Worst remote nomination...

Mezmo, that is absolutely the funniest thing I've read in a while. I generally don't use remotes, I actually get up and adjust stuff (but that's just me). A few observations:

I had a Marantz "Remote of the Gods" thing to use with my HT setup for a while. I tried to program it, both sober and impaired. No luck. Called my dad who programmed in assembly for 30 years and ran a data center. He spent two days on it and gave it back to me half-programmed. I sold it. Ugly thing anyway. Bought a touch screen rechargeable Proton unit: dad programmed it, kids can navigate it like a charm. I don't have a clue how it works, but then again, I don't use the HT. No worries.

My YBA CD Integre remote almost reads my mind; hover your finger over a button and it does what ya want. Scary.

My Shanling remote was designed by people with very very small digits and exceptional eyesight. Great idea making every button exactly the same size. The writing on the remote... hmmm, I don't think there is any writing? Looks pretty though, it's just hard to tell it's a remote control. Looks more like a new-age vibrator to me.

My Classe Thirty Preamp remote is amusing. Weighs about 20lbs and has three large buttons. Volume up, Volume down, Mute. Even a guy with a sizeable plate in his head can operate this beauty.

My BAT VK30 remote is so damned nice I can't bring myself to use it. I do admire it frequently though. Well done Victor.

The one that takes the cake for the most obtuse and bizarre remote.... Linn Classik. A sea of buttons that even with my glasses on blur together. Linn was clever though, they figured by colour-coding the sections on the face you'd intuitively grasp what they were getting at. Two years later and it still takes me forever to put the tuner on.

My Audio Research preamp remote gradually got to the point where I couldn't turn the volume up or down. I knew the batteries were still good so I thought another possibility could be the battery terminals and the contacts. They didn't look corroded but that doesn't mean anything. I took a scuff pad that I use for scuffing paint before painting and scuffed the terminals and the contacts. The spring type contacts will tear up the pad a little but keep scuffing. A brillo pad or steel wool would probably work also. Blow out the debris and put the batteries back in. The difference in power is incredible. I've done three or four problem remotes and the difference is night and day. I wish I'd thought of this years ago instead just a few weeks ago.

Classe remotes are ludicrous. I have them for the SSP75 and the CDP-.5. They're all metal, heavy as rocks, and are sufficient to damage wooden furniture with the slightest bump. Even worse, almost all of the buttons are the same size, they are arranged in grids, and they are not backlit. Nor is there any means of distinguishing them in the dark, although a precious few are larger than the others. (The CDP remote is particularly laughable.) Fortunately I have blasted all of it into the Marantz touchscreen remote, which I have been able to program successfully. Now eleven of the twelve are packed away in boxes...

The only one that's left out is the one to my Counterpoint SA-11. Unfortunately, it uses a completely different encoding mechanism, so it CANNOT be learned by modern remotes. It has an effective angle of incidence that is almost pointlessly narrow, and it doesn't have a lot of range. Perhaps I'll have to try Jbrvo's trick.

Believe it or not, but I guess that I had reel-to-reel deck Otari MX5050 BII with remote controll that I used to connect with wires in rear pannel of the deck. It was the size of pocket cassette player and had buttons to rewind, play, fast-forward, memory reset and speed selection.

Fine, fine, laugh at my pain....(I sure do).