I compliment you on your decision to not throw away an entire device because of a single malfunctioning element. If everyone would think like that (and not update any device simply because a company has launched a very slightly modified one) we would be sitting on a considerable smaller amount of trash on this planet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence
http://www.storyofstuff.org/
Cheers,
Pismire