Thread: Is anyone familiar with this item?

your touching a very sensitive area.

Where is the fun in buying one? most people here enjoy the pride and satisfaction of making one themselves, putting there thinking caps one to solve problems, etc etc.

buying one is not only expensive, but soo boring!

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My plans and progress on my install http://www.mp3car.com/usersites/hornet

Any thoughts on this from those that have seen or used this product? Thanks for any insight you can provide.

here is my 2 ccents. i own an empeg (actually, they are Rio now, but it is still the same player, just a different name) and i love it. i had started to go the route of building one myself, but realized that i don't have the expertise, or time for that matter to integrate a computer into the car and make it look nice. plus, although stuff like games and a dvd are cool, they are pretty useless for me (i drive a miata, so i never really have passengers except my wife, and i have really limited space to begin with). the empeg works great for me. i have never had a problem with it, and it is incredibly easy to listen to what you want by using the remote pick specific songs, artists, albums, etc. it is also nice to be able to take it inside and hook it up while working or something.

of course, it is fun to build your own. even though i never did, i really enjoyed planning everything out. for me though, i had to honestly look at the situation and admit that for what i wanted, the empeg would work 1000 times better than anything i could cobble together.

all this to say that it really depends on what you want. do you want dvd, games, etc? do you like tinkering with stuff? build your own. do you just want a really easy and efficient way to listen to mp3s without alot of hassle? get an empeg. they are easy to install, and with a bit of luck, you can be up and listening to your music in an hour or two.

one last thing, if you want ALOT more info about the empeg, check out the unofficial BBS as http://empeg.comms.net/cgi-bin/wwwthreads.pl there are a ton of people there working out bugs, writing custom software, sharing installation experiences, etc. if you need any more info about the empeg, just ask.

jeremy

Hornet, While I understand your position on this subject I really don't see it the same way. I build and am responsible for thousands of PC's and dozens of servers for a major enterprise environment on a daily basis. So in my opinion building one for myself that I have to troubleshoot and deal with individual RMA's for faulty components isn't my idea of fun since I deal with that type of garbage on a daily basis. I really want a prefab unit so if anything in it goes down I can just RMA the whole unit out for service or replacement and then the troubleshooting is someone elses problem under warranty.

Pride and satisfaction will definitly be involved as the final project won't simply be MP3 audio based but a complete custom vehicle. The vehicle in question is a 2000 Ford F-350 loaded Crew Cab Dually with the 7.3 turbo diesel and four wheel drive. Many modifications are being made from the most subtle to eye popping.

The goal is to have a multimedia system to support, Audio CD, MP3, DVD, AM/FM signal, TV signal, DVD Navigation, GPS, Digital cellular, UHF/VHF, and 10 Meter communications.

All will be supported by a laptop computer and I am still toying with the idea of a console type game to add to the system for the rear seat passengers as well.

As far as thinking caps go I think I have done my share with this project as well as the others that I have que'd up for later (88' Porsche 930 turbo cabriolet is just one) as well. I consider myself as a specialty automotive enthusiast. In definition I find certain years, makes, and models of specific cars/trucks to be very enjoyable to own and play with to make them my own.

I do appreciate your input and understand your point of view on this subject. But as you can imagine I am gettign a bit long in the tooth and know when I would rather pay someone else to do it versus tackling it myself.

jstrain, thanks for your input on the product. I also appreciate the link you provided to the other message board. I plan to sort through that in the near future which should answer quite a few of my questions from what I gathered from the quick glance I gave it.

Best wishes to both of you,
Tripp Whitlow