Nick,

You're right and I apologize.

Every CD/DVD player that I have owned in the last 17 years has failed in one way or another within the first few months. I've counted 12 in 17 years. 5 of them have been in laptops or desktops. Some failures have been hardware-related and some software. And with most, I've had multiple failures. The majority of the failures haven't been fatal but rather some feature or combination of features doesn't work. And with some, the performance has degraded to the point where load times were/are slower or disks that once played no longer play even though they appear to be in original condition.

I haven't had this experience with any other consumer component. Why exactly is this happening with CD/DVD players? I don't know how to practically ascertain at the time of purchase what will last and what won't.

House of the Rising Sone
Out in the mid or far field
Dedicated mid-woofers are over-rated