After being vibrated off the amp at practice one too many times, my Sharp DR7 minidisc recorder died. This was a monster unit when I bought it five or so years ago. 1-bit digital amp (I have no idea what this meant, but audiophile reviewers said it was way cool), polarized headphone jacks (ditto), recording levels adjustable on the fly. When I got the levels set right, I could hear every mistake I made.

But it's fallen off amps several times, as well as shelves and tables, during practice. I had the unit repaired once a few years ago when the door start jamming. And about two years ago, I replaced it with a M-Audio MicroTrak 24/96, since it had USB for copying files. But the MicroTrak is in for a battery replacement, and I dug out the DR7, which worked for a few weeks until it came crashing off a shelf behind me when we were playing Powderfinger tonight. Now the unit won't read the index tables of minidiscs. The minidisc format reached the end of its lifecycle a few years ago, so I guess it's time to ditch it.