Looks like the 20gb and 30gb units are still available, :-) but no Tuners to go with them :(

Just thought I'd give an update.

I ordered a 10gb unit as a backup as soon as I heard about the price drop, then told all my friends who are into MP3s at work. I think they put in at least 2 orders.

I bought a 60gb unit about 2 months ago after the first price drop, and I'm still glad I did so... I try not to think about the $$$$ I could have saved. Note to self: don't tell wife how much could have been saved...

All the accessories are still in stock and I'm thinking it may be worth it to buy a spare A/C adaptor, remote, and faceplate.

Unless I'm mistaken, it appears that there is free shipping on the remaining 20 and 30 gb units!!

I had to pay $50 shipping to Canada (for 3 units), but I'll be happy if SB just undervalue the package for customs like they did with my first empeg (that saved me over $100 in taxes :)

Bruno

I paid 34% customs and VAT on my original unit ($1549 for 18GB empeg, $26 case, $50 S&S - $1625 total + $556 taxes + some change for local TNT agent/importer - ouch!). I didn't even ask Rob for 'fake' invoice for customs purposes (well, perhaps very obliquely , but he kind of read my mind and told me the invoices were produced without human intervention). He did declare empeg as portable Linux computer (as opposed to car stereo), but customs guys didn't buy that (would have saved me 10%).

Gee, I must have been mad spending that much! I didn't regret it a moment, of course In that light, this a bargain of lifetime - 60GB unit for one third the price of 18GB one! I would have been mad not buying one!

but no Tuners to go with them :(

The international store is also out of tuners. Guess there weren't that many made to begin with. A shame really. But I've read in some former post by Rob that Hugo is looking at some possibilities to provide us with some more. I'm confident that, if it is even at all possible, Hugo will deliver...

Oh my god, this is horrible! I was completely out of cash until I could get back to work for the winter. The first thing I was going to buy was a tuner. Now I can't! awwww crap! Man, this sucks. I hope none of you people here bought extra tuners that you're just going to stash away somewhere. Don't make me come to your houses!


PLEEEEEEAAAAASE, Hugo and/or Rob. PLEASE find some way to get them to make more tuners!

hmm someone posted on the forum below and that probably helped the situation

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&threadid=665616

Reading those posts is funny

Yet sad because so many don't get it

how was I able to order a 10GB model today with a confirmation number??

I was getting paranoid about my order... I ordered one late this afternoon (Thursday EST) and was given an order number and I even have a "Stock Number". Everything went through fine. If I find for some reason that that my order DIDN'T go through, I'll be irked and demand a 20GB model (drive size doesn't matter to me because the drives will be the first thing to go....

Maybe someone backed out of an order and I got lucky and got their RioCar??

Anyone?

I was just thinking, I hope SB is thinking ahead and saved a few Riocars in case they have to replace an entire unit for warranty. The worst thing for them would not be able to honor a warranty. The great guys at Empeg can probably fix just about anything but you never know......

Sorry to keep stressing out (and this will be my last post to this thread) but how do I REALLY know if my order went through for the 10GB riocar on the 27th? I can view my invoice and everything, but I just assumed that it would not allow me to go through with my order if the things were out of stock (and discontinued). I wouldn't mind getting the 20GB one, but I need to know soon if I should order it or just wait to see if the first order went through (otherwise I'll have ordered two players)... but if I wait too long, they 20GB models will be out of stock too....

Well when you added it to your basket, did it say "out of stock"? If it did it would be hard to fault them, but you can always try.

In reply to:

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but how do I REALLY know if my order went through for the 10GB riocar on the 27th

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If you have online access to your credit card account information, check there at the end of each day to see if it has been charged. If so, then it should be shipping. Or, call customer service and ask if SB or RIO or EMPEG (not sure what name they would use for billing) posted any charges to your account.

i called sonicblue customer service on wednesday to ask this very question. here's what i found out: the estore site is operated by digital river. they do not have a link into the sonicblue inventory system, so any updates regarding what's "in stock" or "out of stock" must be done by hand.

they've gotten a flood of orders over the past week, and the warehouse has been closed for inventory, so sonicblue can't even give an accurate determination about whether your order will be able to be filled or not. until they actually match boxes up with orders (which has begun, it sounds like), you can't be certain one way or another.

i did ask if they would contact me if they ran out of my preferred size, and give me the opportunity to change to a different model. they customer service rep didn't know for sure, but he was not encouraging on that point. i placed a second order for another size to be on the safe side, and i'm confident i can recoup my investment if i end up with more units than i really want.

good luck,
--dan.

Yes we did think of that.

Rob