Index: content.admin.inc
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/drupal-contrib/contributions/modules/cck/includes/content.admin.inc,v
retrieving revision 1.181.2.49
diff -u -w -b -a -r1.181.2.49 content.admin.inc
--- content.admin.inc	6 Oct 2008 15:19:05 -0000	1.181.2.49
+++ content.admin.inc	29 Oct 2008 22:09:49 -0000
@@ -968,6 +968,13 @@
       '%field' => $field['widget']['label'],
       '%type' => $type['name'])),
   );
+  $form['widget']['minimum_widgets'] = array(
+    '#type' => 'select',
+    '#title' => t("Number of widgets"),
+    '#description' => t("The number of widgets showing on the input form when there's no value entered, if this field takes unlimited values."),
+    '#options' => drupal_map_assoc(range(1,10)),
+    '#default_value' => variable_get('content_minimum_widgets_'. $field_name, '2'), 
+  );
   $form['widget']['weight'] = array(
     '#type' => 'hidden',
     '#default_value' => $field['widget']['weight'],
@@ -1258,6 +1265,8 @@
   $form_values = $form_state['values'];
   content_field_instance_update($form_values);
 
+  variable_set('content_minimum_widgets_'. $form_values['field_name'], $form_values['minimum_widgets']);
+
   if (isset($_REQUEST['destinations'])) {
     drupal_set_message(t('Added field %label.', array('%label' => $form_values['label'])));
     $form_state['redirect'] = content_get_destinations($_REQUEST['destinations']);
Index: content.node_form.inc
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/drupal-contrib/contributions/modules/cck/includes/content.node_form.inc,v
retrieving revision 1.7.2.14
diff -u -w -b -a -r1.7.2.14 content.node_form.inc
--- content.node_form.inc	4 Oct 2008 13:14:21 -0000	1.7.2.14
+++ content.node_form.inc	29 Oct 2008 22:23:02 -0000
@@ -156,25 +156,33 @@
   $field_name = $field['field_name'];
 
   switch ($field['multiple']) {
-    case 0:
+    case 0: // 1 field, no multiple
       $max = 0;
       break;
-    case 1:
+    case 1: // unlimited
       $filled_items = content_set_empty($field, $items);
+
+      // make the count different for no item (filled with an empty item by content_set_empty) and 1 item with data
+      $hook_is_empty = $field['module'] .'_content_is_empty';
+      if (count($items) == 1 && $hook_is_empty($items[0], $field)) {
+        $minimum_item_count = variable_get('content_minimum_widgets_'. $field['field_name'], '2') - 1;
+      }
+      else{
+        $minimum_item_count = count($items);
+      }
       $current_item_count = isset($form_state['item_count'][$field_name])
                             ? $form_state['item_count'][$field_name]
-                            : count($items);
+                            : $minimum_item_count;
+
       // We always want at least one empty icon for the user to fill in.
       $max = ($current_item_count > count($filled_items))
               ? $current_item_count - 1
               : $current_item_count;
-
       break;
-    default:
+    default: // fixed number of $field['multiple'] fields
       $max = $field['multiple'] - 1;
       break;
   }
-
   $title = check_plain(t($field['widget']['label']));
   $description = content_filter_xss(t($field['widget']['description']));