Sony Launches BDP-S300 Blu-ray Player, Drops Price to $499

In a surprise move, Sony's second-generation BDP-S300 Blu-ray player is hitting store shelves this week with a $100 price cut.

The player will now carry an MSRP of $499. That's half the introductory price of the company's first generation Blu-ray player, which was launched nearly a year ago at $999 (it now sells for $799).

This most recent price drop from Sony comes on the heels of a series of price cuts on both sides of the high-def format war. Following Sony's original announcement of the BDP-S300 at a discounted price of $599 in February, Toshiba announced its own series of pricecuts, followed by a month-long $100 rebate program, which has seen HD DVD player prices drop to a $299 MSRP, a move that Toshiba says has increased sales by five- to ten-fold at some retailers.

How low high-def disc player prices will go by this year's holiday shopping season is anyone's guess, but with standard-def DVD players retailing for as little as $50, it would seem there's still plenty of room for discounts before the purchase of a high-def disc player becomes a no-brainer for the average consumer.