[deanEkko]

I can understand your sentiment. I designed the product and can tell you that the casing isn't bulky, it's 1.5mm thick all around which is less than some iPhone cases. I also made it super quick and easy to open the door to get to your iPhone's touch screen and the iPhone app we are working on will allow you a lot of flexibility in what the buttons trigger. The buttons allow for fast forwarding, skipping and album/artist skipping, basically how long you hold down the button takes you up levels in the music directory and of course it works with other apps such as Pandora as well. I can also tell you that people that were at first skeptical tried it out and commented that the UI for most music/podcast listening was a bit superior in that everything was just a thumb press away. Granted, this product isn't for everyone, but I don't think it should be so quickly dismissed as we've spent a lot of time on the UI, electronics and firmware and app to make a great experience. Don't be fooled by the retro-styling aspect as that was simply a design decision. Also, do you know of any other accessories that combine a battery to charge your iPhone with portable speakers in such a small package?

[jamesbkel]

FWIW, I don't have a case on my iPhone 4 since I can't stand the extra bulk, but I am definitely considering the Audman. I left my iPod out in the sun awhile ago and it overheated... since then I've found my iPhone to be a lousy replacement for listening to music. The lack of a tactile UI means that I'm constantly fishing it out of my coat to do something as simple as skip a song. Even worse in the car (I have a 1/8" connection, but don't use it because trying to manage the iPod app while driving is really no better than texting while driving).

Seems like this product may be a good solution.

[Pheter]

I use a jailbreak app called activator to set up skipping songs by holding down the volume up and down buttons and it works great!