Abstract: The effective life of a printhead, such as an ink jet printhead, is extended, when printing repetitive images, by taking measures to change the printhead print elements (e.g. nozzles) that are fired to effect repetitive imaging at a desired location on the media. The nozzles can be changed, yet the repetitive images be provided at the same desired location on the media by one or more of: finishing the media after printing to take into account a new position of the images on the media to provide a proper finished media (e.g. by trimming a particular edge or edges); at spaced points in time moving the printhead relative to the media in the second dimension (e.g. substantially transverse to the first dimension); and/or at spaced points in time moving the media in the second dimension relative to the printhead.