Well, in response to remotes being dangerous, maybe you should consider a steering wheel remote. The Sony stalk remote plugs right into your Empeg, so no worrying about whether it registered or not. And the Pioneer CD-SR77 steering wheel remote (which I use) works great as well, though it uses IR and is somewhat subject to extremely bright light hitting the remote sensor. I never really have to look down at the player unless I'm doing something really complicated like a search... To do my root playlists is easy because I know how many button presses each one is.

I don't know what a PJB is and I don't know how it's working for you, but I can't imagine you're able to choose playlists without looking at it for at least a brief moment.

Maybe you can enlighten us on how this PJB unit structures playlists, and thus makes it easier to find stuff?