Someday, much sooner than you'd like, that shiny new toy you just bought will break. When it happens, you'll swear, you'll cry -- then you'll sigh and open your wallet. You've been here before, with the jammed Walkman, the DOA answering machine, the fritzed digicam, the blue screen of death.

Of course, no R&D department would ever admit to creating products that are intended to crash and burn. But I believe that, like humans, the PDA holding your business contacts and favorite songs has a preordained lifespan. It's simply a matter of when it will die.

Let's call it the buy-die-buy theory: Manufacturers design technology to fail so you're forced to upgrade regularly.

It may sound paranoid, but buy-die-buy is established gospel among longtime MP3 player owners, many of whom are on their second or third devices. It's a predictable routine: Purchase a player, enjoy several months of stress-free use, then notice minor bugs or shortfalls that slowly, or not so slowly, turn into major problems.

http://www.wired.com/news/wiredmag/0,72274-0.html?tw=wn_index_5

[There is no desire to have functional technology when there is commitment to have a secure line of hard cash.]