My very first DVD player was a 5 disc player (I dont recall the brand name, but it wasnt a Panasonic. Couldnt afford a Panasonic). Bought it from Best Buy. It broke down after only a few months of use (two DVDs somehow came loose from their trays and fell off the carousel, into the DVD player while I was having the carousel turn around in order to watch a different DVD). Took it to Best Buy to have it repaired. For some reason they couldnt contact their repair center on their computer at that moment, so they told me that I could exchange my player for another that cost the same or less. If it cost more, I had to pay the difference.
Chose my second DVD player. Another 5 disc player (Samsung). Had to pay a 15 dollar difference to Best Buy since it cost 15 dollars more than my last DVD player. The very day I brought it home, took it out of the box, hooked it up to my tv...and it would NOT work AT ALL!!!! Took that back to Best Buy the very next day for repairs. They confirmed that it was broken and told me that it would take 4-6 weeks for the player to come back from the repair center. I was incensed. I asked if I could make another exchange OR my money back. They said no to both options. They insisted on sending in my player to be repaired.
8 weeks had passed (My fault. I had neglected to check with Best Buy after the 4-6 weeks had passed to see if my player came in from the repair center.) and I went back to Best Buy to pick up my repaired Samsung 5 disc DVD player. Took it home, and it finally worked. Months went by and only one month after the warranty had expired, it broke down again!!!!! The carousel would freeze up on me and refuse to change DVDs. And when it did move, it would chose the wrong DVD, or the DVD player just insisted that there was no DVD in the tray when the carousel was full, before the player broke down altogether.
I threw my hands up in frustration, went to Sears (or was it Macy's?), and bought a cheaply priced combination VCR and single disc DVD player (brand: go.video). Basically, I still had hundreds of VHS videotapes lying around that I still wanted to watch (my old, last VCR had broken down years earlier), and I still bought the occasional new and used videotapes from the discount bins at local stores.
That was well over a year ago. So far that VCR/DVD player has given me absolutely NO trouble whatsoever. And if it ever does, I will be able to afford to replace it, unlike replacing a 5 disc player that costs somewhere in the hundreds.
However, I must admit that I don't give it heavy usage according to today's standards.