He was on his fifth and this was the second 360 which scratched discs (so could be on his 6th). There have been far more unlucky people though.

Reversed Slim (destructoid): "I'm on my 10th 360 since launch. No, that's not a typo - I said TENTH. "

Jeremy Anderson (avforums): "I know MS customer support is a pain in the ass - I'm on my 10th 360 since launch, and I've spent a solid 52+ hours on the phone with them during that time."

northbit (product reviews): "Well, I am now on my 10th 360. I am a legitimate 360 owner who has since exactly one year ago sent in 10!!!! units for warranty and repair."

Frantik (sarcastic gamer): "I'm on my 10th 360 cuz I kept doing the warranty exchanges."

philneedshelp (unwakeable): "to all how are having problems i am now on my 10th 360 it happend agen to day with guiter heros 2"

Potential record holders?

ThePhantom Gamer (January, now on his 17th?): "I know what you mean. My 16th 360 died already after a few days. On the other hand, I haven't had a problem with Vista yet."

AtmonicBomb: "Im just glad that it works again, lol this is my 16th 360..."

1up had a story complete with fully confirmed evidence of someone being on his 12th XBox 360 already by June 2007:

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3160603

I can't see this sort of story helping Microsoft at all, especially when the video makes a clear case for why the scratching happens, and that it could have been easily avoided with an extremely cheap ring of ribber around the lens, something that other drives by the same manufacturer of the DVD drive have.

Does anyone know if later 360s have newer DVD drives, and if they are safer? If not, this issue will plague MS to the end of their current console's lifetime, and that's not ideal for a console that has already been afflicted with severe reliability issues. Personally, as a fan of consoles, I still have no desire to take the risk of buying a 360. I almost did last year, but went with the PS3 because of the reported reliability issues, and I've neither seen nor heard of any substantive reason why this wasn't a good choice. A year later, several of my 360 friends have suffered from reliability issues; none of my PS3 friends have. Further, some of my 360 friends are out of pocket because of damaged DVDs (I had no idea why until now; I'm a bit behind the news).

Really, how can Microsoft justify this to their customers? If not for the reliability, they really would have a kick-ass console -- they've kinda shot themselves in the foot here, demonstrating that their strength really is software, not hardware.

I know I won't buy a launch Microsoft machine in the next generation. My trust has been torn to shreds, and it hasn't even affected me personally. However, I would buy a launch Nintendo or Sony machine if the price was right and the machine attractive to my gaming needs, as both of those manufacturers have a solid reputation by comparison.

If I were Microsoft, I'd be trying to resolve this issue as fast as possible in the newer machines; but, it may be a little too late. After all, I've lost my hype for buying the machine, and I'm sure there are many others like me.

I really do feel for the lad - must be so infuriating!

And this problem I believe isn't just isolated to the old machines. The company I work for just bought a brand new Xbox Elite.

We all started playing rock band (badly) suddenly stops working - open the tray, look at the disc - massive scratch/perfect circle.

@ Hapimeses

Microsoft uses many different drives, but particularly one model is well known to be extra prone to disc scratching. But not everyone who suffers from disc scratching issues has this drive. Most scratches are minor, but accumulate over time and then cause problems. Some scratches are the notorious deeply carved circle, which is usually caused by console movement.

The problem is also the speed at which DVDs have to spin inside the 360, they are originally PC drives and on the PC they aren't continuously used for playing DVD based games. A slight movement of the console can cause disc scratches and isn't covered by warranty according to Microsoft (So IMO not really a console suitable for small kids or for areas enduring turbulence). Over time DVD drives continuously spinning at such speed will wear, screws may loosen causing more vibration causing more problems, etc.

Well, assuming that is all true, I will definitely not buy a 360. I have two young kids, and they move about a great deal. Vibration central, here, and occassionally things get knocked. If the above really does cause scratched DVDs, most of mine would be screwed in a few months for certain.

Not cool.

However, this could possibly be a bit of anti-MS bias. All of the big companies have their detractors, and it is easy for such people to latch onto a few bad stories and inflate them somewhat. Is there anyone with kids and 360s out there who can confirm this? If so, do your kids do the following (or similar):

My 4-year old plays our PS3 a great deal. It has loads of games she can play, and she does so frequently. She loads the machine with the BDs (which don't scratch at all, I hear -- is that true? If not, I'll have her be far more careful, but I've had no issues so far), and plays with ease. She can easily remove the BDs as well, and puts them away in their boxes with care. Obviuously, HDD games require no loading or unloading, so there is no issue here -- she just selects them on the XMB. When playing, she sometimes bounces about a bit, especially when playing games that use the SIXAXIS, or when playing platform games (such as Ratchet and Clank, or the Lego games).

Could she do that safely with a 360? What do you say 360 owners? Is the problem overblown?

despite any console war this is really sad. you pay a lot for a console that seems to be badly made. this should never happen. one broke, ok it's fair, but that much?

@ Hapimeses

DVDs and PS2 discs spin at lower speeds inside the PS3 and I haven't heard any reports of those scratching. The PS3 is also reported to be able to better read old scratched PS2 and DVD discs than the PS2 can.

@ Hapimeses

Blu-Ray discs have been tested through steel wool rubbing. To quote Verbatim:

"The Blu-ray disc recording layers consist of one metal-nitrate layer. The blue laser heats the recording layer to form a composite, which in turn forms the recording.The Blu-ray disc comes as standard with a scratch-proof protective layer, but Verbatim have gone one step further and have developed a technology that exceeds the requirements - this being the unique Hard Coat Scratch Guard coating technology.

The Verbatim Blu-ray discs, with Scratch Guard withstand finger print smudges, are less sensitive to ultraviolet light (sunlight) and are dirt and dust repellent. In addition, our Blu-ray discs have successfully passed the so called 'steel wool' test - this test involves a steel wool cloth being rubbed against the Verbatim Blu-ray disc, in effect simulating possible day to day handling."

A youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5jEbZt6AIQ

That sounds pretty conclusive to me. How about 360 owners with kids using their machine. Any out there at all?

Ye its the best!It can destroy itselft in month and scratch 10 dvd:s!