I bought the Roku Model 1 about 6 months ago and satisfied it with a credit card that was about to expire. I wasnt aware of a way to get around this, I actually didnt look for a method around this when setting it up. But figured once its activated I doubt it would pop up with any reminders that CC expired and needs to be updated before continueing to use it. Its still working after initialized with a now expired credit card. =P
I like the Roku 1, but the navigation is slow. Its like 1 button press per second or you confuse it or end up some place you dont want to be because the menu system is playing catch up. Not sure what CPU its using but its amazing that its processing power is powerful enough to play videos so well, but yet the navigation is lagged in processing that should be way simpler than the video processing task assembling the packets from the video stream and playing it on the fly. But no complaints for a $39 Roku 1 that works well when you get to the show or movie you want to watch.