One area where HD has been making progress over Blu-ray is pricing. The cost of entry-level and midrange HD players has dropped dramatically, and is quickly approaching a price level that would attract the average consumer. Sony wants to shift that a bit, and is planing the release of a cheaper Blu-ray player. While still not reaching the level of the cheapest HD players, Sony's BDP-S300 will be retailing at around $600, which is nearly $400 cheaper than their existing BDP-S1. On top of having all the Blu-ray functionality of the higherp riced model, it'll also be able to play CDs.
As the article mentions, that still makes a standalone player more expensive than the cheaper PS3s, making some wonder what, exactly Sony's marketing team uses to come up with pricing. Perhaps a dartboard? Sarcasm aside, it is encouraging to see them dropping prices, and they have stated that come Christmas of this year the prices should begin to dip below $500.