Merrill,
I found one on ebay a good while ago. I was impressed since the memory was blank, and you could apparantly learn a ton of commands. I got one on a lark, and the guy that had them gave me an offer I couldn't refuse (like about 7.00 each), and I had a project in mind. I played with it again last week and did discover a "quirk". In learning Volume up and down, timing is a factor. you need to hold down the remotes button for a minimum time, but if too long, the motorized volume knob will really zip, and "fine-tuning" was almost impossible. volume changes seemed to go up to 3 times faster than the learned remote. Thus, timing was critical-- long enough to catch the initial burst, but not too long so that it zips.
The upper part is just paper, so a replacement printed out, holes punched etc., custom labels could be easily attached. I also felt slip on printed "transparancies" could be used for the lower section thus labeling the keypad for the device programmed. Not all that difficult to make. I haven't taken one apart, do you remeber what lithium battery you used to replace yours? Knowing that may be of help to me in the future.
The nicest part was you could learn any button from the original to any key, and set it up any way you wanted. Not that many are leabelled on the keys, themselves, so almost total customization is possible. Plus, it doesn't matter what remote you use on any device, you can mix and match from several different devices for one "position". and use every key; 2-3 devices on one device setting if there aren't that many needed for a particular device, like a vcr or tv. I'm still playing with one and may discover more "secrets".
As you know, no "device code" needs to be found, just learn to whatever "device" selector, and button you want. Even the "power" button doesn't care what's put there. Perhaps I'll send a private email about why I originally got so many, and not bore the forum' readers with such a personal and weird reason.