What’s your opinion?

A couple of people have asked me how they can go about transferring their lifetime subscription to the new Series 3 TiVo. If you want to do this, you can need to purchase your TiVo using this page.
The instructions on the page are as follows:

1. Buy your TiVo Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder for $799.99.

2. Once your new box arrives within 7-10 days*, call our VIP line at (866) 424-8486 and we’ll transfer service for $199. You will need your TiVo Service Number** for your new and old box ready to process the transfer.

Don’t forget to put me down as your referrer (raianoat AT gmail DOT com). I’d really appreciate it!

Thanks Mike for the news tip.

It looks like TiVo has extended their lifetime subscription option beyond the previously reported on date of 03/16. Here’s a post on TiVoCommunity which announced the extension:

We know that there have been retail advertisements which refer to product lifetime, and there have been requests here for a longer opportunity to purchase lifetime before it’s discontinued. As a result, we have decided to offer product lifetime as a subscription option through 4/15/06, even for those that have purchased since 3/15 (you do have to call to activate lifetime service though, and lifetime is not applicable for systems purchased via a bundle plan).

Thanks TiVo for the extension!

Hat Tip: Mike Sayre (fatwallet.com)

Here’s a heads up…..According to Stephen Mack on TiVoCommunity.com, today (8PM, Pacific) is the last day for to be able to get a lifetime subscription on your TiVo.

Hat Tip: TiVoLovers.

TiVo has officially launched their new pricing plan. Head on over to their site if you are interested. They’ve also posted a FAQ for many of those common questions.

Since I had already posted two entries (1st post, 2nd post) about TiVo’s new pricing plan, I didn’t plan on mentioning it again until next week when the pricing plan went into effect. That was until Dave Zatz (thanks Dave) sent me an email with a pointer to a thread on TiVoCommunity. In this thread, Stephen Mack (TiVoOpsMgr) goes into excruciating detail about the new pricing plan. In his post, Stephen, explains it in such a way that even I can understand it :). Check it out if you still have some questions about the pricing plan. My guess is that Stephen probably answered them in this thread.

Hey Tom (TiVo CEO), you really should consider giving Stephen a raise. If it wasn’t for him, you may have seen a lot of people drop their TiVo simply because they didn’t get their questions answered. I know that I was a little irritated before Stephen calmed me down. Stephen has done a wonderful job joining in on the conversation (example 1, example 2, example 3). Thanks Stephen! BTW, don’t forget your buddy over at TiVoBlog.com when you get that raise. I’ll make sure to send you my paypal account info :). On a side note, has anybody at TiVo ever read Naked Conversations? If not, somebody really should…..

I consider myself to be a smart person however, after spending 10 minutes reading through a very long thread on TiVo Community, I’m still confused about how the new pricing plan is going to work. Maybe somebody can help explain it to me. Here are some questions that I have:

Update 03/09 @ 8:29 AM: Stephen Mack (TiVoOpsMgr) has answered all of these questions in the comments. He has also put up a detailed post on his personal blog. Thanks Steve!

• Is the MSD (multi-service discount) still available? Yes or No? What if I already have two TiVos and I buy another one. Will I be able to add this new TiVo as a MSD TiVo? In other words, how much will I have to pay per month for the new TiVo?
• What happens if I get a TiVo for “free” and the device breaks after two months? Will TiVo send me a new DVR?
• Once the commitment is up do I have the option to go with a monthly based subscription?
• Why so many pricing options? Choice is great but at the same time you don’t want to confuse the consumer and discourage them from buying your product. How am I supposed to recommend a TiVo to my friend/family member when the pricing options are so damn confusing?

I’m sure that most of these questions have been answered in the TiVo Community thread however, after reading through the entire thread I’m still confused. Please help! Maybe an FAQ is in order!

TiVo has announced a new price plan (press release, PDF)whereby the DVR is included for “free” in the monthly service fee. Here are some details on the new pricing structure:

• $16.95/month or $469 prepaid with 3-year commitment
• $18.95/month or $369 prepaid with 2-year commitment
• $19.95/month or $224 prepaid with 1-year commitment

Each of these monthly fees include an 80 hour Series 2 TiVo. The new pricing structure is supposed to go into effect next week.

Along with this news, TiVo has also announced that they are going to get rid of the lifetime subscription plan. In my opinion, this is the biggest news from today’s announcement. The lifetime subscription plan allowed anybody to pay some cold hard cash up front and never have to send another dollar to TiVo. I really think this was a mistake on TiVo’s part. I understand why they did it however, die hard TiVo fans like having the lifetime subscription as an option. Like Dave Zatz said, we’ll just have to wait and see what the market thinks…

I’ve considered purchasing a lifetime subscription on one of my TiVos however; I haven’t been able to pull the trigger. There are really two reasons why I haven’t forked over $299.

1. High Price Tag: I find it hard for me to justify paying $299 for a lifetime subscription when the monthly subscription fee is only $12.95 ($6.95 with multiple DVRs). If the lifetime subscription were a little less, I would probably go ahead and purchase it. In order to recoup my money back, I would have to own my DVR for at least 23 months ($299/$12.95). Some people will say that 23 months doesn’t seem like a long time however; in terms of tech gadgets this is a lifetime. Besides, what would I do with my Series2 DVR when the Series3 (or whatever they call it) DVR comes out. I guess I could just keep my Series2 DVR however; a tech geek like me has a tough time using inferior technology ;).
2. Lifetime Subscription Policy: I’m a little concerned with how the lifetime subscription works. The lifetime subscription stays with whatever TiVo you apply it to. In other words, if you have a lifetime subscription on a TiVo box and it breaks for whatever reason, you had better get the box fixed or else you are out $299. TiVo’s policy explicitly states that you are unable to transfer the lifetime subscription to another box. I understand why TiVo does this however; this policy has prevented me from purchasing the subscription.

Do you have a lifetime subscription on your TiVo? If yes, why did you decide to purchase the lifetime service instead of just paying a monthly fee?