Whenever someone starts selling the line of bull that big bad corporations are out only to screw you the customer, remember this:

The HD DVD camp suffered a serious blow on Jan. 4, when Warner Bros. Entertainment said it would stop publishing movies on HD DVD in May, to focus on Blu-ray and regular DVD.

That leaves only two major studios, Paramount and Universal, still supporting HD DVD, while five support Blu-ray.

Toshiba on Monday slashed the suggested retail price of its cheapest player, the HD-A3, from $299.99 to $149.99. The price for the HD-A30 was also halved, from $399.99 to $199.99, while the price on the high-end HD-A35 went from $499.99 to $299.99.

Explain to me how the customer loses there. Nothing has changed since yesterday on the technological front. But the possibility has probably increased that customers will choose a Blu-ray device rather an HD DVD device. Toshiba now offers a better incentive. Yesterday, a customer could buy a player. Today, she can buy a player and five or more movies. Or she can buy two players for two rooms. Or she can get the features of the HD-A35 instead of the HD-A3. Competition is grand.

Also, most customers who purchased those Toshiba HD DVD players in the last thirty days or so are probably eligible to receive a partial refund from the store from which they bought the device, given that most major retailers have price match guarantees in place. Again, just another case of The Man™ not looking for ways to screw customers.