Well sure, you can buy them. But keep in mind, the Playstation is one of the few products where 3rd-party products just aren't up to snuff.

It isn't due to any electronic "trickery" on SONY's behalf, for as far as home electronic equipment goes, its architecture isn't really that complicated (don't misread that to mean it is "simple" by any means).

It just seems that with SONY's growing popularity, many 3rd party vendors were in a "rush" to cash in and not to provide quality components.