A $195 Blu-ray player. No rebates, no sales tax.

(Credit: CNET)

Remember Circuit City's deal on the Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray player? It was $199.96, but most buyers had to pay sales tax. (Actually, I'm surprised no one called me out on the erroneous "$199.96 shipped" headline.) Well, ClubMac has the BDP-S300 for five bucks less ($194.99), with free shipping and no sales tax. No rebates, either.

Because I posted about this player just a couple weeks ago, I won't repeat the details here. However, you should read CNET's recently updated review, which mentions the firmware update that corrects a couple of the BDP-S300's trouble spots. (Hey, wonder if they learned about that from my post? The timing's about right.)

Anyway, I was happy to see so many comments about this player, Blu-ray technology in general, and the price point you need to see before pulling the trigger. Feel free to keep the conversation going! Personally, I think player manufacturers need to stop overcharging for these units and drop them to $99. Otherwise, Blu-ray may not live to see the inevitable transition to Internet distribution of movies.