Thanks for the answers, I'll be happy to test software 2.0. This is really one of the coolest things about the Empeg, that it's features are almost unlimited.

As for the remote, I'm sure that one can and will get used to it, but it's not really any joy fiddling around with it.

1. It is very thin and not ergonomic, at least it doesn't fit my hand very well. The buttons are laid out in such a way that my thumb is not able to diagonally cover the whole area. (at least not in a comfortable way)

2. The buttons are unsorted. They don't seem to follow a pattern (enlighten me if I just didn't find it yet :) )

3. The buttons are not "physically marked" so that you can feel where to turn on/off the unit, mute, etc

4. Volume, skip, "ok" and "menu" are placed away from each other. These usually are at the same spot.

5. The "functionality" buttons are spread all across the remote and mostly also need a two-button combo.

My suggestions:

-> Make it ergonomic. If you don't want to grow the unit, at least make it so that it fits a typical human's hand (you have to be able to reach 90% of the functionality instantly with your thumb)

-> In addition to ergonomy, mark the buttons so that you can distinguish them in the dark. Eventually light them (would be a cool plus but if it takes too much battery then don't)

-> Use a ring button that can be pressed at 4 positions for track/volume control. The middle of the ring button should contain another button that serves as "ok" button. These two buttons would actually then be 5 buttons and allow for track/playlist/menu navigation. At the lower left (lower right for left-handed folks) to the ring should be the cancel button so that it is easy to reach. Right above the ring, place buttons for mute and power.

Look at a Loewe TV remote control for a very good example of this! (German manufacturer, don`t know about exports)

I can post pictures here if anybody wants to.

-> Organize the search so that it offers a menu to select the search mode without having to press a two-button combo on the remote. If wanted/needed, the remote should have two direct access buttons to this search menu (just needs a "select search mode up&down").

-> then compress the alpha-numeric pad on smaller space so that it is quicker to enter stuff. Btw, where`s the space key? I found out that it's not really needed because the search function automatically skips spaces, however, that is pretty "unintuitive" (right word?)

So far for the remote. :)

As for the screen, just one remark: the screen layout is probably a matter of taste indeed, however, I like the fact that most today`s radios use a set of icons to quickly display status information. I'd like to see a set of icons on the player, too.

Such as: battery mode, source/tuner, muted, clock (I know this has been discussed already), traffic info from tuner etc.

Oh btw, why doesn't the unit allow for a display of the remaining song time? Matter of taste, too, though.

Till