Having read the first part of the post in regard to hobby electronics becoming a thing of the past, I was dismayed being that I am only into this hobby a little over a year and enjoy it greatly. However, I remembered the reason why I got into it in the first place. True, I too get joy out of saying that I built something that appears in a shop window.....but what about all the things I built that aren't in a shop window?

I am a lab technician who at the time of getting into electronics was looking at the difference in certain formulations of lead acid batteries. Do you know how annoying it can be to monitor 20 battery cells simultaneously? Well, needless to say I tried to look for some magical piece of technology that could do the job for me. Guess what.....there's hardly anything out there...at least not for under $2000 or so that includes an unnecessary microprocessor-based unit. (I mean all I wanted was a simple alarm that would tell me when each cell was low). SO... I learned the hobby step by step and successfully built that alarm for under $100 of material (including etching equipment and a laser printer that will be used for other circuits).

AND THE MORAL IS...True, it's cheaper to buy and throw away consumer electronics and not bother to repair them....but frankly who cares? Consumer electronics is just that...for the consumer market. What about all the electronics that isn't the typical TV's or DVD players? I, hopefully like most people, got into the hobby to build things that haven't been built yet or if they have been, don't cost an obscene amount because of a bunch of bells and whistles? Microprocessors are great, but for many applications, they are overkill and they ramp up the price greatly. People just get used to the idea that discrete circuits are a thing of the past, so they intentionally avoid them because they aren't modern and not as impressive as microprocessors, when the cost without them is staggeringly lower. And big technology companies aren't going to waste their time with something that isn't 1) user-friendly (like microprocessors typically are), 2) modern, 3) completely overdone with accessories so that no other company will rival their product. They're like the plumbers that won't waste their time to fix a simple leak when the house down the street needs a whole new pipe system. Well, that's where I come in! That's the niche of hobby electronics!

As for the component availability...yes, I believe companies will eventually stop selling things like through-hole components at some point being as they haven't been in modern technology for a good 20 years or better, but as someone already posted...the hobbyist will evolve with it. Hey...I'd find some way to deal with surface-mount just to build that alarm I talked about. Maybe someday the technology will be so staggering that it will be impossible to solder without very expensive machines, but that wouldn't be for some time. What's even better is that there are companies that will probably cater to this advance in technlogy on the hobbyist's behalf. Companies love to make cheaper, knockoff versions of industrial processes for the average person...it makes them more money to downgrade their original design. You ever shop at Lowe's or Home Depot? My point exactly. So long as there are independent thinkers like myself that aren't satisfied with a given situation and wish to improve it with a piece of custom-made, not-readily available technology (INVENTOR is the term I believe I am referring to), well we'll always be around!