Am I nuts?

How stupid is that?  I think you answered your question already.  Why would they sell a 15 year old CD player?  Maybe they are streaming hi-res music instead and they are joining the new century.

It's just a disposable product like a phone that you can't change the battery.  If you are willing to replace it when it dies and the calculated cost per hour used is acceptable, go for it.  

If you really like that model more than something new just find a backup model and figure that it really costs more to get you what you really want.

I like to use a CD changer. I saw and old Onkyo at goodwill for $39. I bought but it was skipping a little. I used the CD lens cleaning disc. It really sounds good now. I have it in my second system so if it fails I will probably get another used one. Ebay has a lot of them available too .

Like in gambling (as this is I guess), if you can't afford to loose the amount of money in question, it you shouldn't play with it.

I went thru 9 different players in my quest for a better sounding player without spending several thousand dollars.

The Sony xa5400ES (and a few other highly respected early models) FAR exceeded 'better', it sounds GREAT.

I was essentially LP, ignoring my 4,000 CDs (some SACD), until I decided to try.

Finally, so darn good, I do not hesitate to pick and play CDs with equal expectation of full involvement of well engineered content by favorite artists.

When you consider a great sounding player's cost divided by all your favorite CDs (I've got a lot I don't care about), the cost is low and the gain is beyond measure.