Seriously? Weird how they would have the fan blow so hard just to eject a disc...

Still, if this is a built in feature I don't really see how it would be considered bad to do this, or why they wouldn't implement this feature in the firmware of pre-40gb models if discs getting stuck truly is a problem.

Because it is not a firmware trick. The feature is for the emergencies when the firmware fails you and you can't get the disc out.

Built in or not, it's obviously not for regular use because A) it's not mentioned as one and B) the thing literally forces your drive to spit out the disc, which can't be good for your system on the long run. Think of it as shoving your hand down your throat to eject whatever vile substance is making your stomach ill but you're not able to vomit on your own.

So no, don't use it to clear dust out of the console.

Just to let you know, the issue associated with some PS3 models ramping up the fan too early was fixed with the latest firmware. Enjoy your quieter running PS3s, some of you.

Wow, that's almost louder than my Dreamcast accessing it's GD-ROMs backward or sideways or however it reads them...

The weird thing about the fan in my PS3 is that the noise oscillates rapidly and randomly no matter what the system is doing. It's probably just a bad fan, but what a pain to send it in for service just for a fan problem.