Excellent information! My friends and I had been discussing this very thing recently. I had the same type experience with my printer which wasn't very old.
I started having problems with some major appliances and a friend who is in the appliance business told me on the QT that most appliances were designed to work at their best performance for only about 4 years.
"most appliances were designed to work at their best performance for only about 4 years"
I find this interesting, shocking and disgusting. I understand their reason for doing this but surely there must be a better way!
Thanks so much for the great insight!