adventures in DVD land

So we had to go buy a new DVD player. I was informed yesterday via email from Craig that the player - the one that we use constantly since we don't watch actual tv - was no longer working. You would press "open" and it would whirr and click and not open. Repeat as necessary until it does in fact open. Insert disc. Press "close." Repeat as above. Then it would say "no disc." So, rather than lug it onto the train, pay for repair, and lug it home (in the meantime DVD-less), we decided just to buy a new one. I did have this one for about 6 years, so it had a good run.

We head to Best Buy and check out their selection. They had about 10-12 players, in about 4 brands. We studied the features that were all the same and the warranties that were similar. Then we asked a Best Buy Guy to recommend a brand. His very helpful answer:

There is no better brand. They're all the same. That one ($35) plays just as good as that one ($149) and lasts about the same amount of time.

Then he walked away, not caring that he hadn't helped us at all. So, after eliminating the players with features that absolutely held no benefit for us (i.e. slots for memory cards that are a different size than anything we have), we said hell with it and bought the $35 one. There was a $30 one, but that only had a 90-day warranty, and the slightly more expensive one had a 1-year warranty. We did not buy the store warranty plan, because it was as much as the player. We could buy 2 and have a spare for the same price, or we could just buy another one when this one finally dies.

Our new player was very small, and thus very easy to transport on the rush-hour train. The remote is even smaller, about the size of a playing card. It weighs about that much too. But we hooked it up, and watched our current netflix selection, Raging Bull. The player passed the first test. It worked. So now we'll see if this one lasts 6 years. And if not, oh well. It was cheaper than the Chinese food we ate on Tuesday.