I may be alone on this one, but I just noticed a small pattern in my CD shopping habits. Here’s an example:

Over the past couple years, I’ve come to love music from the band Muse. British rockers with some serious talent, they have a great sound that is a mix of britpop, rock, alternative, and electronica.

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I purchased my HD DVD player with 10 movies for $174 way back in November. Today, to my surprise, I received the email below. This is much better than the company’s first attempt at treating me as a “valued HD DVD customer” and comes after Best Buy made a similar move. In related news, Amazon also has a Buy 2 Get 1 Free Blu-ray movie promotion happening right now.

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Sony CEO Ryoji Chubachi knows something we don’t. At a press conference a few days ago, he pointed out Sony’s plan to increase Blu-ray market share to 50% by the end of the year. How is this possible you might ask? Well, apparently new Blu-ray devices to be offered by Sony will include a model integrated into an HD LCD TV with Blu-ray recording functionality.

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Since Blu-ray became the next generation movie disc format of choice, the consumer supposedly has been better off. But Tom’s Hardware claims that prices of Blu-ray players are higher than ever and that now, in fact, is the worst time to buy.

Interesting. I’ve been tracking Blu-ray vs. HD DVD player pricing for the past year via Amazon and hadn’t noticed any recent increases. As of today, the Blu-ray players on Amazon are priced in the same range they’ve always been: the mid to high $300’s. Right now the cheapest Blu-ray player on Amazon is this Samsung for $357. I’ve seen it $20 cheaper, but I’ve also seen it more expensive.

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For anyone keeping score since Blu-ray won the next generation movie battle, HD DVD players are now $99. And that’s with 7 movies included. Considering these players also work well as upconvert DVD players (DVD players that convert and play regular DVDs at a slightly higher picture quality), in some ways, it’s actually the best deal on the market if you’re looking for a good DVD player.

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Notwithstanding the price slashing Toshiba has been doing (HD DVD player with 7 movies for $129 compared to Blu-ray players starting in the $300’s), Netflix choosing to drop HD DVD by year’s end in favor of Blu-ray exclusivity is quite the blow to the HD DVD crowd. Thanks a lot, Netflix. Give me an online streaming experience in HD by year’s end, and you’re forgiven. See below for full text of the email going out to any Netflix HD DVD users:

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I’m not usually one to go for the top 10 list method of discussing limitations of a product. But then again, products don’t usually have 10 weaknesses I care enough about to compile a list. Apple TV, on the other hand, falls into this category. And it’s not even a first generation product!

But to be fair, I should point out that this is a product I sincerely want to work. After all, I already use iTunes to manage my music, and the iPod is my music player of choice. Too bad, then, that Apple TV simply isn’t ready for prime time. Here are the top 10 reasons you should wait:

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Netflix will be making a big announcement tomorrow, coincidentally one day before Apple will be making some [similar] big announcements of its own:

Starting Monday, January 14, 2008, Netflix subscribers will have unlimited access to movie viewing online. The company plans to do away with its quota/hours system it had in place before (viewing hours per month were based upon how much you paid for you mail-in DVD plan). The only group of Netflix subscribers to be left out of this unlimited plan: you who pay the minimum of $4.99 to rent just two DVDs per month.

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Back in November, I asked for help in deciding between HD DVD and Blu-ray. I ended up choosing HD DVD via an amazing Amazon deal: HD DVD player and 10 HD DVDs for $174. (That deal is now over, but now there’s an even better deal: HD DVD player and 7 movies for only $132.)

But it wasn’t just the price being nearly half of any Blu-ray equivalent (check out Amazon’s Blu-ray page, where every player is well above $300 with not nearly as many included movies), it was other little things. For instance, HD DVD is region free. This means that any movies bought in Europe or the U.S. can work on any player bought anywhere as well. The same isn’t true for Blu-ray.

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Right on the heels of

Warner Bros. announcing exclusive Blu-ray support comes news of HD DVD canceling its CES press conference due to its rival’s announcement. The HD DVD group previously invited attendants with this upbeat message:

“Please join us as we present exciting news and a sneak peak at what’s to come for 2008, featuring executives from the HD DVD Promotional Group: Intel, Microsoft, Paramount Home Entertainment, Toshiba, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video.”

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