But if all you do is put it on shuffle and let it go (like I do) it's not a huge deal.

Yup. And that's the way I use my Empeg 80 percent of the time both at home and elsewhere (I love the surprises and juxtapositions of shuffle). No idea what percent of potential users are more oriented to picking specific songs and playlists, but I have to believe it's a significant proportion and for those folks I think the current receiver would be a huge disappointment (and that it's hard to gauge that in advance).