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Wal-Mart serves up $98 Blu-ray player

Wal-Mart has temporarily rolled back the price on the Magnavox NB530MGX Blu-ray player from $168 to $98. How long will it be before most Blu-ray players cost less than $100?

David Carnoy Executive Editor / Reviews
Executive Editor David Carnoy has been a leading member of CNET's Reviews team since 2000. He covers the gamut of gadgets and is a notable reviewer of mobile accessories and portable audio products, including headphones and speakers. He's also an e-reader and e-publishing expert as well as the author of the novels Knife Music, The Big Exit and Lucidity. All the titles are available as Kindle, iBooks, Nook e-books and audiobooks.
Expertise Mobile accessories and portable audio, including headphones, earbuds and speakers Credentials
  • Maggie Award for Best Regularly Featured Web Column/Consumer
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David Carnoy

We don't know how long it will last, but several blogs are reporting that Wal-Mart has rolled back the price on the $168 Magnavox NB530MGX to $98 (in-store only). Apparently, on Father's Day weekend, the same player was selling for $128.

Is the Magnavox NB530MGX any good? It's not a profile 2.0 player (so there's no BD-Live support) and it's about as entry-level as you get. But it is a Blu-ray player, so now all you people who said you'd only buy one when it cost less than $100 have to ante up.

OK, I'm kidding. Still, the fact that we're at $98 is meaningful, and I expect we'll see more of these types of deals as we head into the holiday season (and the recession continues), with better models showing up at less than $150.

But more importantly, when will the discs come down in price? That's holding people back from buying Blu-ray players more than the cost of the machine itself, is it not?

As always, feel free to comment.

Additional reading: Top 25 must-have Blu-ray discs, CNET's Best Blu-ray players

(Source: EngadgetHD via Format War Central)