I'm a journalist writing a story for Mobile PC Magazine on the decline of
quality in consumer electronics. I sent Sam Wasserman an e-mail regarding
this topic this morning and he recommended posting to the newsgroup. I'd
be
interested in the thoughts of sci.electronic.repair readers about whether
the quality of electronics is genuinely on the decline and if so, why?

Here's some of the questions I hope to answer with this article.

Has there been a quantifiable decrease in the life span of consumer
products
over the last fifteen years?

In some cases, though in many others it's more a matter of the units being
more difficult to repair as well as cheaper to purchase so not worth having
repaired.

What segments of consumer electronics seem to be hardest hit?How long are
consumer electronics meant to last?

VCR's, DVD players, and anything else with mechanical parts. Average life is
1-3 years on most of that stuff.

Are they any documented cases of electronics being intentionally crippled
to
reduce shelf-life?

Not that I'm aware of, generally it's a case of cutting too many corners in
attempt to reduce cost of manufacturing that they go too far and the item
falls apart.

Does the concept of a manufacturer's warranty mean anything anymore or has
point-of-purchase warranty become expected of consumers?

Most stuff isn't worth shipping back to the manufacture for service, it's
easier to just buy a new one.