TiVo Killed the VHS Star

When we first started our home organization business, I can’t tell you how exhausting it was to come upon someone’s television (usually a big boxy unit taking up a third of the living room) surrounded by an unmanageable amount of DVDs and, yeah, old VHS tapes. These days by the time we arrive, people have cleared them out themselves, OR, they know it’s time for them to go before we even open our mouths to make the suggestion. What and who is responsible for this miracle? While we have given Netflix some of the credit for clearing out the DVD collections, it’s really the co-founders of TiVo, Mike Ramsay and Jim Barton, who truly got rid of the worst of the living room media baggage.

How do I know this? Because recently I was going through old boxes of VHS tapes and was reminded that I used to tape television shows! I know, “taping” is so antiquated, so 80’s, but then again, I was taping MTV videos which is like, so completely 20th century. Duh. OMG. And no, I didn’t throw out the VHS tapes because it’s like a friggin’ memento and my personality type has a very hard time letting go of sentimental stuff even if it is in a dark corner of my basement. But I digress. The point is, there was a time when I would tape the X-Files if I couldn’t make it home in time and I’d have to make sure that the TV was on the right channel and double check the clock because it never worked right, try and find an empty tape, and then leave tons of Post-It notes all over the place to make sure my room-mates wouldn’t be messing with the TV. So, a lot of work for an Organic Freedom like me, and for those who know me, let’s face it, I always made sure I was home to watch the X-Files.

But about 10 years ago, my Smart Freedom husband bought the magical device that is the TiVo and it changed our world. Easy to use, intuitive in it’s design, obviously created by a big picture, forward thinking Smart. And obviously this would appeal to a Smart Freedom, who as consumers tend to buy anything that seems cool and new because they love big ideas and the future and thank God for them or we all would still be surrounded by mismatched, bulky VHS tapes.

We tried to get our friends and family to adopt this new fangled technology, but there was this competing company called Replay and everyone seemed hesitant because of that whole VHS/Betamax thing from the 80s. But eventually, those greedy cable companies started making their own DVRs and the rest of the personality types caught up with the Smart Freedoms of the world and the death toll of the VHS tape had rung before we even knew what was happening. We don’t even have a player anymore and frankly, the console beneath my television is all the lighter for it. Now, if only we could get the damn cable box and the ugly surround sound speakers to be encased within the flat screen television, the end of ugly clutter would be complete!