This morning our TiVo went belly-up. It wouldn’t move past the grey startup screen no matter how much profanity was directed in its direction, not to mention crying, cajoling, sweet talking and multiple reboots.
We have gotten more than our money’s worth out of the two TiVo units we have owned since almost the very beginning. We paid quite a bit for the first one as is the curse of the early adopter. Its Series 2 replacement was more reasonably priced. We were also able to transfer the lifetime subscription purchased at the original $199 point to the newer unit. That makes me a smart and lucky person, as the lifetime subscription increased in price a few times and then was discontinued entirely.
But enough about my one-time financial and technologic coup.
I’ve forgotten how to watch TV minus TiVo. It’s been nearly 10 years since we got the first one, and I’ve gotten so accustomed to pausing for phone calls or snack breaks, rewinding to listen to missed dialogue, and fast forwarding through commercials that I’m a bit lost. That’s not even mentioning the shows whose regular airtimes do not fit into our schedules that are recorded for later viewing.
I think we’ll be having this unit repaired, as we weren’t planning to get a new one until we switch over to a new HD TV. At that time we’d have to give up the lifetime subscription anyway, but until our current TV malfunctions, we don’t plan to replace it solely to switch to HD. I hope it is still repairable, and before I go into a TiVo withdrawal meltdown. I rarely use the word “withdrawal” for anything, so you know I mean it this time!
(NaBloPoMo | November ’09: 17 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 262 of 274)