Originally Posted By: tonyc
Originally Posted By: DWallach
Or, just buy the $250 new unit and be happy.

Yeah, it's just depressing. I've heard of "software as service", but "hardware as service" just doesn't seem right. I'm not really purchasing electronics to own them -- I'm just renting them until they invariably break within five years and require a repair that nobody will do because the broken component somehow costs more than the product itself cost when it came out.

It's not just the broken component, it's the cost of labour to diagnose, and repair. We're a long way from the time when appliances were trivial enough that anyone armed with a screwdriver and a basic understanding of electricity could pop them open to make repairs.