Following the example of Best Buy, Circuit City, and WalMart, Amazon.com is now offering those who purchased HD DVD players and HD DVD add-on drives for the Xbox 360 a $50 gift certificate toward a future purchase.

According to the information we've been able to find, anyone who purchased an HD DVD player or Xbox 360 add-on drive before HD DVD's official end of life date of February 23, 2008 is eligible for a $50 per unit gift certificate, with a top limit of $500.

It appears that the E-Mail messages from Amazon are getting caught in spam filters pretty easily, and some (including us!) haven't received notification yet. I would say that patience is the better approach here, but if you do not hear from Amazon by Monday (4/14), send them an E-Mail via the Help section on their site, and request the gift certificate. 

If you're thinking that $50 would be a nice start on paying for a Blu-ray player, you're on the right track! The Blu-ray and HD DVD formats both deliver great picture and sound; there are very few actual differences between the formats that impact the enjoyment of the movie on the disc.

The only trouble with that $50 burning a hole in your virtual Amazon pocket is that the pickings are slim right now for decent Blu-ray players. As I said back in January in my post "Looking for a Blu-ray Player? The Only Good Choice Right Now Is..." the Sony PlayStation 3 is the only full-featured Blu-ray capable device worth paying money for. The PS3 is the only BD-Live capable player on the market, with others scheduled for release sometime in May, June, or "Summer" depending on the manufacturer. Hopefully, the selection of players will be better in a few months and perhaps the prices will start to come down on the units as well.