A few minutes ago I rented the documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room from Amazon's Unbox video download store. Until today, every video I've rented from Unbox has had the same restrictions: You have 30 days to watch the movie, and once you hit play you have 24 hours to finish it. After the expiration of either limit, the movie disappears from your hard drive (in my case my TiVo).

Today, however, I received a slightly different confirmation message. "Once you have pressed play for the first time, you will have 168 hours to watch that video." That's 7 days, quite a step up from what I'd seen in the past. David Pogue would be pleased.

Apparently the 24 hour deadline still holds for most major studio content on Unbox, but quite a few documentary and independent films now give the renter a week long rental. Let's hope this expands to more movies in the coming months and that Amazon can strike similar deals with the big studios.

Well, after pondering things for a little over a week (and taking all your comments under advisement), I deleted several Season Passes from my TiVo boxes tonight. I said last Tuesday that the following shows were all likely to be axed: Without a Trace Law & Order Threshold Cold Case Nip/Tuck And they have all, in fact, been deleted for good. But I didn't stop there. In addition, I also nixed the following: The Simpsons American Dad Curb Your Enthusiasm Invasion Joey I'm also surprisingly close to giving the boot to the original "CSI," but I'm having trouble letting go. I suspect that this has something to do with the fact that the show takes place in the town where I live (even if it's actually filmed in California). I don't have to worry about HBO's "Extras" anymore, either, because its season is finished. I did, however, delete a couple of episodes that I hadn't gotten around to watching yet. Of course, by early next year I won't be watching "Arrested Development" anymore, either. Not really my choice, though. With several fewer hours of TV to watch every week, I should find plenty of time to read a recently loaned copy of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera. It promises to be more intellectually stimulating than any of the shows I'm dropping, anyway. Especially "Joey." Thanks to everyone who made suggestions.

I watch too much TV. Don't worry. I'm not making some kind of sociological argument about the dangerous influence of television. What I mean is, between work, socializing, reading, hobbies, etc., I simply don't have enough time left to watch all of the TV shows that I record on a weekly basis. Plus, since I spend all my time watching previously recorded shows, I don't get the chance to randomly watch movies on the premium channels for which I pay a small fortune. And I love randomly watching movies on those channels. Regular readers may recall that I dropped several shows from regular viewing this past spring, including 24, The O.C., CSI: Miami, and CSI: NY. Well, the time has come to drop some more. Many more. Problem is, I need some help figuring out what shows to eliminate. Here's a (frighteningly long) list of what my TiVos record every week: Sunday The Simpsons, Cold Case, Family Guy, American Dad, Law & Order: CI, Extras, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Monday Cheap Seats, Arrested Development, and How I Met Your Mother. Tuesday Nip/Tuck, NCIS, My Name Is Earl, The Office, and Law & Order: SVU. Wednesday Veronica Mars, Lost, Invasion, and Law & Order. Thursday Joey, CSI, and Without a Trace. Friday Best Week Ever, Threshold, and NUMB3RS. Saturday Saturday Night Live (In addition, the following shows are not currently airing new episodes, but I watch all of them regularly when they're on the air: Scrubs, The Sopranos, The Wire, Entourage, Penn & Teller: Bullshit, Rescue Me, Battlestar Galactica, and Monk.) At the moment, my top five contenders for elimination are: Without a Trace - these incessantly horny FBI agents are really starting to annoy me Law & Order (the original) - too formulaic in recent years Threshold - started out great, but fell quickly into a rut; ABC's Invasion is much better Cold Case - emotionally manipulative Nip/Tuck - still recording every week, but I have yet to watch a single episode this season Before I make any final decisions, however, I'm opening the floor for suggestions. What shows do you think I should cut and why?

TiVo released its long-awaited TiVoToGo feature today. Unfortunately, no one can use it yet. The feature, which allows TiVo DVR owners to transfer video from their DVR to computers and DVDs, requires the latest version of the TiVo software. Doesn't TiVo automatically download software updates? Well, sort of. TiVo plans to roll out the new software over the next few weeks. The company's website does allow customers to add themselves to a software priority list, but even priority customers may not receive the updates for several weeks. Non-priority customers? Who knows when they'll receive it. I have to admit that I was under the impression that my TiVo software was being updated automatically as new versions became available, but a quick check of the system information in each box indicates otherwise. The latest software is version 7.1, but the DVR I purchased just three months ago is only on version 5. Worse than that, my original unit, which is about 18 months old, is only on version 4, a full three releases behind the current edition. Maybe by summer I'll be up to date. I'll keep you posted. Once the feature is installed, I suspect my bitterness will evaporate swiftly.

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TiVo to DVD: The documentation on the TiVo website is a bit cryptic, but it appears that TiVo is forcing all customers to use one specific brand of DVD burning software (Sonic Solutions) to transfer video to DVD. And the software, which isn't even on the market yet, won't be offered for free to TiVo subscribers. No price for the software has been announced, but Sonic Solutions current DVD burning product costs $70 in it's cheapest form. This brand restriction is probably due to Digital Rights Management issues, but is it really smart for business? Hopefully TiVo is already working with other software makers to provide more options. If not, it will only open the door for cable companies who are already stealing substantial business from TiVo with cheaper, no-frills DVRs. If one of these companies was to offer the same functionality using any burning software (or at least software that's available for free to subscribers), there would be little incentive for consumers to choose TiVo. Two words for TiVo: "Remember Betamax." Or better yet, "Remember DeCSS." After all, it will probably only take a few days for some hack of TiVo's DRM to show up on the Internet. Oddly enough, while such a hack would decrease TiVo and Sonic Solution's profits, it would probably keep subscribers from defecting to another product.

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Oscar Nods: Academy Award nominations will be announced in just three weeks. I'm in the early stages of assembling my predictions for who will be nominated in the major categories. Check back in about a week for the first installment. It should be fun. I usually do quite poorly.