one minor note. lasers are not all the same. the fail rate is, all things equal, a function of output power. More output, faster to fail. Systems that are read only and simple as possible will last the longest (read, many thousands of hours. maybe 10K or more??) Lasers that are called upon to write material put our more juice and will not last as long. Should you have a laser that also writes labels as in many PC's it will go faster still. I'll bet SACDs are high density and hence lower wavelength and higher energy so they don't last as long (just a guess). Even if you could easily send it for refirb it's likely not worth it.