Following the trend set by Best Buy and Wal-Mart, Amazon is now offering a $50 credit for every HD DVD player purchased on its site before February 23; there is however a ten unit limit, so no customer’s credit will exceed $500. The offer expires on April 9, 2009.

The following was included in an email received by Amazon customers: "New technologies don't always work out as planned. We at Amazon.com value our customer relationships more than anything and would like to support customers who purchased these players by offering a credit good for $50 off any products sold by Amazon.com...In addition, we'd like to share some of our top offers on Blu-ray discs, HDTVs and other high-def technology..."

Toshiba decided not to continue to fight the losing battle for its HD DVD high definition format and has thrown in the towel in February. HD DVD was backed up by two movie studios, Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures and General Electric Co.'s Universal Pictures, which were using the HD DVD format exclusively.

The company announced on February 19 that it would cease production of its HD DVD players and recorders immediately. The Japanese electronics giant closed out the business at the end of March. Best Buy announced on March 19 that it would start offering $50 gift cards to the ones that bought HD DVD products before February 23.