Planned Obsolescence

Not that I planned on it. But it seems likely that my Kodak DC3400 had an estimated expiration date of a decade. The DC3400 was released in 2000, if I remember correctly (and there's no particular reason to believe that I do). 
Mine was bought by my wife Lisa in 2001, and I used it during a trip to New York a few days after 9/11/01. At the time it was a nice "high-tech" point and shoot camera. For a consumer camera, it had a large at-the-time 2.1Meg sensor. And I always liked the way the Kodak sensor handled color.
In recent weeks, the images written to the CF card have been degenerating in quality at times. During the last few days I haven't been able to make the camera write images to the card. Sometimes it writes the framework of the file, but it doesn't put any photo information in the file. I eliminated the CF cards as possible culprits, since they work fine in another camera. 
So I have officially pronounced the device dead. The ceremony with monosyllabic chanting, rattling vegetables, and bird feathers will be held later.
My most distinct memory of using that camera was stopping a long motorcycle ride in 2004 to get a photograph of the Antelope Hills north of Flagstaff, Arizona. That photograph remains one of my favorites, largely because of the way the sensor and camera handle color. The color is rich, but there's a subtle difference between Kodak color and the output of other digitals.