Comments on: Consider Lifetime Subscriptions for Sirius XM, TiVo, National Geographic, or Zoos & Musuems

By: casinos

casinos — Sat, 01 May 2010 20:19:16 +0000

Saw a link to this post over at Stumble Upon. Thanks for posting it.

By: 107 Things That Make Good Financial Cents | Good Financial Cents -Jeff Rose Certified Financial Planner and Investment Advisor, Carbondale, Illinois

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:38:38 +0000

[...] Up For Longer Subscriptions. Sometimes it is worth it to look at lifetime (or even annual) subscriptions. Example: If you and your family of 4 intend to visit the local zoo a few times per year, a [...]

By: ABCs of Investing

ABCs of Investing — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 03:14:02 +0000

[...] Life ROI analyzes subscription length. He says to consider lifetime [...]

By: Geoff

Geoff — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:40:33 +0000

40 cents per month is the cost of the service. When I looked at the same old model of TiVo selling on ebay, the ones that had lifetime attached auctioned for about $150-$200 more than the same models of similar age without lifetime service. So my service cost between $0 and $50. I used the top end and then divided by 10 years.

Of course on the hardware I haven’t done nearly as well but this was about the subscription. The hardware depreciates at the same rate whether you’re paying the service monthly or upfront. With the hardware added, I have paid more like $4 per month but that’s not bad compared to what VCRs plus tapes cost in the 80s and 90s.

By: MyLifeROI

MyLifeROI — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:47:53 +0000

Geoff –

Wow, I didn’t realize that the TiVo lifetime subscription price has doubled in the past 10 years!

How much was the unit 10 years ago and what is the resale value? Just wondering how you got the 40 cents a month cost.

Either way you bring up a great point. If you don’t feel the need to update every 3 years then the lifetime subscription on TiVo can definitely be worth it. Especially if you have minor technical aptitude to do things such as HD swaps. And also, don’t just throw the box away… sell it on eBay!

Thanks Geoff.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:27:26 +0000

My TiVo will he having its 10th birthday this year. I’m glad I bought the lifetime plan which was only $199 back then. (Don’t forget that service prices tend to go up over time.) I really haven’t seen that much change in DVRs. Disks have gotten bigger so I put a bigger one in my old TiVo. It’s no harder than upgrading the disk in your PC.

In the case of TiVo the lifetime service stays with the unit so the resale value on ebay is high. I calculate that if I sold my TiVo today, based on ebay prices for a similar age unit with and without lifetime service, the service has cost me about 40 cents a month so far.