Which, of course, is a contradiction in terms.
Not at all, it is the correct primary meaning of the term "obsolete".
"a : no longer in use or no longer useful
b : of a kind or style no longer current"
Better to think as something being discontinued from production and thus no longer readily available, usually because the manufacturers deem the new models being superior.
I think such usage began because people who think having the latest gear is necessary (or people who have financial gains to be made from others thinking that way) started calling discontinued products obsolete because they want to promote this kind of thinking. Probably for monetary gain, or their self-worth is tied to having the latest gear.
When the D3X for example cannot be used because no batteries are available that would make it work, or because no CF cards exists any more which would permit the files to be stored and transferred to computer, or if the file formats used are not readable by any software in current operating systems, then it would be obsolete.
I don't want to argue about semantics, really. But I reject the idea that discontinued products should be called obsolete, because it is misleading and leads to the kind of thinking which will destroy this planet, through unnecessary industrial production and consumption.
