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When I was 10, my dad gave me a 1970 made in the US Mallory AM/FM/Cassette. It worked flawlessly despite that half or more of its life was being stored in hot/cold garages and in dusty environments. Even played CDs through the line-in. Then it blew an output transistor (which was probably my fault due to a somewhat caviler repair). Even the cassette deck still worked great at 31 years old!
To replace it (and because he was tired of stairing at the carcass with a post-it saying "RIP" on the dial, he got me an "Aiwa" boombox, AM/FM/dual cass/CD. This thing is three times the size of that old mallory, and it weigs about 1/3 what it did. It worked alright for about two/three years, and then the tape heads started failing. Then the CD door latch broke, so I had to put something weighty on it to keep it playing. Then the power supply got loose, and it will randomly stop playing, and I have to jerk the power cord around to make it even work again. The volume down button broke on the unit, but the remote control that only works the CD and turns the unit off (but not on) still works alright. The last straw was when it blew a transistor and the right channel is completely dead. This is after just slightly over 4 years in average service. Made in Malasyia.
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