Wow, I certainly didn't mean to echo Engels in my wishes. I actually think my argument was rooted more in a Republican or even Libertarian ideal. Although it is interesting to find that in their extremes, political philosophies usually wind up sounding an awful lot like their polar opposites...

But without getting too philosophical, here, I am asking for choice. I do have the right to request a song from an artist directly, if the means are there. No one should have the right to charge me a toll while I legally access the file over the airwaves or the internet. This is what I am addressing: that there are mediums such as the internet and the airwaves that are universally owned. The idea that by controlling the manufacturing of my access tools (my computer or cable box) Bill Gates can now charge me for my use of something that he does not own, infuriates me.

I'm not trying to access HBO illegally, I'm trying to reach CBS, NBC, PBS, etc., which previously I could access with rabbit ears, record at my leisure, and fast-forward through the parts I didn't care for. I could choose to watch just the commercials I wanted to see and no one had a problem with that. The cost of the programming was borne by the collective commercials that all of us recorders selected to watch and not skip. That was then. Now, because I need a different antenna to access the exact same information, I somehow need to pay extra for it. That's crap!

And not that I have anything against suffering philosophers, but I must say that this is not the best of all possible worlds. Perhaps you don't mind paying a small toll for everything, but if you agree to increasingly crippling terms, then what will you do when they come asking for your half of an arse? Personally, I'd like to continue sitting up straight.

So I have a very simple question: is anyone developping a standalone recorder that will record HDTV, either via component video, Firewire, HDMI, or DVI?

Or will I have to bring one over from Europe, hack it to change the country code, and break the law in doing so just to be able to enjoy what more liberal and egalitarian countries enjoy? If everyone else in the world objects to the US's copyright laws, certainly the possibility is there that we are not doing what's best for our citizens. Even the staunchest Republican-Corporatist must entertain the possibility.