He’s Not Getting a TiVo
posted at 10:10 am
on Sep. 27, 2005
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My friend Darren’s considering not getting a TiVo. As Jon Stewart would say…. whaaaaaaa?
I have always been surprised by the gap between people who have used TiVo and love it, and those who haven’t and don’t. I had TiVo in the U.S. and it was a serious factor when we moved to Canada—that we’d have to give up TiVo.
I don’t watch much TV—went without cable for the first six months I was up here, and haven’t turned my TV on in the past three weeks. But that’s exactly the thing that TiVo is so good for—it enhances the little TV watching I do, making it a pleasure instead of a flirtation with irritation.
I understand that for some reason, those who haven’t had TiVo can’t imagine the benefits properly. I also remember thinking, why would a computer need a color screen, I can read text in monochrome green just fine. And what’s the big deal about FM radio, AM does the job perfectly.
I can also say that I have never, ever met someone who used TiVo who would willingly go without it.
The PVR options in Canada other than TiVo would have cost $700 for the unit PLUS a monthly fee, and that was over my pain threshold. But the cheapest 40-hour TiVo costs only $50 US after rebate, plus a $300 lifetime activation, and that’s well affordable.
Darren, buying a DVD recorder is like buying a CD Walkman—nothing wrong with it, but you’re missing out on a far superior, equally priced alternative.
(I will add one postscript—TiVo has recently implemented a flag that lets content owners BLOCK TiVo owners from keeping copies of certain shows around for more than 7 days. This is deplorable, and I hope TiVo reverses this as soon as possible.)
Keywords: canada • darren • pvr • television • tivo
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