done that, then it will be very cool.

___________
Tony Fabris

Hi.

My thing is since I want the 60gb version, #1 will the Rio be able to take bigger HD's as they come along,
Yes
and #2 with such an extensive list of MP3's , is it fairly easy and quick to find the song or album you want?
Depends on how you organize your MP3s and how extensively you will be using the search function of the rio car/empeg. In my experience, you can access a certain album and/or song pretty fast, but YMMV.

cu,
sven

proud MkII owner (12GB blue/green/smoked, #080000113)

Damn it Tony, you are always to fast for me.

proud MkII owner (12GB blue/green/smoked, #080000113)

Hi.

The only caveat is you need to have all the TAGS on your mp3 files filled out carefully ahead of time, before you drop them into your empeg. If you've done that, then it will be very cool.

Well, you can put in the tags after dragging the files into emplode (using emplode), but you will have to redo this whenever you need to put them in there again. It is a lot easier to do this by appropriate id3 tagging software though, and you also get a benefit from that when using those MP3s on your PC, whereas the emplode tagging only effects files on the empeg (but only their playlist entries, not the mp3 file in itself).

So, you really, really want to fill in the tags ahead of time, like Tony said.

cu,
sven

proud MkII owner (12GB blue/green/smoked, #080000113)

Depends on how you organize your MP3s and how extensively you will be using the search function of the rio car/empeg. In my experience, you can access a certain album and/or song pretty fast, but YMMV.


I would just like to point out to that YOU have control over the interface from the moment you install the unit. You can structure the way you find song to YOUR liking. There is a pretty extensive search function to help with that as well if you keep on top of the MP3 tags.

If you do get an empeg, let me know your order information. Those fleece vests look cool..

Greetings!

Something you may want to consider: most of the people on this board are somewhat fanatic about their empegs, and are willing to demo them. Once you see an empeg in action, I think that will answer all questions you may have as to which brand to buy. Where are you located?

As to searching, there is nothing like designing your user interface to whatever playlist structure you want (however simple or complex, and that can be tailored to your driving / listening habits), and to have a search capability that will find anything by artist / title / album / year / genre or any of the other ID3 tags. This is great for larger capacity drives with lots of data. Also, you have the ability to "tweak" your playlists on the fly, so if you are in a random play mode and want to hear more of an artist or album, you hit a single button on the remote for more of the same album or artist.

Other "bonus" features are the third party software, developed by many people on this board. How about remote controlling your empeg over ethernet via a java applet, or having automatic volume adjustment to give you a more stable sound level over multiple ripped CDs?

Does anyone remember where that video demo is? I know it was for the Mark 1, but it gets some of the point across...

Paul G.
SN# 090000587 (96GB Smoke)

do you mean this video http://steve.nac.net/empeg/

32Gig MK2 In 2001 VW Golf TDI

Hi, I noticed that you've got your system in a new Silverado. I've got one of the first 99's. I replaced the entire factory system and I'm just using the Rio Car as my head. I'm looking forward to the tunner module so I'll have radio again. As far as speakers and amps, MB Quart and Soundstream. I also have a JL Audio sub 10w6 but I've been thinking about the stealthbox. How do you like it? Do you have the one under the rear seat or the one in the center consol? As far as the Rio goes, it's very easy to find songs. It uses a Fuzzy logic search engine that allows you to start typeing the name of the song and it will narrow down the search as you type each letter. You can search by Pin, Year, Title, Artist, and Gener. I think you'd be very happy with the Rio. Also, the sound quality with good MP3s is outstanding.

Steve

i didnt read this whole thread just saw it. but get the EMPEG plain and simple.. my friend just got the neo and what a piece of junk. it takes about 5 seconds to change to the next song. it cache is small. I am very displeased in his unit.

it takes about 5 seconds to change to the next song.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Kreeler, the empeg has some very agressive caching and indexing code, making all track operations essentially instantaneous. Most of the other competing products will have pauses between track switches, or will take a long time to index the songs on the disk/disc.

From the time that you apply power to the empeg to the time that it begins playing is about ten seconds. Once it's playing, you can do just about anything instantaneously.

___________
Tony Fabris

it takes about 5 seconds to change to the next song.

This is just not true. The Neo (I can only speak for the second gen Neo Jukebox) is fast enough. it certainly doesn't take more than a fraction of a second to change to the next song. (most car cd-players are slower)

I know you guys all like your Empegs (and rightfully so), but don't go on trip of Neo bashing just for the sake of it.
We all know the Empeg is the better product (it damned well should be considering it costs twice as much for the cheapest version), but that doesn't justify spreading false information about other products.

Well guys, I appreciate all the helpful answers, so Ive decided to buy a RIO. Ill post when its up and running, and tell ya what I think.
As far as the Stealthbox goes, I am very happy with it. I have the center console one, and I can "feel" the bass. Granted, its not as loud as 2 10's would be behind your seat, but to do that in my truck, they were going to have to really modify it which I didnt want.

my friend bought a brand new one direclt from NEO SSI here in NJ and it does have the 5 sec gap

Actually i find that there is a definite pause between songs if you skip one that is currently playing, mind you, I do have a mk I. Song to song within a play list it is smooth as anything.

PeterH
" 'tis better to be silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt"

Did you mean there's a pause on the empeg? There certainly shouldn't be. Are you sure your tracks aren't encoded with some silence at the start and end? Are you running recent software?

Rob

my friend bought a brand new one direclt from NEO SSI here in NJ and it does have the 5 sec gap

Well maybe your friend should return it to SSI then, because it is probably defective. All I can say is that mine does not have this problem.

Did you mean there's a pause on the empeg? There certainly shouldn't be.

In some cases the start of the song one skips to isn't in the cache - then it can take 2-3 seconds until it starts playing. Seems to be if I'm in some long track and skip forward to next it isn't always cached. Further skip forwards are instantaneous (or as good as) as it seems to cache up the starts of one or more of the coming songs along with the start of the first song one skipped to. Blech, I can't parse what I just wrote myself...

This I've always taken to be normal...

/Michael

Yeah I have the same thing, and I don't remember it happening when I only had one drive. When I added my second HD, I noticed that there is sometimes a couple seconds when skipping. I also agree that further skips are instantaneous, it seems that there's just a delay associated with spinning up the drive.

I am sincerely hoping that truly gapless playback makes it into an upcoming release. Listening to full albums without gapless playback is the one thing that a CD still has over the Empeg.


-Tony
MkII #554

ah, he told them about it and they said its normal

Wheras Tony and others are competing for the fastest responce to a post, I seem to be heading the other way. I am running "car1-developer-v1.02" (or the consumer version when I want to see if problems are caused by my mods and patches :-) ) and most of my tracks have any silence stripped out. The pause always occurs when I SKIP to the next track whilst the current one is playing, unless the track is very near to finishng anyway. If I SKIP forward for two or three tracks it will eventually keep up and just change the name to the next track in the playlist if I don't press the button too fast. This has always occured, with no regard for the version of software that I am running, although it seems to be less obvious with the consumer version. IIRC, this was discussed on this BBS some time ago and the answer put forward was "when version 2.0 is released..." As it is a very minor annoyance to me I havent worried about it too much. i have always assumed that it was just a caching problem that would go away when the new player is released. As my empeg has been back to the UK a couple of times I figured that any electronic/hardware probs would have been rectified by the good folk at empeg central.

PeterH
" 'tis better to be silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt"