Life-changing gadget

I got a TiVo in 2000. It immediately changed my life. I no longer had to spend hours every week searching for shows I wanted to see. I'm a fan of old movies from the 30's and 40's, so I had to search through all those listings to find things to watch.

I've been liberated from TV listings ever since. Every few days I pop into the upcoming shows list which is downloaded via a telephone line connection from the Tribune Media service and toggle the TiVo to show only "movies" and "Mystery/Suspense," and browse through the alphabetized list of mystery movies scheduled for the next 10-14 days. If I see something I think I might like, I toggle it to be recorded. No muss, no fuss.

The TiVo is one of the few gadgets that has made a real difference in my life. When I feel like watching something, I turn on the TV and scroll through the list of things that have been recorded and pick one.

I very rarely watch TV live anymore. It's all done on my schedule.

My TV died and so I recently upgraded to High Definition reception and now have to use a non-TiVo recorder which has less user-friendly software with fewer useful features, but that's another story.