As most of you are aware, just a couple of days ago, Roxio and TiVo announced that they had partnered up on a TiVoToGo solution for the Mac. The only problem with this partnership is that you have to pay ~$100 (without rebates) to get this software. For somebody who is cheap like me, this is a lot of money. Especially considering the fact that an upgrade to OS X Tiger only costs $129.

The folks over at tuaw (the unofficial Apple weblog) were able to speak with somebody at the Roxio booth(Macworld 07) about the possibility of Roxio developing a stand-alone TiVoToGo client for the Mac. The nice thing about a standalone client would be that it would cost less since you wouldn’t be getting the CD/DVD burning capability that Roxio provides. According to tuaw, the Roxio folks said that they would consider producing a standalone client if enough people showed an interest.

According to Stephen Mack (Director of TiVoCast Operations), TiVo has added GolfSpan and LX.TV to their growing lineup of online content that you can download and watch directly on your TiVo.

GolfSpan is the world leader in online video golf instruction with 600+ videos from the likes of Jim McLean, Hank Haney & Jimmy Ballard. Update frequency is twice per week (Tuesday and Thursday). The first episode of GolfSpan is “X Factor Power Set Up” (6 minutes).

LX.TV is your exclusive destination for original lifestyle and cultural programming. They will publish the following two programs:

• Drinks W/LX (Tuesday and Thursday)
• LX/101 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

For those of you who aren’t familiar with TiVoCast, here’s a description taken directly off of TiVo’s website:

TiVoCast is an exciting new feature from TiVo that lets you easily download TV programming to your TiVo DVR via your broadband Internet connection. The programs will appear in your Now Playing List, just like regular television recordings.

While I’m not particularly excited about either of these shows, I’m happy to see that TiVo is adding more content. By far my most favorite show to watch via TiVoCast is c|net. What’s your favorite show?

TiVo and RealNetworks have announced a partnership whereby TiVo subscribers will be able to access their Rhapsody account via their TiVo.
I’m not a Rhapsody subscriber so this news doesn’t really interest me other then the fact that I am always interested in any new partnerships that TiVo announces. For anybody who is a Rhapsody user this sounds like a great thing. Anybody want to voice their opinion?

TiVo said its subscribers will be able to access Rhapsody directly from their video recorders later this year, and Nokia said it would make Rhapsody available on a new, Wi-Fi-enabled tablet PC. Meanwhile, iRiver announced plans to incorporate Rhapsody into new portable music players this year. The company will optimize a version of its Clix player, which it had previously used to highlight MTV’s Urge music subscription service, for Rhapsody. It said it will also launch a new Wi-Fi-enabled player that will be able to access the service without syncing with a PC.

Update 1/11 @ 8:37 AM: A number of blogs including PVRBlog, TiVoLovers and PVRWire have posted screenshots from the Comcast TiVo. The interface looks clean and easy to use. Check it out if you haven’t already…

Damn I wish I was at CES this year :(. According to Yahoo Finance, TiVo and Comcast are going to demonstrate their integrated service at this year’s CES. It’s great to see that the Comcast & TiVo partnership is finally getting somewhere considering the fact that I’ve been reporting on it since March ‘05. Now if only Time Warner would do the same thing (Time Warner is my cable provider)…

Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA - News, CMCSK - News), the nation’s leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services, and TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO - News), the creator of and leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), are demonstrating a new TiVo® service for Comcast DVRs at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The companies began trialing the TiVo service for Comcast DVRs in late 2006.

The new service will offer consumers the ease and convenience of using a single digital cable set-top box to enjoy popular TiVo DVR features along with Comcast’s innovative video-on-demand (VOD) service and the most high- definition (HD) television viewing choices for the first time. Working in concert with Comcast, TiVo has developed a software application that will enable Comcast to deploy the service for a modest monthly fee to existing set- top boxes without an additional in-home visit by a technician.

Update 1/8 @ 9:47AM EST: TiVo has updated their website which now includes a link to Roxio’s software. Apparently TiVo has been working with Roxio to provide this software. The following press release contains even more details.

“The demand for TiVoToGo continues to grow rapidly, especially as the use of mobile devices for viewing video becomes more pervasive. Now, through our joint alliance with Roxio, we are able to answer that strong demand by delivering TiVoToGo to the Mac platform,” said TiVo’s vice president of product marketing, Jim Denney. “By extending this capability to the passionate Mac community, TiVo continues to support our idea that “It’s not TiVo, unless it’s a TiVo.”‘

For a limited time if you purchase Roxio Toast you will also receive a free TiVo glo remote!

To celebrate the arrival of TiVoToGo for the Mac OS, courtesy of TiVo, customers who purchase Toast 8 Titanium either at Macworld Expo booth #314 or through www.roxio.com/macworld can receive a FREE TiVo Glo remote, a $49.99 value. This offer is for a limited time while supplies last.

Dave Zatz got the scoop on the latest version of Roxio Toast for the Mac. According to Dave, Toast 8.0 includes TiVoToGo capabilities so that Mac users can finally burn their TiVo recordings!
Roxio’s website has even more details on this product, here’s a snippet taken from the site:

TV Shows Anywhere You Want them Enjoy your favorite TV shows on DVD or on-the-go with Toast’s exclusive support for TiVo and EyeTV digital video recorders. Watch your TiVo recorded shows on your Mac, burn your shows to DVD or DivX disc, or convert for your iPod, PSP or other portable player. Fred & Barney. Gilligan & The Skipper. Ernie & Bert, and now… TV & Toast – another perfect TV pair

Screenshot taken from Roxio’s website:

This is great news for all you Mac maniacs. It’s disappointing that TiVo couldn’t deliver on their promise but at least another company has stepped up and taken the lead.

I plan on getting a copy of Roxio Toast once I purchase my Mac. If somebody else tries it out before me let me know. I’m interested to hear how it works….

Stephen Mack (Director of Service operations at TiVo) has put together an interesting post on his blog in which he talks about the TiVoToGo Mac slipup. It’s worth a read if your interested in TiVoToGo on the Mac.

Scheduling and estimating for any project is an inexact science. Issues come up, things happen, people underestimate, bugs occur. TiVo has seen its share of missed deadlines. (Although we never seem to get any credit for the countless software and hardware and service releases that occur on time.)

Recently, Wired Magazine included us on their “vaporware” list for TiVoToGo for the Mac. There are a lot of TiVo employees who love and use Macs, and all of us want to see this released soon. It’s fair to say this is late, since we announced it for mid-Summer of 2006.

I’m not close to the project, so I don’t know when it’ll be ready. But Jim Denney, a VP I work with, wrote a good explanation of what’s going on. I agree with the philosophy that we should never announce a release date until we’re 100% sure that we can hit that release date. And given the lessons of the esteemed Fred Brooks, usually the only time you’re 100% sure is when it’s ready to be released.

Thanks Steve for taking part in the conversation and for providing us with this information. It’s great to see that TiVo knows there is a problem….

I’m personally interested in the whole TiVoToGo Mac thing since I’m probably going to buy a MacBook sometime in the near future. Please keep us updated if you/when you find out more.

The other day I noticed that the “TiVo Showcase” section is almost entirely made up of ads. Is it just me or does it seem like the TiVo interface has become inundated with advertisements? For example, TiVo now has advertisements throughout the interface including ads incorporated into TiVo Showcase and ads when you delete a program (did I forget any other places?).  I remember the days when you would see one or two ads throughout the entire interface! When do the ads take away from the experience and has TiVo already crossed the line?

In TiVo’s defense, they’re definitely not the only company doing this. In fact, it’s almost impossible to visit a website or use a product that hasn’t incorporated some type of advertisement. Hell, this site has its fair share of ads so I guess I shouldn’t say anything. There definetly is a place for advertising I just have a tough time dealing with it when I’m already paying for TiVo service on a monthly basis.

What do you think? Are you happy with the ads or do you want TiVo to stop adding new advertisement “features”?