New addition, news...

I'd like to make a huge announcement. There's been a new addition to my family. He's 80 hours big, grey and boxlike but adorable -- and he records two shows at once. That's right, a new dual-tuner TiVo has been added to my abode and, if only to accentuate the reason this announcement is about a piece of machinery and not a small human, I can record THREE shows at once. No more trolling the Internet for copies of something I missed. Probably no more social life either, but it's debatable whether I have one now.

That brings me to this bit of news. From AP:

SEATTLE - Amazon.com Inc. and TiVo Inc. have jumped into the digital download wars, with a twist: The new partners will beam movies and TV shows directly to their customers' living rooms.

The companies said a test version of their new service, called Amazon Unbox on TiVo, will begin Wednesday with an unspecified number of TiVo customers.

The full service is expected to debut later this year, available for the 1.5 million TiVo digital video recorders with broadband Internet capability. Officials refused to give a target date for the service's launch.

Thousands of movies from several major studios and TV shows from CBS and Fox will be available, said Bill Carr, Amazon.com's vice president of digital media. Both companies expect agreements with more studios and networks in the future.

"We think this is a breakthrough," Carr said. "We're providing people with the simplest way to actually play back their digital content on a television set."

Unbox on TiVo joins a rash of new digital download services from retailers and entertainment companies, and builds on the Unbox service that Amazon.com launched last year.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. entered the market Tuesday, when it unveiled an online movie download store. Other competitors include Movielink, which is owned by five studios, and CinemaNow.

Most online download services, however, leave content essentially trapped on the customer's computer. TiVo and Amazon.com's major advantage is their ability to deliver movies and TV shows directly to the TiVo box, observers said.

*snip*

Apple TV, the new set-top, video-streaming box coming this month from Apple Inc., should be a top rival. Like Unbox on TiVo, Apple TV is designed to move digital content from a user's computer to their TV set.

But Unbox on TiVo may have an advantage in the customers who already have broadband-ready TiVo hardware in their homes. While a new Apple TV box will cost around $300, the only additional cost for a TiVo user will be the price of a movie or TV show over the existing Unbox download service.

TV episodes will sell for $1.99, with most movies priced between $9.99 and $14.99, the companies said. Movie rentals will start at $1.99. No extra hardware purchases are required, and there will be no additional subscription fees, the companies said.

It's basically the same as the on-demand services that your cable company provides, but you'll more than likely have many more choices as far as what movies to watch. Now you don't even have to walk to your MAILBOX to get a movie (Netflix, we hardly knew ye). And, the way things are going, your TiVo will record everything on every channel at all times so all you have to do is rewind back to last Thursday if you missed Grey's Anatomy. And I love it. Who needs to get off the couch... now I just gotta get me one of them armchair refrigerators.