14 DAY TRIAL // Sony's victory in the format war against Toshiba's HD DVD format should have marked a whole new era of prosperity for the Japanese consumer electronics giant, since, at least theoretically, its sales of standalone Blu-ray units should have skyrocketed. Nevertheless, it would seem that things aren't exactly as "blossoming" as predicted, since the rate of adoption of the Blu-ray format is relatively slow, with the PS3 being pretty much the most popular player around (in the quite rare situations when it's actually used for this purpose).
However, there's still some hope left for all consumers out there, since rumor has it (and by rumor we mean the HD Guru website, which is quoting an unnamed source from the CE Daily magazine) that Sony is about to make a dramatic price cut to its top-range Blu-ray players. Just how dramatic? Well, the source mentioned above hints at something around the sum of 100 US dollars, which means that the current flagship model, the BDP-S350, might retail for around 299 US dollars (cheaper than the 399 PS3).
Moreover, the same industry "insider" claims that the price drop will be effective starting with September 2008 and it will also affect the forthcoming BDP-S550 model, which will sell for around $400 at the moment when it will arrive in stores, at some point in October 2008.
The good news doesn't end here, it seems. Thus, as the same source informs us, Sony's example will be followed by other manufacturers as well, including here the famous Funai company and its numerous brands (Philips/Magnavox, Sylvania and Insignia), which might also drop the retail price on their products in a range between $50 and $249 in late Sept. 08 as well.
Quite obviously, since this is, at least for now, nothing more than a rumor, you should take it with a rather big pinch of salt. However, the move seems to be quite a logical one, since Sony will try to do its best in order to promote the Blu-ray format, and selling standalone players for lower prices seems the best way to do it, at least for the time being.
We are just a few, but there are many of you, Softpedia users, out there. That's why we thought it would be a good idea to create an email address for you to help us a little in finding gadgets we missed. Interesting links are bound to be posted with recognition going mainly to those who submit. The address is 
.