[WAID]

Crap, I'm sorry if I came across as bitching about the issue but my experience was different than what I'm reading here. I actually was waiting in the weeds to but a laserdisc player in the early 90's and planned on spending $100 on those few titles I felt strongly enough to buy but it was always an issue of my cash flow at the time. I jumped onto the DVD wagon early on; I think I bought my first player in early 1999. I was already sold on the laser format, the player was far less expensive than the first VCR I bought 15 years earlier (and it came with 5 free DVD's by mail), the titles were far less expensive than laser and didn't require flipping. I was in!

But my recollection was that my first buys were all online and not often new releases, which generally dropped pretty quickly. With all of the online retailers there were e-coupons all over the place and I bought a lot. I specifically remember buying "The Birds" for $6, delivered. I bought the original "Alien" box set (which included the rare bonus disc) for about $40, and the James Bond sets for about the same around the year 2000. True, many titles were non-anamorphic or P & S (which I mostly avoided) but this format allowed me to own a library of titles instead of just a select few titles that I was willing to drop $100 for.

I have no problem paying a premium for a better quality product. I'm not bitching, and I do know how to bargain shop. I have a decent collection of DVD's (1200 or so titles) and have double-dipped at times, so I have never asked for something for nothing. Unlike the days of VHS, DVD was priced for mass sales from the start. Back then, you couldn't justify spending $80 for a copy of "Batman" but with DVD pricing so great the industry has (I like to hope) made it hard to justify anyone buying a bootleg.

I don't see the deals that used to exist, which is probably why I am questioning this more than others. Other than a few Criterion titles I doubt I have ever dropped as much as $20 for a single DVD title. So if the future means seeing "No Country for Old Men" on DVD for $19 and on Blu-Ray for $25 maybe that's a move that I will have to make because the cost difference isn't that great. I'm just curious to know if the Blu-Ray format will become the mainstream and bring the price point down to move more units.