This final note: Something to think about the next time you cue up the TiVo to record something.

It was thirty years ago this week, on January 17, 1984, that the Supreme Court of the United States said it was okay to do that.

The technology was firmly analog — recording something from the TV onto videotape — but the principle was clear.

The Justices said home recording was fine, copyright-wise. (Speaking of old technologies, the case is known as the Sony Betamax case.)