Apple achieves what Empeg started

Almost exactly five years ago I reviewed something a little on the unusual side for AnandTech: an in-car MP3 player. Today, having an in-car MP3 player isn't so big of a deal, in fact a lot of new cars come with the option of adding MP3 playback to their stock stereo systems for a marginally overpriced option fee. But 5 years ago, the Empeg was a very big deal. It was the first attempt at a hard-drive based, in-car MP3 player, that offered the whole package. The Empeg (later known as the Rio Car) offered a stylish design, by far the best UI of anything available at the time, and a boatload of features.

The problem with the Empeg was that it was expensive; the first Empeg I bought set me back $1200, but it was by far the best investment in car audio I had ever made. After the Rio folks bought Empeg, the unit was rebranded as Rio Car but eventually the project was killed. The project was supposedly killed because the market for an after-market DIN-E sized device was shrinking; most car manufacturers had moved to non-standard dashboards and had opted for their own custom audio systems that integrated with all of the electronics in the car. The market for after-market was fading quickly, and thus the Empeg team apparently refocused their attention at helping bring the technologies behind Empeg to OEM car audio systems. One statement I will always remember was one of the folks behind Empeg saying that we shouldn't expect players like Empeg in cars for, at the time, at least another 5 years.

During and after the Empeg's death, Apple's iPod was quickly becoming a success and a household name. Yesterday, Apple introduced the iPod nano, frankly the coolest iPod to date. But what really got me thinking about the Empeg again was this page on Apple's site.

Apple's got a list of 12 car manufacturers that either current do support or will support iPod integration in their cars, not to mention that the manufacturers and cars supported by this thing are actually cars people want to buy! Apple's got everyone from Acura to Ferrari to Scion on that list, and you know that list is going to grow.

Currently the iPod interfaces with your car by yielding all of its controls to your car's audio system itself, it just basically acts as a big CD changer full of MP3s. Effectively what it's doing is it is leaving the UI up to the car makers, and leaving the storage technology up to Apple...see something wrong with this scenario?

If we've learned anything from decades of automobile manufacturing with modern electronic technology, it is that car makers just don't design intuitive user interfaces. Take BMW's I-Drive for example; although I haven't personally used it, all of the reviews seem to indicate that it is an abomination as far as UIs go (but it has gotten better over time apparently).

Today, the iPod is often tucked away in a glovebox, connected to your car stereo, out of sight and touch while you're in the car. If they aren't already, Apple will be in more cars than the Empeg folks ever were - but we are one step away from reaching that end goal of getting MP3s in our cars: the interface. The one aspect of the iPod that is arguably its strongest, is currently tucked away in a glovebox full of napkins and owners manuals. And that needs to change.

Apple is close, they are very close to achieving what the Empeg folks sought to do with car audio more than 5 years ago. There's just that one last step, that's always so very hard to implement. Either the car makers are going to have to start thinking about UI more, or someone else is going to have to make the first move, and Apple is in the best position to make that move.

By no means is this a prediction, in fact I think the exact opposite will come true; the car makers will continue to be stubborn and improve UI in their own convoluted ways and the iPod will remain in gloveboxes all over the world. But these days I miss my Empeg, and I desperately want the past 5 years of technological innovation to make their way into cars. I want an iPod in my car, but I don't want to give up its interface to do so.

I tend to ask for what I can't have :)