Wow D, I'm stunned to hear that you've had the product a while and don't use the remote.

Initially, when I learned the UI (about 6 months ago now) I thought, "Hmph, why would I need a remote for something that is easily within my reach?!?" BUT the more I use it the happier I am with the power that lies within!

To most of you this may be old hat (yes guys, I know, I should have read it in the manual somewhere...) but I just found this feature and am really keen on how it works:

Most frequently, I use the player in what I call "Personal Radio Mode" (aka, full shuffle, three clicks down...) and the remote has been a convenient way to leave my hand where it is (on the wheel or beside me) and skip tracks that I don't care to hear right then. Well, while a track I like is playing pressing the 2 key (sub-labled Artist on the Rio remotes) automatically finds another song by the same artist and stuffs it next into the rotation. Multiple presses sort in more and more by that same artist in. The other categories do similar functions swap functions.

Now I can find, add-in, and skip all my spoken stuff without waiting until 1.1's filters come out!!

Also, I will say I've used the Kenwood and the Rio remotes with 1.03b4 and both work with much the same functionality save what has been described on this thread. Also, the remote is handy (essential) for titling the Tuner presets when RDS is not present on that station to fill the information in...

The learning between the two isn't too challenging most functions are in a similar place--especially since the Rio version has everything labeled.

Best regards,
Tim