Remotes: Who needs 'em?


Just bought a nice used pre-amp, make and model unimportant, that is aesthetically and functionally what was needed for one of my systems EXCEPT... Other than a bedridden or legless person, what kind of inadequate, drooling idiot would need a 56-button remote? What happened with our society twenty years ago to convince marketers and manufacturers (no right-thinking person would EVER ask for this crap) that a remote with literally dozens and dozens of little buttons would ever appeal to anyone who is attempting to operate a machine for the purpose of listening to music? The only sane remote I have ever used is that on my 1985-vintage HK CDP (owned for historical reference only!), which has no more buttons than a touch-tone phone of the same era.

It is taking all of the reserve I have to avoid crushing the remote underfoot and pretending that it never existed. I'll get my lazy azz up and handle the limited faceplate controls manually rather than even open the separate manual for the remote, thank you very much! I came very close to purchasing the Vincent SA-31 and taking a hit on frequency extremes precisely because it does NOT have this ludicrous appliance included (and which a recent reviewer bemoaned the lack of...) just to reward them for actually having the chutzpah to offer a reasonably-simple component. Who is reponsible for the idea that every device I own must have a remote? Where can I send the mob of fellow luddites with their pitchforks and torches?

I listen to relax, not to go from my electronically-enhanced workplace to sit and fiddle with some idiotic plastic cell-phone wannabee!
morgenholz
Sorry I got into this thread so late but, to those of you who suggest we members of the remote crowd are lazy: Ha!- I say - Ha!! I get far more exercise, walking around the house, searching behind seat cushions for my remote controls than you guys get, simply rising from you seats to access your components directly.
My remote has 120 buttons, I settle in to listen only after first spending 1 hour getting my system up and running. After hearing 1 song on a CD the repeat the 1st step......
I want to second Morgen's rant. After reading this entertaining thread, I inspected my Oppo DVD player remote yesterday (used as a transport). Between 40-50 buttons. The four that I use maybe 90% of the time (play/pause, stop, skip tracks back, forward) are the same size as all the other buttons (including things like "zoom" (???)) and are located in the middle of the keypad. Awful design.
I had a remote control for a television that not only had too many buttons, but also a deadly "reset" button that changed all of the video calibration back to factory default settings. I ended up using a razor to cut off all of the buttons I did not want to accidentally employ. I could still use those buttons, but I needed to stick a sharp object into the hole to so do.
The problem with remotes is that they have toooooo many needless functions on them. The basic concept is good, but
they make them so confusing. Also, the buttons must be made for little tiny people. It takes the joy out of listening or viewing. I wish the manufacturers would just take it easy and make them more basic.