How would an alpha-jump menu be better than twisting the knob to scroll through the playlists? I can scroll through the playlists menu pretty fast with the knob, and I don't see how another layer of alphabetic listings could be faster. You'd just be trading one kind of scroll for another, and adding another selection layer to boot.

I've gotten pretty good at scrolling through the playlists menu, in fact. Today, a certain Paula Cole song came up in the shuffle. I was reminded of another Paula Cole song that I wanted to hear. While the last few bars of the first song was playing, I was able to open the playlists menu, scroll to the "P"s, select Paula Cole, select the desired album and tune, and insert the song. All with the front panel, and all within the last few bars of the first song.