Wish I'd known this was going to happen so I could have bought one new.

Ah well.

Mike < K 7 U I J >

On Tue, 14 Jan 2003, Russ Kiehne wrote:

> Updates to Passport to World Band Radio - Edition 2003:
> Sony apparently has decided to discontinue production of the venerable
> ICF-2010 portable
> some months earlier than they had indicated to us last autumn. According to
> Fred
> Osterman at Universal Radio, the last shipment of '2010s was received in
> late November,
> 2002, and on January 13th Sony indicated that they would be unable to
> fulfill dealers'
> considerable quantity of backorders, as production had already been
> terminated.
> There is the faint outside chance that someone at Sony has made an error.
> But a check
> of American dealer sites in mid-January has most showing the $350-370
> ICF-2010 on
> backorder status. Should an online vendor state it is in stock, be careful,
> as some
> have been known to claim that an item is in stock when it isn't, just to lay
> hands
> on your money.
> The '2010, which initially was sold outside North America as the ICF-2001D,
> was in
> production for over 17 years, possibly a record for a consumer electronics
> model.
> In recent years it was available only within North America, but as Sony has
> been
> moving away from consumer electronics manufacturing and into more lucrative
> endeavors,
> it was decided to terminate the brisk-selling '2010. Sony, as usual, is
> tight-lipped,
> but possibly the reason is because the receiver's many discrete controls and
> components
> make it more difficult and costly to produce than newer models.
> Fortunately, the '2010 is relatively rugged, so quality used units should
> continue
> to be available for some years to come.
> Universal Radio also reports that Sony of America has changed the optional
> 120V AC
> adaptor for the ICF-SW7600 compact portable. Formerly the AC-E60HG, now
> discontinued,
> it is now the AC-E60A. The new adaptor is more compact, but there is one
> problem:
> On its side, it reads, "NOT FOR USE WITH RADIOS." According to Universal,
> there is
> good reason for this caution, as the new adaptor causes buzzing that
> disrupts radio
> reception.
>