Hello Scott,

To think an on/off power button would be off topic is beyond me. Every device built has an on/off button. If it doesn't have one then the AC power cord fulfills that purpose by unplugging it to turn it off and inserting it back in to turn the device back on.

Today's devices that require an abnormally long time pushing of a button is probably in some deep sleep and needs the extra time to wake up or if they are running they probably are running very slow and need the extra time to make sure they sense the button. Remember the name of game these days is battery operated and that means slower clock times.

If you want to make multiple use of your existing (start/stop) buttons use an opti-coupler to separate the intended button use from your intended use. This will avoid and conflicts with what you want to do and what the designer wanted to do.

I buy (cheap $1-5 US$) throw away CD players and repair them. Ninety-nine percent of them failed due to some button being broken. Most times it is the lid opening button. It really doesn't break, the plastic holding the cheap button breaks from fatigue of the door opening and closing. Leaning how to deal with these headaches problems is a great asset towards making them work again.

Regards,

Charles Bannister

Ps I gave you a +1 karma because I think the question of on/off buttons is a good one.