We have never been one of those families who were ahead of the game, when it came to owning the latest electronics and gadgets .
Just the opposite in fact, since my dear hubby is of the opinion that nothing needs replacing or upgrading, until it dies........ and even then, it's questionable.
When every household in the neighborhood owned a VCR , we had none. The luxury of "Pacman" was only ours when everyone else had tired of them, and couldn't give the stuff away to save their lives.
Same with DVD players. We actually own one, but because the main television in the Den area, is some twenty two years old, there is nothing to hook it up to, unless we are willing to give up our cable TV box, and forego my beloved BBC America .
Nah.
So, we plod along, in harmony, with our perfectly good Curtis Mathis console television, of which we paid a mere fortune for, and in turn, we're given almost a quarter of a century of viewing pleasure.
I really do not have a problem with all of this, after all, I don't like change. I like sticking with what I have, antiques, old pets, a long marriage, a daughter and her family within walking distance, the same job for thirty years.....it's just that often times we have NO choice.
On February 17 2009 we will all face change.
Some of us, will be able to transition to the new DTV without ever noticing, for others, it will be a major electronic investment, or the requirement of yet another one of those "black" boxes staring us in the face every evening.
There is help of course, but now that's looking questionable......we may all end up huddled around the radio every evening, listening and giving our own "take" on stories.
Come to think of it.......that may be a "good thing".
The Wall Street Journal reports today that the government is running out of the allotted money — provided to consumers via coupons — to subsidize the purchase of converter boxes.
The article cites an increase in demand. “Rattled by the recession,” Amy Schatz and Ben Charny write, “many consumers facing the upcoming switch to digital television are taking the cheap way out — buying inexpensive converter boxes instead of new digital TV sets.”
More from the Journal:
“As of Monday, consumers who request the $40 government coupons are being put on a waiting list, Commerce Department officials said. The coupons help pay for set-top digital converter boxes that allow older TVs to receive digital signals. The department is also warning consumers that some stores may not have enough converter boxes to meet demand. Consumers requested about 7.2 million coupons in December, far higher than the 4.3 million the administration had forecast.”
The DTV Transition takes place on February 17.
