I pretty much stopped buying DVDs several years ago in anticipation of HDM, save for the occasional TV set that I didn't think would make it to HD anytime soon — I find I get a lot more viewing enjoyment out of certain well chosen TV sets than movie discs. Since then I have been a net seller of DVDs.

But the last couple of months I have pretty much stopped buying HD DVDs (I have nearly all the ones I want) and BDs (there are hardly any titles of interest to me thus far). Also, I got "spoiled" by being able to pay $6-$10 for HDM the last three months of last year and I refuse to pay more than $10 now. If that means waiting for prices to drop or a deal to appear, so be it. I am patient and never understood the "gotta have it NOW!" mentality.

I know, doesn't that suck? That's one reason why I don't like how Warner is doing those book-only special editions. First the 10% discount runs out, then the BOGO deals (at Amazon anyway) stop, and now I have to pay $4-5 more for certain titles. At $24, that's triple what a catalog title would cost during the BOGO heyday.

I wonder if those SEs with fancy packaging will have a lower-priced edition released in a year or two? That is sometimes the case with DVDs: a loaded SE followed by a barebones cheaper edition for the Wal-mart impulse purchase market.

The BOGOF at Target — which works out to $15 a disc (plus tax in my state) — just doesn't cut it for me. My strategy is to wait for new releases I want to become catalog titles, with pricing to match. As an alternative, I have been doing BOGOF at Columbia House and selling one of the pair to defray the cost of the one I keep. That method allowed me to pick up Stardust [HD DVD] for $7.54, but is a lot of hassle compared to the "glory days" of Amazon BOGOF - 20% - $5 off $50.