Amazing. I've been pounding on my dad that he wants one of these things for his car for months, but he was griping about the prices and pondering one of the MP3-CD players. Now, screw that. Hopefully, he'll see the light and put an order in tomorrow morning (when I called him just now, he and mom were eating dinner and on their way to see Lord of the Rings).

Gah, you're right. It is a $500 difference.

I just hope I don't have to deal with SonicBlue's infamous customer service. I'm still waiting for the free replacement wall wart for my Rio 800 Extreme that I ordered over a month ago when they recalled the model that shipped with it.

I've wanted an Empeg since they came out (was actually in the 3rd batch of folks able to buy them originally), but I could never justify the cost. I was saddened when SonicBlue took over, because their customer service is so horrendous.

Don't get me wrong; I'm ecstatic that I finally have an Empeg MkII (two, after they ship the one I just ordered after Jan 3rd), but the prospect of dealing with them again on a customer service issue scares and saddens me (I had to have a shouting match with them just to get a replacement install CD for my Rio 800 Extreme.)

Um, then lets hope my story get rejected like all the rest I've submitted to /.

Heh, yeah, Slashdot seems to ignore all my stories too. My friend actually had one posted. He was very proud.

Now I can easily justify buying a backup [*done* (10 GB)], now I can torture myself about buying a backup for my backup. hehe

Jon,
They'll all be blue. You have to buy a faceplate kit if you want variety. Yes, Yes, and Yes to the remote, adapter, and sleeve questions.

Oye, I just bought three 10G units... I gotta find work soon....

This is unbelievable! I may have to fill up my other cards so I can re-sell to the international folk if they miss out.

Merry Christmas to all!
Tim

I don't know about a backup for the backup. (Aside: this is starting to seem like a scene out of Terry Gilliam's Brasil -- "There's been a complication with the complication.")

I'm thinking more about pre-emtively buying these things for friends of mine, then reselling them at cost once I've "made the sale." With prices like these, I expect SonicBlue is trying to deplete their inventory before the end of the calendar year, and I expect they'll be quite successful at it.

yeah, I was kidding about the backup for the backup-- I'm actually going to use my "backup" in my home audio center, then steal it if my car one gets stolen. I know several people that would love one of these in there car, but I wouldn't want to mess w/ the complications of installing an amplifier for them. maybe I'll put a 3rd in my brother's car.

Do you guys think they'll even be able to fill all of our orders for the 10 gig when they come back on wednesday?

I wonder just how much stock they have left?

Greg

Thank You & Happy Holidays what a way to end the year.
Likewise I hope my order is not too late, damn what a post to miss & by almost a day.
Let's hope someone didn't buy out the lot of them, I could be setting up for a disappointment come the 2nd. I would buy all that was left myself if I hadn't bought Xmas presents already.

That does also come with the blue faceplate? I'm guessing yes but it doesn't state it does like all the rest do.

Yes I've always wondered why it's been worded different & it's been that way for sometime now, of course the tuner still says just arrived under it as well.

Rob will probably kill me for saying this, but I suspect it may be worth getting in the queue at the UK store; as no orders will be processed until the 2nd, it may be worth putting an order in (with the old prices still shown) and writing in the "special delivery instructions" field not to process your order until the price drop.

I'm sure we won't charge any new orders at the old prices, but this should secure your place. The stock situation is - lots of 60s, 30s, 20s but far fewer 10s at the UK/international store, and no tuners. I'd recommend getting a 60 if you want lots of space, you'd be hard pressed to buy 2x30G drives and a 10G player for what 60s are going for...

Hugo

Yup, that's what I was thinking too! Today I've ordered a 60gig unit for myself : FINALLY the space I was aiming for all along, and I also ordered two 10gig units for a friend (yep, he immediately bought a backup unit as well!)

The 60gig will save me the time of waiting for IBM to finally release their 60gig HD, AND I will be able to use it without breaking the seals this time, thus honoring my warranty.

Two of my friends are also going to order, if they haven't already.

Oh, I also ordered three screen color changing kits . An empeg is not complete without it! So I guess I'm in the queue now, eagerly awaiting!

Not that I'm want to push the envelope or something, but is that fleece offer still valid?

I keep hearing everyone mention a fleece offer? What exactly is it and how do you get one? I'mguessing it's some sort of fleece blanket with an EMPEG/RioCar logo on it. If so I would love to get an EMPEG fleece as well. =)

It's not a fleece blanket, it's a fleece jacket. The way you got one (in the past) was to refer a friend for the purchase of a car player. The friend had to notify the company that they were buying it on your advice, then you got one. I haven't been paying attention to it very closely, so I'm not sure if this offer is still open. As I recall it was for a limited time.

D`oh. So I'm guessing there is no way to just purchase one straight from the company?

Well he could say you can't get one of the Mk1's anymore so price is what the market will fetch. But I'll bet he didn't know about the price drop but he soon will if he starts looking around once he has it, ouch. It happens too often to me, I'll get something and the within a week the item is on sale or discontinued and the price is dramatically dropped, such is the market.

I just ordered my 10 gig backup unit from the US store, but now I'm starting to have worries that they will run out of 10 gig units before they get to my place in the queue...I'm wondering if I should have ordered a 20 gig unit instead just to be safe....oh well.

Hopefully my buddy will order one in time, he was considering them the last few days. Now with this price I'm going to beat him about head with a sea bass if he passes.

-Adam

I can understand ordering one backup I guess, but ordering two? Geez, I think you should give some people a chance who don't have one at all. I don't think it's right to take a bunch of units by putting 2 or more orders in the queue. Just my humble opinion of course.

Once you own one you will understand that you can NOT live without it. So you want to double up on backups and backups of backups. Almost anyone on this board that has an empeg also has a backup for it just incase it gets stolen or damaged. If this is the last and never to be made again then of course that's why everyone is purchasing several backups. Myself just getting 2 more, 1 for the wife and an extra backup for either hers or mine.

Where did you order yours? The US site seems borken to me - it won't complete an order without an error message. :(

Ordered it yesterday right after they made the price changes.