I play records on a record player I purchased for $600 in 1977 (1977 dollars). Still works great! I play Blue Rays on a player I purchased about 18 months ago. My fourth or fifth. When all of your discs start skipping, you know it’s not the disk.
But heck, a new one has new and better features, and is around $60 2016 dollars. The price of a couple of loaded pizzas. I don’t bother fixing stuff like that any more. They are cheap enough to be throw away.
And let’s be frank, the cost of repair on many items would be more than they cost new. It’s because repairs are always “custom”. Original assembly is mostly done by robots. i.e many things are cheaper to replace than repair. That’s a good trade-off.
To each his own I guess.
I hate throwing something away after 18 months ago, even if it is cheaper to replace than to repair. I just have a thing about that I guess. It bugs me no end.
Agree. But this has been going on for sometime.
About 20-25 years ago, had one of the kid’s VCRs go out after a thunderstorm. It was a couple of years after we purchased it but it had cost @$250, so it might be worth fixing. Took it into the repair department of a big box electronics store. Service department wanted a prepaid $90 troubleshooting fee up front in addition to the ultimate cost of the repair. No, thanks. Went around to the VCR section and bought a new one with better features for $150. Took the old one to the electronics salvage point at the county dump.
But this “don’t repair, get a new one” doesn’t just apply to inexpensive low end items. Bought a $1700 55” Sony Bravio Digital TV system (TV+Blu-Ray Player+Sound System+Speakers) in 2009 with a supplemental 4 year warranty. After 20 months of service, the power supply in the TV developed a problem. Called the warranty number to set up a repair visit. Day later, warranty department calls back. This particular model was out of production and the power supply problem was so widespread they had used up all the spare repair kits. Result: 100% purchase price store credit ($1700) towards the purchase of a new television. Spent a little more and got a 3D Sony set WITH an extended warranty. Still going strong after 5 years. When it goes out, it will go to the salvage point as well.
Next one will probably be 4K, maybe curved. May be awhile. With the kids grown and out on their own, we don’t watch that much television any more(on the big screen that is) - except, of course, during football season.