Lower prices = Buying frenzy!

[MEB]

Way back on April 26, on another forum I wrote:

DEAR WARNER AND ALL OTHER STUDIOS: If you want Blu-ray to be a smash success, then stop GOUGING for Blu-ray titles! $25 (at discount) on street date when the equivalent standard def DVD is $15 is GOUGING. If you want everyone to dig into their wallets and upgrade ALL of the titles in their standard def collection to Blu-ray, you had BETTER lower the freakin' prices of the Blu-ray titles! $25 is TOO much! High prices are mostly what kept Laserdisc a niche format and it's doing the exact same thing to Blu-ray!

Need proof..... Just look at the Blu-ray Bargain forum and watch the feeding frenzy when there are sales (BOGOs, etc.) that nets Blu-ray titles for $15 each or less.

On May 5, there are no less than seven Blu-ray titles being released that I'd like to buy. I won't buy ANY of them until they are (at a later date) on sale for $15 or less. By the time they get down to $15, I'll probably have forgotten a couple of those seven titles. I'll end up buying maybe 4 or 5 of them. But I'd buy all seven of them if they were at $15 each on release date.

You want Blu-ray to go mainstream? REDUCE THE PRICE OF THE BLU-RAY DISCS!!

Subsequent to that, I have repeatedly said that $19.99 is my max for new releases on Blu, $17.99 is my max for really good catalog titles on Blu, and $14.99 is my max for an average catalog title on Blu.

Yes, I've bent my own rules by a dollar or two here or there but, for the most part, I've stuck with my withhold money until prices are lower philosophy.

Now, as we approach the holidays, whether it be by coupon or by retailers/etailers price matching each other, the average price of a new Blu-ray has fallen dramatically over the last few weeks.

And look at the buying FRENZY! Folks are ordering more Blu-rays than ever!

STUDIOS: We WANT your movies on Blu-ray (well, some of them anyway ). But those Blus have to remain close to DVD pricing! Keep those prices under $20 (under $15 for catalog titles) and your sales will continue to skyrocket!

Mark