You do not need to bring a laptop into the car. The player pulls out of the dash so you can bring it to your PC in the house.

First, you get some digital music files, such as MP3s. You can create them yourself from your own CD collection, using one of many different PC software titles. These programs are widely available, some are even free. You probably already have one on your PC, they often come bundled with new PCs or CD-R drives. Or, you can download your music from internet sites such as mp3.com.

If you are on a Windows PC, install and run the included Emplode software. Plug the player into the USB port using the included cable (ethernet and serial connections are also supported). Drag your music files from the Windows explorer onto Emplode. If desired, organize your music by creating playlists of your songs. Then press the Synchronize button. It will take a few moments to send the songs to the player.

If you are on a Macintosh, you may use the free JEmplode utility with the serial or ethernet connectors.

If you are on a Linux PC, you may use the Emptool utility, available from the empeg web site. JEmplode also works great on Linux, or in fact, almost any operating system, since it's written in Java.