I along with one or two others tend to become a bit cynical from time to time when it comes to the bigger players and what sometimes seems to be the stifling of innovation.

Stepping along with this popular procession has perhaps blinded me a little to another "real world", that of the product support the big players offer.

So, needing a missing cap and lockring ring for a 30 yr old Sony C74 microphone, I did not have a lot of beautiful confidence in getting one when product support is commonly regarded as a 7 to 10 year thing. -

Wrong. The part was stocked in Japan and was in hand in just over a week.

Why not go and buy another newer mike? I just like what I already have and it was one half of a pair.

So to Sony, credit where credit is due.

Canon was pretty much the same for me, I'm using a Sony cam right now but I had a Canon camera that was 6 years old, completely destroyed, half-functioning LCD, dents in the metal, any paint on the surface was rubbed off...

And they repaired it and shipped it back for free...

I'll see how Sony does with the camera I sent them... which I destroyed 1 week after purchasing... (I film paintball... it's not the nicest sport to cameras)

I think a lot of it depends on product line. When I was repairing the Sony SBM-1 A/D for a friend, I needed a new switch. I called Sony with the part number and it was obsoleted and unavailable. The SBM-1 has only not been for sale here in the US for about 4 or 5 years. I asked about a handful of other parts and unavailable was the response I received on those too. I have a DAT deck sitting in my office that needs a few parts, but those too are no longer available (although with the DAT market being what it is and the fact that I no longer use my to record on, there isn't a big rush to do much about it).

Not taking anything away from Sony, or anybody else for that matter, when they have something for a product they produced years ago, that's awesome. However, it simply is harder and harder to stock parts for things most companies would rather see you toss rather than repair. Here in the US it's easier for them because they only have to stock replacement parts for 5 years (7 in California) under the laws that govern these things.

Wayne