lemmings

I often joke that I like it when someone else does my thinking for me.

For example, TiVo. Similar to DVR, they both record TV, can record one channel while you watch another, and allow you to select to tape a whole season with one motion. TiVo you have to buy the equipment (anywhere from $50 - $250), DVR equipment is free. TiVo either costs $13.00 a month OR you can buy lifetime service for $300, DVR costs $10 a month. TiVo you can download stuff to your computer or ipod, DVR none of that. TiVo requires a phone line the first time you set up (which I do not have, cell phone only, baby!), DVR does not.

The clincher, for me, is that TiVo will go and record stuff it thinks you will like based on your previous viewing patterns. DVR does not think.

Um, hello? Is there any question here? I like having hundreds of people doing extensive research and completing complex algorithms to give me things I will like! That being said, this is only cool if the suggestions pan out. The suggestions from the itunes store NEVER work for me. Maybe because they don't know anything about my existing CD collection and have incomplete background knowledge of my tastes. TiVo takes into account what you record and what you just end up watching!

Bacon recently informed me of itrain.com, a site that offers workouts for your ipod. Ooooooh, aaaaaah. Bigwig trainers creating mixes plus adding motivation and instruction all for 99 cents? Awesome.

But I have saved the best for last. If you have not checked out pandora, you are soooo missing out. You type in a song or artist that you like, and a custom playlist/radio station is created for you. You can create a whole slew of stations to play, and the program goes so far as to explain how it picks your music using the genome project algorithm. And it is free.

*Sigh* I love the digital age.