The dilemma is when to break with tradition and when to supersede it, is it not? My human great-aunt had a 1971 Green Ford Pinto. Its radio had 1 volume knob (on the left) and 1 tuning knob (on the right). Between the two knobs hung a plastic trash bag, compliments of the Cape Fear Ford service department. As there were probably only a few radio stations to choose from, 5 preset buttons were enough to map the entire local radio transmission spectrum, without having to fiddle with the tuning knob. As such, most of your fiddling would probably be with the volume knob.

VOLTOR- We hail thee!!!

 Here's an older car stereo from the 70's decade of the 1900's. It design is obvious: Volume on the left, Tuner on the right, heretofor referred to as VOLTOR. This model has an 8-track cassette opening in the center, directly under the tuning indicator. This timeless classic has created a design dilemma in my so called "mind".

Blaupunkt- Update on the original To the left is an update on the classic Volume on Left, Tuner on Right design from Blaupunkt, a German company whose name when translated into English means Blue Punk. It has nice clean lines, an LCD display, but still adheres to the Volume on Left, Tuner on Right design methodology despite much of its functionality accessible only through the right knob- the one furthest away from the driver (in non-British and a couple of other weirdo driving countries).

Bose Media SystemTo the right is the latest design from audio Powerhaus Bose (not a German company I think despite my use of the German word Powerhaus- can someone tell me how to insert umlauts into this thing?). The Bose Media System, despite all of it's technological wizardries still follows VOLTOR to the death, much like those Blue Angel pilots who followed the leader into the ground, a metaphor whose extrapolation I believe ends in death and that's not what metaphors were designed for.

In left-hand drive cars, the volume knob is the most accesible knob. How many functions does the volume knob serve? One. In the Bose system, which I look forward to reviewing here once Bose sends me one, I'm assuming the left knob is the Volume knob. The right knob is evidently a multi-function knob which basically controls most nearly everything except the volume. Now how much time would you presume someone would spend fishing around the volume knob for just the right voloume, compared to how much time they might spend fishing around with 10,000 possibilities of the right hand knob.

Why, oh why are designers putting this multi-function knob on the right, as far away from the driver as possible. My wife's 2005 Honda Pilot has a very interesting configuration.