TiVo has updated their suggestion form to include a couple of open-ended questions at the top and the ability to vote for up to ten features such as a “30-second skip feature”, “skip commercials automatically”, “save recordings to an external hard drive” and “TiVoToGo for the Mac”.
Perhaps TiVo should have reconsidered raising their rates. Besides having just the new TiVo boxes being too expensive, TiVo’s new price plan now makes the service too expensive as well! Most people can pay anywhere from $4.95 to $10 a month to get DVR service from their current provider, but Tivo has risen rates to $19.95/month. While the pricing gets much better for multiple TiVos ($6.95/month for three years for the second unit) and multi-year plans ($12.95/month for three years), who really wants to sign up for a three year deal with a Series 2 unit when HDTV is becoming more commonplace?
While there are other issues frustrating TiVo users such as restricting WPA wireless encryption to only TiVo-branded wireless G adapters, raising the monthly fees and hitting the pocket book is always a sure way to lose current and potential customers.
TiVo may have pioneered the DVR industry, I’m not too sure they will continue to be a player in the future of DVRs.