tee hee.....I don't know if you can buy an embroidery machine "for ages" cuz....an embroidery machine is basically a sewing computer.....how long does your phone last before it gets outdated? and your I-pad...or whatever computer device you own....at some point, the systems in your sewing computer will not support the newer stuff out there...and replacement boards will no longer be available. Now if you are lucky, you will have one that continues on but if something does....you eventually have to search for used replacement parts. My first embroidery machine was a Viking D1...I think it is about 20 or so years old now...it still works last time I tried it...but...it has an old floppy drive...getting the floppies to put the designs on is a bit tough....and the software I used doesn't run on the newer windows operating systems. the D1 still runs great and is my go to machine for heavy sewing....but I seldom use her now. I haven't tried transferring my old embroidery designs stored on a floppy to a usb yet....I have an old external floppy drive I can plug into my desktop....but...yeah...see what I mean...anyway...I do not do embroidery as much now.....I just bought a new Bernina 570 which I got an embroidery arm for....but I haven't tried it out yet for that....I loved doing embroidery when I was working, I would come home tired and just sit and watch the needle do the stitch outs....I made a lot of little white lace snowflakes as tree ornaments and that is what my sister mainly uses on her tree now....so pretty....started adding the little crystals to them...