A couple of weeks ago, my 30 gig rio-car along with many other things were ripped out of my car. Since I bought my rio-car about 8 months ago, I have forgotten what it's like to not have the best possible music machine on the planet with me at all times on the road. After 2 straight weeks of crying, I have decided that I just can't live without that warm blue glow keeping me company, and there's no way I can ever go back to cd's. If anyone has ANY KIND of rio car for sale, or knows somebody who does, I would be willing to pay a lot for it, since I will be getting a pretty big insurance check soon. Any help would be MUCH appreciated.
-Brian Nissley

I am sooo sorry to hear that every time I hear of an empeg getting stolen I just get so mad., and it makes you wonder if the person that stole it even knows what it is. The best I could tell ya is to report your ser. # as being stolen and check here or on ebay to get another one.

PEOPLE PLEASE QUIT LEAVING THESE THINGS IN YOUR CARS !!!!!!!

That sucks

Yeah, the "For sale" forum here, or ebay should be your 2 hunting grounds.

Sorry about the loss. I've had two car stereos stolen, so I know how it feels, although it would be a whole new level of purgatory to lose an empeg. As MrFixit says, please make sure to contact support with your serial number to report it stolen.

Speaking of serial numbers, is the serial number in the "About" info the same as the serial number that was on the sticker on the bottom of the player that got rubbed off before I thought to write down the serial number?

Should be.

Well, after checking on e-bay a few times, I've already found and purchased a new rio-car. I will be counting the minutes until it gets to me. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let my experience be a lesson to all of you who value your rio/empeg cars as much as I do. DON'T LEAVE THEM IN YOUR CAR. I myself am thinking about taking it out and strapping it to my chest every time i leave my car, and maybe I'll even sleep with it...or at least I'll get something to carry with me that I can keep it in when I leave my car. Thanks for the support.
-Brian

If you decide to sleep with it just be sure you're careful with its delicate fill nipple.

Oh no... not the fill nipple again....

Brian,

Sorry to hear about the loss of your empeg. I'm glad you got a new one (well, actually, I'll wait untill you actually HAVE it before I say that).

If it's not to much to ask, could you let us know the condition under which it was stolen? Was it simply in your dash while you were away from the car? Or did you have it hidden in the car and it was taken?

I know I am taking my chances by locking it in my glovebox every day while at work. I've ordered that Peilcan 1400 case, so once that comes in, my empeg will be in my personal "black box", chained to my wrist at all times.

Well, after checking on e-bay a few times, I've already found and purchased a new rio-car.

"Hey, this new player has the same serial number as my old one did. WAIT A MINUTE..."

LMAO @tfabris

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"Hey, this new player has the same serial number as my old one did. WAIT A MINUTE..."

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Hmmm, does it also contain exactly the same music?
LMAO

edit:
What are the chances of a thief connecting to the player and erase the drives/upload other music?
Just wondering: would a thief be able to find the software on the internet, assuming he never saw an empeg before? that is, if he would come up with the idea he needs the software...

My Rio-car was stolen while it was still in the dash, which was my biggest mistake. I'm willing to bet that any thief that sees the empty car mount in the dash will assume there is no stereo at all, or that it is not worth the trouble of stealing. Obviously if it's possible I would take it out and keep it on you at all times, but that's not always convenient.

With regards to this "Pelican 1400" case, I haven't heard anything about it. Is it designed specifically for empeg/rio cars? Where can I find one?

It is just a hard side weather proof case pelican makes several sizes.

http://www.all-pelican-cases-4-less.com/detail_pelican_1400.html

And if you think the 1400 a tad big, the 1200 fits an empeg, the remote and in pinch a cable too. Picture here

/Michael

Hey thats a nice fit

I'm willing to bet that any thief that sees the empty car mount in the dash will assume there is no stereo at all,

I'm willing to bet that any thief seeing the empty dash slot, thinks it's worth a look to see if it's in the glove box, or under the seat: My car audio fitters told me that's why slide out stereo's have fallen from popularity.

I'm willing to bet that any thief caught trying to steal my empeg is gonna get a tire iron in his skull.

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I'm willing to bet that any thief seeing the empty dash slot, thinks it's worth a look to see if it's in the glove box, or under the seat: My car audio fitters told me that's why slide out stereo's have fallen from popularity.

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Totally - I used to put my detachable faceplate underneath my seat, and put on a phony cover.. once I got lazy, and took off the plate, but didn't put on the cover - bang! Got my window smashed and stereo stolen for my momentary loss of common sense... Take a look at my install pics , creating a good phony cover is great security...

My old apt complex underground got massively burgled, most every vehicle got smashed into, even my gf's car with a crappy tape deck - but my old car survived without a scratch, cause the phony face plate I made was covering up my Alpine CD player! (This was pre-Rio, now I would absolutely die a thousand deaths if my baby got stolen)

I would recommend heading out to a local auto-wrecker, and getting your hands on a stock deck (AM Radio never looked so good!) that you can tear apart.. inquire about non-working units, you will likely walk away with a perfect dud unit great for hacking apart for $10....

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Take a look at my install pics , creating a good phone cover is great security...

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That is a *@#king fantastic job!
I think everyone should follow and make these for their own cars. I know I'm going to.

Another thought I had after all this talk of stolen empegs <shudder> - I think most all models came with the serial # on a sticker on the bottom, but the metal 'serial' number area wasn't engraved - I'm going to a trophy shop tomorrow to get it done.. Having the serial number engraved onto the outside of the case may assist if someone tries to re-sell the unit. I may go one step further and have my contact details engraved on the top of it too.. the personal touch!

Does anyone know if the serial # is also written/engraved/acid etched/tattooed inside the units?

The best defense is not to get lazy and leave the empeg in there. it's hard and inconvient sometimes, but it's worth it.

At least lock it in the glove compartment (after getting a secure aftermarket glove compartment

I don't have an alarm on my jeep and I leave the top off most of the year, so I almost always take it with me. Sometime I leave it in the strongbox in the jeep, but only when I go to certain clubs.

I admit, a couple of times dudes and girls wyho thought they were so cool made fun of me or were amazed at the retro "Benzi Box" i was carrying. They thought I was going to jump into a Datzun Z-28 or something.

The serial number is written in protected Flash.

Rob

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At least lock it in the glove compartment (after getting a secure aftermarket glove compartment)

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Do you have any links, sources, etc to aftermarket glove box manufactures? I was thinking about that myself - I lock mine in my glove box when I have no choice, but I have no delusions about how weak it is - sternly talking to it, and the lock would pop open!

However - just locking it up, or taking it out of the vehicle isn't enough - you want to stop someone from even wanting to bother smashing your window to get in, cause they think you may have left in under the seat, or in a weak glovebox.... hence the phony face-plate.

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The serial number is written in protected Flash.

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Is that the only other place, really? A sticker on the bottom, and stored in RAM, not on the mobo inside at all?

I'm definitely going to a trophy shop to get engraved tomorrow now!

Yes it's on the motherboard, but it's only a sticker.

Protected flash seems pretty secure to me!

Rob

I can't advocate violence but my prayers would include words like fire, brimstone, and anathma.

I can't advicate violence but my prayers would include words like fire, brimstone, and anathma.

Stewie: I just love this God fellow, he's so deliciously evil!

Rob

I just love this God fellow, he's so deliciously evil!

I knew you guys got Futurama, but you get Family Guy as well?!?!? Us American folk don't even get those fine shows anymore! I'm gonna have to move to the UK.

Oh, totally - but if the unit has been stolen, and the police actually find it - they won't have the savvy to:

a) figure out what it is
b) find a power adapter to plug it in
c) come close to discovering that is has an ESN in flash ROM

At least with an 'old school' serial engraved into the unit, you stand a better chance of having someone discover that it's stolen, either by the actual number, or by the fact that the punk selling it has scratched it all up trying to eliminate the number!

Family Guy was a fine show? Maybe they show something different and call it the same thing up there in New York.

It's a superb show! I find it much funnier than the Simpsons (usually darker), way ahead of King of the Hill (I think you have to be American for that one to really work), maybe on a par with Futurama, and beaten only by South Park.

Rob

Family Guy was farlking hilarious. To me the genius was in the comedic timing... it was brilliant.

I still have some Family Guy on my TiVo, but not nearly all of it. I am very sad.

At least with an 'old school' serial engraved into the unit, you stand a better chance of having someone discover that it's stolen, either by the actual number, or by the fact that the punk selling it has scratched it all up trying to eliminate the number!

I disagree. I think the current method of having it in Flash is the best way. Engraved serial numbers can be easily sanded off or re-engraved by any thief (and they do precisely this sort of thing all the time so it's old hat to them), but there's no way for them to change/erase the serial number in flash without also making the player ubootable.

Protected flash seems pretty secure to me!

What about putting some form of empeg phone home feature into Emplode which announces the player's serial # to help detect the use of stolen players?

http://www.tuffyproducts.com/

Tuffy makes a lot of fine products of this nature but mostly for Jeeps , Pickups and SUV's.

You might have to do a little searching on google for other manufacturers.

Damnit!! The UK get everything that's cool !!

I suppose I need to look into region-unlocking

This was an excuse to learn about the region-hacking on my DV444, or it will be when this DVD set comes I guess;-)

Yeah, I had to get the Futurama Season 1 DVDs from the UK. Thank god for my trusty old AD-600A. I have Season 2 on order from Germany.

I didn't know they had the family guy DVDs though.... I guess it's time to place another order.

What about putting some form of empeg phone home feature into Emplode which announces the player's serial # to help detect the use of stolen players?

Already been discussed. Very little benefit, and the technical support resources required to support the back-end of this kind of a system simply do not and cannot exist for an EOL product.

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I disagree. I think the current method of having it in Flash is the best way.

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I agree that Flash is great, wouldn't get rid of it for the world - my point is that both are better than one, and a physical serial # is your first line of defense should some relieve you of your player.

When Police bust people for posessing stolen property, how do they know it's stolen? By examining and calling in the serial # of the unit, and having it run through the system. Failing that, by noting a glaringly obvious serial # removal job - ie scratched, sanded, overwritten. Not by flipping switches and turning dials to find a Flash s/n.

Of course there are professional thieves that will do a bang-up professional job of removing the s/n, but the majority of thieves are not pros, they are punk-ass kids out to make a few $$ and have a few kicks.

**Note** My Rio is at the engravers right now, getting name, rank, and serial # put on it...

Got my Pelican 1400 today too - grey, matches the interior of my truck nicely!

**Note** My Rio is at the engravers right now, getting name, rank, and serial # put on it...


You left it there?????????!
I hope that they're trustworthy...

Anyone notice the Peter Griffin cameo in The Simpsons Season Premeire last night?

You left it there?????????!
I hope that they're trustworthy...

I'm assuming these are the same type of people that engrave diamond studded gold and platinum all the like. Steeling a mp3 player would be almost laughable to them.

i actually think the flash serial number is usless at this point. One should avoid leaving it in the car unattended.


But couldn't it go in as a undocumented feature that works with a 3rd party server that rio wouldn't be responsible for? It could just be put into a software release to call a home IP address when it is synced up and not labeled as a security implementation per se (to help absolve any implied responsibility on the part of RIO)

It could actually be used for other purposes as well.

I did! amongst the mutant homers.

Steeling a mp3 player would be almost laughable to them.

Hmph. Just an mp3 player? Maybe they know not what they have and you shouldn't trust them with anything!!!

I like your suggestions. I wonder if this could be a Hijack wish rather than burden the Rio/empeg guys further with our wants for this EOL player? I'm jumping the gun somewhat but if this happened then possibly a community run online database could collect all the data etc.

Edit: Hmmm, upon reflection, a non-Emplode version would be seriously hindered in it's potential ability to talk over the 'net.

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You left it there?????????!
I hope that they're trustworthy...

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Hehehee.. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks like that! I totally wanted to stay and wait for him to do it, but I had been up all night working, and he seemed to be quite 'trustworthy' so I allowed him to take charge of it.. got it back, all safe and sound. Nice job, but not very easy to read - the aluminium doesn't lend itself to very legible engraving, sadly... but I feel better knowing it's there, nonetheless!

Tonight my mission is to get my Pelican 1400 all sorted out, I will be visiting your site, Jets to get the visual clues for how you did it!

I mean.. someone among us has a server thats been up for years and if everything is ok will be up another couple of years
that we can use as that security database contact.

It could be a nice feature for hijack and Jemplode to implement.

I still have to add the disclaimer that I don't think it's worth doing, i'd rather see development for other features and owners should just be careful about where they leave their empeg (most are seemingly stolen from laziness or careless, i know that sounds harsh, but im prone to laziness too ) I know when i finally have some development time this winter, i won't be working on security.

Black shoe polish is your friend.

Black shoe polish is your friend.

You mean rub that over the engraving? Won't it rub off really easily though - all over my hands, onto my shirt, my dash, akkk.. I can see it now...

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It could be a nice feature for hijack and Jemplode to implement.

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Hijack can't do it alone because almost every Empeg has a non-routable address, so it can't phone anybody outside of the LAN.

JEmplode could do it.. but if you're a thief that just stole a cool looking hunk of metal that says Empeg/Rio on it, you go to empeg.com or SonicBlue and end up finding Emplode. But Emplode doesn't call home because they don't want to get involved, so the thief goes along his merry way synching or selling it to someone who does the same thing, and the server never hears a peep unless he happens to find and run JEmplode for some reason, whilst not having previously found and read this forum or the release notes that tell him that he's about to shoot himself in the foot.

And so you see: Simon and Simon were not brothers in real life... only on television.

Clever! Well-thought out.

Ok. Let's forget about that, let's just not leave them in the car, eh?

The engraving won't be perfect - there will be tiny pits in the surface of the metal where the engraver has cut, and these will hold the polish. You should be able to clean all of the polish off of the flat surface of the unit without removing all of it from the engraving, and the polish that remains in the pits will not rub off in normal use. Experiment - what's it going to cost?

Or you could try some of your wife's/girlfriend's/sister's/mother's/own(!) nail polish - make sure you clean the flat surface off before it dries.

Crayon works nicely. As do grease markers.

Or you could try some of your wife's/girlfriend's/sister's/mother's/own(!) nail polish - make sure you clean the flat surface off before it dries

Hmmmmm... well, mine ran out some time back - so maybe I'll have to use some of your Mom's instead!

Thanks for the tips you lot, I'll let you know the results once I have a go at it...

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Hijack can't do it alone because almost every Empeg has a non-routable address, so it can't phone anybody outside of the LAN.

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That's funny, my computer has a non-routable ip address also, yet it manages to talk to servers on the internet all the time.

Nice catch, It could certainly dial out, but never be dialed up. Duh, I shoulda caught that......

Yes of course you're right, don't know what I was thinking.. But it doesn't really make much of a difference. Consider:

-USB or serial connection (What do you think the odds are a typical thief has broadband and a router)
-No router for it to talk thru (mine couldn't call anywhere if it tried)
-Static IP off their subnet or no DHCP server (thief connects, no mojo, tries USB instead, see above)
-Software upgrade erases Hijack
-I'm sure there's more

But let's assume it does reach the server.. what is it going to do?

-Give us the IP (quite likely dynamic and mostly meaningless, good luck getting PacBell to tell you who was using it at X time)
-Lock the empeg somehow (accidental tripping risk, software upgrade still clears, doesn't help you get it back and encourages them to destroy it)
-Tell the user that they've won a boat in the Police auction and to bring it down to the station to collect it (ow! my boating arm!)
-Your idea here

And don't forget we're still assuming that they know roughly what this thing they stole is, get it connected, find the software, etc before selling it off to some innocent person (and then IIRC the law isn't on our side even if you do find it.. wasn't there a discussion on this in one of the other theft threads?)

Tried the shoe polish trick - didn't do it.. the engraving isn't really very deep, and the polish just wipes right off - ah well.. not a big deal, it's engraved, Pelican box is getting equipped with locks and chain tomorrow for those times when you can't/won't take it out of the vehicle, say to a club, or going shopping for a few hours, etc... I feel safer already!

I'd be willing to bet plenty of money that the guy who stole mine knew exactly what it was, and has since hooked it up and put his own music on it. He stole the sled and tuner and took care doing it... I'd wager he knew what he was getting. I don't know of any other thefts where it's seemed like they went after it because they knew what it was though. But damn would i kill to know that fukers IP.

I love the way the song playing on your empeg is Breaking the Law by Judas Priest

I love the way the song playing on your empeg is Breaking the Law by Judas Priest

Very cool, I was wondering if anyone was going to comment on that! Priest and I go waaay back, back when I was a punk-ass kid getting into trouble - ahem... "Breaking the law" was our theme song at the time - thought it quite appropriate that it be the display song for my stealth installation!

ah, I remember the days...

Wouldn't the "E-Mpeg, Phone Home" on sync feature be kind of Big Brother / Microsoft XP registration invasion of privacy? Sure, it's great that my IP and SN are being broadcast to a friendly server for security incase my player ever gets stolen, but what about when I use it myself? Do I really want my IP and sync times being sent out for someone else to view, store, and potentially have hacked and stolen from an insecure server? Sure, those times may not mean much to anyone, but they can show where I was at certain times (preciesly the reason I don't use dang EZPass on the highways). That may be an invasion of privacy.

I'd wager he knew what he was getting.

But didn't (wouldn't) know about it's E.T. features and avoid them?

Sure, those times may not mean much to anyone, but they can show where I was at certain times (preciesly the reason I don't use dang EZPass on the highways). That may be an invasion of privacy.

I don't see how you deciding to tell your Empeg to phone home is an invasion of anything, you're specifically enabling it... Just disable it or avoid synching immediately before planning on killing someone or robbing a bank.

Hey guys. Check out my state of the art empeg theft deterrent system (see jpeg attachment) Hehe, seems to be working so far, no broken in windows as of yet

... Just disable it or avoid synching immediately before planning on killing someone or robbing a bank.

My strategy, and I think Tony would agree on this one, is to *always* remove the Empeg from the car (and put it in my long-term storage) before robbing a bank.

I mean, what if things go south, you wind up pulling 8-to-10 for armed robbery.... and the state *confiscates* your Empeg?!? Would that suck, or what?

Better to be safe than sorry.

That is excellent. Now I can put that dead ATX power supply to some use!

I know its dragging up an old thread thats been discussed to death, but.......

What about a simple PIN entry on boot-up in the Hi-Jack?.

Bit like a Bios password but entered numerically from the remote??

Some sort of password has been discussed before... however pin's assume the thief is intelligent enought to know what head units have such technology and what units do not. I doubt it would do any good, since the majority, if not all, empeg losses have been smash and grabs. It might make the thief mad but it won't help you keep your empeg....

Looks like a Rotwieler called Lennox it is then!!!
hehe

Looks like a Rotwieler called Lennox it is then!!!

That might prove counterproductive...

Peter

alas, my car is to small for such a theft deterent. So I decided to go with a mini pin instead....

lmao!!

I thought of getting mine engraved too...but what if the a$$hole slaps some kind of sticker over that?

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So I decided to go with a mini pin instead....

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He looks rather surprised

He looks rather surprised

The thermometer is off the bottom of the picture.