I loved them, too, but they were just as crappily constructed as anything else that's ever come out in the video game market. People pump up the Big N's wares like they're made indestructible like Tonka trucks.
Well, like the old Tonka trucks, which were actually solid steel. I was very unpleasantly surprised some years ago when buying one for my youngest nephew. I wound up sanding and repainting an old one of mine to give him, as it was still better than the half-plastic junk from the store.
But that's neither here nor there. The only thing Sony's added to the list of gripes is DRE, which isn't unexpected in that the PS2 wasn't that great hardware and design-wise to start with. They can make good stuff, but they were in a self-imposed bind similar to that PSP faces now...need more units, so manufacturing goes to pot in deference to quality control.