We thought we would point our readers toward this CNET discussion about Why Our Gadgets Break? It seems illogical that older electronics were built to better quality standards, while the new ones are built cheaply and designed to fail within a shorter period of time in order to encourage upgrading, but that is the truth with many things.

Engineers have designed objects designed to fail for years. Otherwise, how will they sell electronics to people satisfied with their old reliable pieces? Even if they themselves are not designing this way…the push to make the cost less expensive forces them to use cheaper materials…integrate components…The only positive side is that it forces engineers to find clever and often better ways to do things with less.