The SAME EXACT thing happened to me and my dog at our vet. He has always had some sort of ear infection that comes along every once in awhile and they ALWAYS tried to prescribe different meds.
What you did sounds SOOO right. I applaud you for actually approaching someone who could easily be concealing a weapon. Damn, you may have killed the guy, though.
I'm going by what I was told, by my manager who has monthly conferences with Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo reps. There were also no original plans to discontinue the 60gb version or taking away backwards computability. Look how that went.
If it's that big of a deal, take the $100 you're saving and buy a Playstation 2.
Most people end up not playing older games once they get a next-gen system or they still have a PS2. Sony knows this.