The thing that scares me away from the lifetime subscriptions (at least tivo's anyway) is that it's the lifetime of the player so if it gets fried in 6 months I get ripped off.

My main DirecTiVo has a lifetime sub which my second DirecTiVo inherits as long as my main TiVo works. As you can imagine, I have the same concerns as you. I have to keep my main TiVo working for me to properly benefit. Since replacing the original hard drive, the internal temp has jumped to 55ºC from about 47ºC. This heat scares me. I have put the original drive away for safe keeping, so I am covered if the hard drive dies. However, if the motherboard goes, I'm f*cked. I am seriously considering installing some active and passive cooling into my main unit... and my secondary for that matter. If I do, I will certainly post some pics.

PS- My TiVo has been going for just over a year now.