They just don't build them like that anymore

[STEED]

Yes I remember when things lasted and went on and on. But now your be lucky if they don't breakdown in a week.


Frozen in time: the fridge still going strong after 50 years

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=451935&in_page_id=1770 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=451935&in_page_id=1770)

[Heibges]

I just bought a new TV a couple of weeks ago.

The last time I bought a TV, 5 years ago, the salesman told me TV's used to be designed to last 10 years, but now they are only designed to last 5.

I guess he was right.

[Tchocky]

The faster technology changes, the shorter the lifespan of each item.

Our family had one TV for 20 years, and damn if the new HD one isn't beautiful :up:

[STEED]

Next door got a digital TV and it broke down in less than a month and three days after it was repaired. That was last week, I must find out how it is now.

[Heibges]

The whole HD thing is so up in the air, that I have been hesitant to buy one. It seems crazy spending that much on a tv.

I do know that the Adult Video Industry has said that HDDVD will be their standard and not Blueray. The AVI selected VHS back in the day, and this killed Betamax.

[Yahoshua]

Technology itself dosn't induce a shorter lifespan, greed does. A constant rate of breakdowns in products will practically guarantee a continuous production run of a particular product. While on the face of it, this isn't a very appreciative motive, but it does spur the drive for better quality products that are sure to be bought by an all too willing consumer base.

It's a consumer/throwaway society at work.

[Heibges]

Technology itself dosn't induce a shorter lifespan, greed does. A constant rate of breakdowns in products will practically guarantee a continuous production run of a particular product. While on the face of it, this isn't a very appreciative motive, but it does spur the drive for better quality products that are sure to be bought by an all too willing consumer base.

It's a consumer/throwaway society at work.

That's what I think too. Shoddy workmanship is part of their "business plan".

[Yahoshua]

Yeah, but that's slowly starting to change as foreign companies begin to eat up the territory of U.S. companies and drive the companies to actually produce better products that will outlast their competitors' products.

A prime example is the automotive industry. Toyota, Honda, Suzuki and other companies are taking territory from all of the domestic automotive companies (save for pickup trucks) as their quality outstrips that of the domestic produced vehicles. And it shows that people are willing to pay the extra dollars for a better quality product that will last them at least 15-20 years than for a product that will only last 10 years before it break down completely.

I own a toyota made in 1985 and it's still keeps goin (although it's designed badly, that's another issue).

[JSLTIGER]

I own a toyota made in 1985 and it's still keeps goin (although it's designed badly, that's another issue).

I love my '93 Corolla LE...just a well designed, well built car.

[Yahoshua]

Not real familiar with corollas'. Are they a reliable company?

[Heibges]

I guess we better hope the Korean TV makers, force the Japanese TV makers to do a better job.

Isn't there a Eurpean company that makes TV's now?

[TteFAboB]

I take every last drop out of them. Still have a Sony 17" E200 multiscan monitor that will soon (or better: finally) be stored to start collecting dust as an emergency monitor. It's the most beautifull CRT I ever had and still works perfectly. I regret not buying a 21" or 24" when Sony was still making Trinitron monitors. You'd know if you ever used one. The monitor I had before that one was dumped after turning green and blurred to a point I could no longer tolerate but also because friends ridiculed me for sticking to such a crappy monitor.

This goes pretty much for everything. I'm the collector, the keeper, the efficiency-waste maniac. What saves me is the rest of the house, my counterpart. I couldn't let loose my no-waste impulse if I didn't had someone to pull me back to my senses. The sane mind that convinces me rightfully when things are too old and crappy and when it's time to replace them.

That was the case with my Sidewinder Forcefeedback 1. It was old and crappy and MS had released the FF 2. But it was so expensive! Not worth it! Yes, yes it's worth it - I was told. Buy it. Your old joystick is in a very poor state. The throttle lost sensitivity, the button 2 requires all your strength to activate, the thing is done for good. Buy it. So I bought it, noticed the huge difference it made and what do I know, a few months later Microsoft pulled the plug on the FF2 and it sold out. Had I waited a little longer I'd never have this joystick...yes, indeed, I'm still using the MS FF2 and no it didn't lost any sensitivity yet, I swear! :D

Speaking of computers: my cordless logitech keyboard is so old the markings on the A, S, C and other keys are fading away! But it works like a charm and I'm very used to it. Whenever I use the other PC's still new MS keyboard my typo rating goes to the roof.

Kitchen appliances and TVs are not my responsibility but I didn't allowed my TV to get replaced untill it got blurred. Old Sony with a built-in VHS. The newer one is a Sony Wega 21"-or something because it's slightly widescreen. I guess the Wega brand is outdated by now but this TV is still perfect. Should last at least another 2, 3, heck, even 5 years perhaps! Optimism...or untill they make a 24" HD TV that can be used as a PC monitor. I'll buy that the instant it comes out even if I have to spend the entire year paying for it.

While not my responsibility, the newer refrigerators do make a gigantic difference when compared to the old junk. If this woman were my mother I'd force her to accept a frost-free freezer wether she likes it or not. Less noise, less hassle and besides all: talk about energy inefficiency. The novelty effect is not worth the electricity bill. Of course, now that it has been running for 50 years, might aswell push it to the limit and see for how much longer it will go...

But I'll concur that some things are treasure. Like the HUGE Victor Victrola all-in-one cabinet standing in my living room. Fully functional relic, older than this freezer by 3 decades, though I won't be able to afford to keep it operational in the future if Valves don't become less rare or otherwise cheaper. Nope, it won't play CD-ROMs or DVDs or tune satellite radio but it's beautiful and it looks like some cool old-style science-fiction control panel.

[Heibges]

I have a 19" Sony Trinitron Monitor I found outside my apartment on the street!

I have had it for 2 years and it looks fantastic.

[FIREWALL]

3rd maybe 4th owner of a IBM P-200 20" CRT Monitor. Best part it was

FREE!!!:D It works perfect so even tho I can get a 20" widescreen
1000to1 cr 2ms LCD for $169.00 at Costco I'm finding it hard to part with.

[P_Funk]

I believe they call that thing where everything breaks, planned obsalescance.

I'll ask my good friend Chris Rock to explain it all to you::cool:

You mean to tell me that they can put a man on the moon, but they can't make a fu**in' Caddillac with a bumper that don't fall off?

[Yahoshua]

:rotfl: It's so true!!!!

Or even better that NASA spent several billion dollars for a pen that will work in space when it can be replaced with a pencil!!! (well, not really funny in hindsight).

[JSLTIGER]

Not real familiar with corollas'. Are they a reliable company?

Um...Toyota Corolla.

[I-25]

:rotfl: It's so true!!!!

Or even better that NASA spent several billion dollars for a pen that will work in space when it can be replaced with a pencil!!! (well, not really funny in hindsight).

yea i heard about that. NASA spent millions on the pen. Soviets used a pencil....

as for car endurance i agree 150% that older cars outlast the new ones by a LONGG time. just ask my daily extreamly abused 70' VW Bug;)

[Camaero]

:rotfl: It's so true!!!!

Or even better that NASA spent several billion dollars for a pen that will work in space when it can be replaced with a pencil!!! (well, not really funny in hindsight).

yea i heard about that. NASA spent millions on the pen. Soviets used a pencil....

as for car endurance i agree 150% that older cars outlast the new ones by a LONGG time. just ask my daily extreamly abused 70' VW Bug;)

That is not a true story guys! That is one of those myths that has gone around for awhile now, but not true. NASA is not that stupid.
http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp

Also, I am working on a Toyota Corolla in autotech and it is a horrible, pitiful little thing to work on. One look at the milage however and it was soon clear to me that it was at least a decent car. It had 240,000 miles on it!!! When something does break on those cars however, please do us all a favor and light it on fire!:rotfl:

[Yahoshua]

:88)

[Oberon]

I have a telly upstairs that's gotta be at least 30 years old, it's got no remote control, the buttons on the side give options for such channels as BBC1, 2, 3 and ITV 1,2,3....and this was before Sky even existed :lol:

It's still going strong, touch wood I've never had a problem with it. The only time I've tried to replace it, I brought a newer telly from a shop in Leiston, after about a week it started making worrying crackling noises and started smelling wierd. Haven't used it since.

[The Avon Lady]

Frozen in time: the fridge still going strong after 50 years
Big deal! Let me enlighten you (http://www.centennialbulb.org/).

[STEED]

I still got a old Win95 which is about 12 to 13 years old and all is OK, but I gone through 3 XP PC's in the last 7 years. :huh:

[bradclark1]

The whole HD thing is so up in the air, that I have been hesitant to buy one. It seems crazy spending that much on a tv.

I do know that the Adult Video Industry has said that HDDVD will be their standard and not Blueray. The AVI selected VHS back in the day, and this killed Betamax.
I was the same way but I got our HDTV given to us as a gift and have to say WOW!
I don't normally watch TV but the wife does. Even digital is great on these things. The nature shows are incredible. Now we couldn't go back to a normal tv.

[Skybird]

I have a hair/beard trimmer with accu-batteries which cannot be replaced. the motor and the blades are still working like on first day (5 years ago), but the accus are dead. I need to replace the whole device because the batteries not being replacable. Most hair trimmers, if not all, are like that. throwing a fully functional device into the bin - for nothing. Stupid.

I still have the WM1 by Sony, the very first walkman ever available on the market, that was in 1982 or 83. Full metal case, solid manufacturing, very good and robust quality. It still works very well. Two other walkman me and my parents tried in later years were made of plastic, were light like TT-balls, and didn't live very long.

My parents also happen to own the first disc player by Sony from the mid-80s, still fully functionable, and the size of a discman. Again, solid manufacturing, metal case, and quite some weight.

If you look at devices today you fear to brake them by simply pressing the play-button.

I am extremely hesitent to buy HD-TV. If the picture is not received as an HD-signal, then LCD -TV simply have a terrible picture quality, compared to classical cathode-ray monitors. And the two major TV stations in Germany still wait to invest into HD-technology. they got burned twice in the past, with PAL+ and some other norm that was said to be the future, and then died. I also think the prices for these things are ridiculous, even more so if considering the constantly shrinking lifespan of consumer elctronics today. You pay more and more money for gimmicks you never missed before, and constantly detoriating quality (time to break-down).

I don't like all this. It stinks. I am still operating a VHs alongside a DVD player, I plan to avoid HD as long as possible, and will try to get a classical cathode-widescreen TV next time (which is becoming difficult for many screen-sizes, unfortunately). Major parts of my music librarary still are cassettes, and I feel lucky for having used quality tapes back then. Newer does not mean better today. In the majority of cases I think it is exactly the other way around. But of course, life is becoming faster and faster nevertheless. that's why more and more people becoming ill from living the modenr life.

It seems to me there is only one thing a reasonable man can do these days: find something that is his own, and detach his life from the growing madness and hectic all around. I feel thankful towards life, for having been able to do so. It comes at a price (some ammount of isolation, caused by lacking understanding of most others), but it still is a fair deal and a positive bilance. Else I would live in constant anger, and at the end of each day I would leave a smoking battlefield behind me.

[bradclark1]

am extremely hesitent to buy HD-TV. If the picture is not received as an HD-signal, then LCD -TV simply have a terrible picture quality,
You have a choice of analog or digital reception for cable. Normal cable is analog. If you use analog with a HDTV you wasted your money. Digital gives a much improved (awesome)picture. HD and digital are two different things price-wise however, but you can't get HD without the digital receiver.

[STEED]

My radio has died on me, well it was cheap and old. ;)