And we also know they won't work all the time. Something will foul up, as is always the case with cheap gizmos. I have a new Sharp model that can set its clock automatically based on some time stamp found on PBS station signals. A day later it's set right again. Meanwhile, my recording is short by 20 minutes.
Technology marches on.
Though the failure of the VCR to do its job can be blamed on some outside source, it still failed because there were multiple potential points of failure. This dopey little eMarker has all sorts of potential points of failure. The so-called early adopters. They don't listen to the car radio anymore. Furthermore, for such a device to be useful at all, it would have to be incorporated into a universal system.