There has been some talk in the past about assigning more functions to the remote control. For example, having a loudness up/down, a shuffle on/off or other functions added to the numeric keys on the remote. There has even been some talk about allowing the user to program macros or to re-assign the remote control keys as desired.

That's not what this post is about. Whether or not those things are implemented at all is a topic for another thread.

What I'm going to ask is, if any of the above stuff is ever implemented, please: Don't, by default, assign anything to the number 1 key or the number 4 key. Other keys, great. Just don't touch 1 and 4 please.

Why? Because if I pick up the remote (which is symmetrical along two axes) in the dark, and I fumble for the volume controls without looking at the remote, the way I know I've got it upside down is that it doesn't do anything when I press the buttons. Then I can just flip it around and I'm in business.

But if you assign something to the 1 or the 4 key, then I'll activate that function when I'm holding the thing upside-down. That could get messy, especially since the reason I did it wrong in the first place was because I'm driving in the dark and can't afford to take my eyes off the road to mess with the controls.

Now, if you somehow give the user the ability to re-map the keys, then of course you can let them assign something to 1 and 4 if they want to. Just don't put anything there by default.

Ah. Glad I got that one off my chest. Thanks for listening.





Tony Fabris
Empeg #144