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TiVo to Go Released
SimCityHippy wrote to us with the news that TiVo has TiVo To Go. Right now, the To Go feature is supported only on Windows XP & Win2k; no word on whether the feature will be rolled out to OS X or WinME. It's also interesting to note that while they recommend Windows MP, VLC gets a nod as well.
The fact that this is even a point of concern shows that we've been conditioned to accept new norms for IP.
Burning to DVD is a problem for the studios? Yes. They'll certainly fight for DRM or other limitations. But why should it be this way? For years and years everyone KNEW they had a right to videotape whatever they pleased for their own personal collections. Many fans of shows videotaped every episode, and kept a complete personal archive. In what way is it different to do this with a Tivo and DVD than it is with a videotape? Hell, leave out the middleman - there are plenty of DVD recorder decks now available for consumers, and they work more or less like VCRs.
But we've gotten to a point where we assume that just because the studios have found a business model, anything that rips into it is fair game for litigation. And the studios might win such litigation. And that's just sad.
the average person doesn't have the time or know-how to tivo all their shows, transfer them to their pc, and burn them all to dvds. lets face it, that's not a trival thing to 90% of people out there. so basically it boils down to most people will throw down ~$30 to buy a dvd season thats already made for them... and it even comes with a pretty box with dvd menus, extras and all.
the bad part is even though the entertainment industry realizes this fact, they still want to cripple any capabilites which are perfectly legal under fair-use laws. right now geeks are the only people that will use these capabilities, loading up their portable devices with media and watching episodes of seinfeld and ali g on the subway.... but in the future that will likely change and unfortunately the mass population won't realize until then that the entertainment industry has stolen all of their fair use rights
-mr silver
This answer reminds me of a politician promising to deliver world peace without making any specific measurable promise. In other words, don't count on it any time soon. TivoToGo was promised a year ago to be release a half year ago. If I remember right, the rumor sites were saying the mac side of it was a problem not because apple wasn't cooperative, but because the OS doesn't have the DRM built in as deeply. This issue is a big problem for Tivo. Tivo has a much greater share of mac users than the general population. They're taunting 1/3 of their customer base.
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