The Now Playing screen *can* just show the album art - that's the view I keep it set to. Just tap the album and that's where it goes.

Like so many other things, this isn't the perfect player, it's just currently the best one available. I have a list much longer than the one you just mentioned of things that should be addressed in Amp. But if I had to make a similar list for the iPod app, I'd pretty much recommend just shuttering the whole thing and starting from scratch. The concept is just flawed right from the core - and I weep when other people copy it in their apps - it's one of the problems I have with iPeng, it could be so much better if they didn't copy a couple of the faults of the iPod app.

If I thought there was a ton of money to be made in developing and selling an alternate music playing app, I'd probably invest in that. But I think most people are just going to keep using the built-in iPod app, so there are nearly an infinite number of other ideas better suited to a commercial venture. Might be one of the reasons Amp isn't being updated daily - it's also free with very little in the way of motivation given for people to pay for it - I did though.