40hr Tivo Series 2...for $9

We've been fanatic Tivo users for over 5 years now and our Series 1 (the original Tivo) has served us well. Two years ago I bought a third-party hard drive from Weaknees to drastically increase my storage capacity quite inexpensively as an alternative to buying a new Series 2 model.

In 2000 we chose the $9.99 monthly service over the $250 product lifetime version because Tivos were so new at the time we didnt know what the story would be in 2 years then the lifetime would have paid for itself. Well the monthly charge is $11.95 and lifetime memberships are now $299 but Tivo is such an integral part of our home entertainment, I classify the service as "Utility" (laugh all you want)

I have lusted in my heart for a Series 2 Tivo since they were announced. And we have become so frustrated without "folders" to organize our many shows on disk that a new Tivo was added to our 2005 spending plan at an expected cost of $200.

Tivo has been selling their 40 hour ($199.99) model for $49.99 after $150 mail-in rebate for a while now and we were planning to make our move during the holidays. But...

Last night I got an email announcing a Tivo and BestBuy promotion that will ALSO credit me 3 months of Tivo service (a $38.85 value) while supplies (of the rebate card) last. Needless to say, LaLa just returned from BestBuy a bit ago and the rebate paperwork is all ready to be mailed.

The cost breaks down like so:

$199.99 Cost of 40 hr Tivo Series 2
1.99 Expected 1% rebate via Citi Dividend
150.00 Mail-in rebate
38.85 3-month Tivo service credit
===================================================
$9.15 Net cost of new Tivo

I guess I'm pretty happy that something that we both really wanted only ended up costing us less than 5% of what we had budgeted. I'm not saying everyone should run out and buy one because of this (because there is that pesky service fee - monthly or lifetime) but if you are so inclined I can't recommend it enough. And if by chance, you want to throw me a bone, you could put my email address in the "referrer" field when you activate and make me happy!

...they know me as tinymachine at gmail dot c o m

And I do realize this is probably a blow out price because they are about to announce something new, but this will keep me happy for a while.