I had a problem where my remote would lock up sporadically but it sounds a little different than your problem. I assumed it was because the remote didn't like the rechargeable batteries I was using, however this last time changing the batteries didn't help. It turns out that one of the rubber buttons was getting stuck down, which prevented any of the other buttons from working. It wasn't obvious either. I didn't find it until I literally tried to press every single button one by one. When I got to the pause button I realized that it was just slightly hung up on the faceplate. Once I got it unstuck everything worked great. Sounds like you may have a different issue, if replacing the battery works every time, but it might be worth a shot.