Tikkabik

I've never heard the sweet siren call of a TiVO as strong as now.

If you've somehow missed the TiVO craze, it's a hard disk-based personal video recorder (PVR) that connects to your TV. It's basically a replacement for a VCR, but because it's hard drive based, it's a lot faster to find what you want to watch. The box goes hand in hand with a subscription service that offers schedule and program information.

So you can tell your TiVO to record your favorite shows, and it'll do it every time they come on. But you can also look up info about actors, directors and many other criteria. This thing is a media junkie's wet dream.

The Series 2 boxes added home networking features and other capabilities, and just yesterday the company released its Home Media Option for those units. Working with a wired or wireless network interface, this lets you interface the TiVO with your Mac and PC to serve up MP3 files or digital photos through your stereo, and schedule stuff remotely from any Internet-based computer. Too cool!

Alas, my lust for the TiVO also fills me with self-doubt and self-loathing. Do I really need another device in my life that makes it easier to watch TV?