I just purchased a new Apex Digital DVD player. It was only $20 after the rebate. Granted, it doesn't feel very sturdy, the remote uses strange batteries, and I haven't a clue where I would send it for repairs, but for $20, who really cares. It sounds OK (we use it mostly for music ion our work room), it has all the right connections, and because it's Apex Digital, it plays all the read-only, writable and rewritable formats (except SACD); no copyright or format restrictions.

I did a little research and found that this player cost about $2 to make. I believe it's made in Vietnam where college grad engineers make $400 a year, so yes, things are a lot cheaper there. I'm just wondering when DVD players will be free. After all, there seems to be little money to be made with the actual units, because it's really only a vehicle for selling movies and music, at least as far as the mass-market is concerned.

Now if only Plasma TV's came down to $20....