Let me start off by saying I absolutely loved this story. As others have stated, I think is one of the best stories, not only of this year, but of the last hundred or so that I've managed to go back since I discovered EscapePod. What I loved most was the despairing realism that eventually this situation would drive you mad. Stories like Groundhog Day make it seem like a fun party. Yes, Bill Murray does lose it a bit, but in the end, he grows from the experience and is a better person for it. Not in this tale.
That being said, I see the points several of you have made about the short-comings of this story, but I think those issues can be addressed by looking at the story in a different way. Not to say that any of you don't know how to read or listen to a story, in fact, many of your comments here in the past have helped broaden my understanding and appreciation of the stories broadcast. But I think in this case, some of you may be looking at the story from the wrong angle.
Consider Orson Scott Card's MICE Quotient; the idea that there are four parts to every story: Milieu (environment), Idea, Character, and Event. Each of these four aspects is in every story to some degree, but one is always paramount. I think the problem here is that some of you might be reading this as either a Milieu story or a Character story. A Milieu story begins when a character is placed in a foreign environment and ends when they leave or adapt to that environment. Irena is already in her environment, so this doesn't apply, and environment is not as important to the story. The Character story begins when the character wants to change their role in life and ends when they either accomplish it or give in to it. Again, doesn't apply and so a weaker character development can be overlooked.
This is clearly an Idea story. The Idea story begins when a question or problem is posed, ie. "What if we could reset our lives to a save point every time we screw up?" and ends when the answer is presented, ie. "You will eventually go mad." Card says, "...appropriate characterization for an idea story not necessarily the same thing as appropriate characterization for another type of story. Characters stand for ideas, or exist primarily to discover them."
So, for me, the idea story of creating a machine that can reset time is a wonderful idea, even in its hokey incarnation of networked X-boxes, because it asks the question of "What if?" and answers it in a dark, yet surprisingly realistic way. I think it was fantastic. I can easily get past the lack of character development or environment, even the cliche "Evil United States vs. the Terroristic Middle East" because the Idea itself is so interesting and well perceived.
This post quickly got away from me and for that I apologize. I do not mean to sound preachy or lecturing. One quick note,
Secondly, while completely necessary the repetition nevertheless got on my nerves,
I loved the repetition precisely
because it got on my nerves. I thought it added to the growing sense of madness in the story.
My two (50?) cents. Thanks for hearing me out.