That worked.

I had to dig a little to change the ip setting on my computer. Control Panel --> Network and Sharing Center --> Change adapter settings --> Ethernet --> Properties --> Internet Protocol Version 4 --> Properties --> Use the following IP address: --> 168.192.0.169 --> OK

Then I could open the player with emplode. Except... there was no option there to edit the config.ini file. So, I addd the appropriate key and DWord in the registry, then I could edit the config.ini file.

I did that, changed the ip address so the third octet had a "1" subnet, saved the file, and changed the computer back to DHCP, fired up the empeg, and... no connection. Looked in the "About" file on the player, and my config.ini changes weren't there. I finally figured out that I had to re-synch the player for the config.ini changes to take effect. Aha!, he says. The config.ini file isn't kept in the player, is it? It's kept in the computer. After re-synch everything was fine.

I think the answer to the top button mystery is there also. Here's the relevant portion from the config.ini file:

[ir_translate]
PopUp0=Visual,Clock,Detail,Repeat,Shuffle,BassAdj,TrebleAdj,VolAdjLow,VolAdjMed,VolAdjHigh
Top.L=Top.L
Top.N=Top.U,null.SN
Top.S=Top.U,Pause.SN
Left.SL=Clock.S
Left.S=Detail.S
Right.S=Repeat,null.S
Bottom.S=Shuffle,null.S
KnobLeft.S=PrevVisual
KnobRight.S=NextVisual
Knob.S=null.S

I don't know what any of that really means, but I bet that the strange behavior of the top button is explained there.

It's been an interesting journey, and I learned a lot.

tanstaafl.