Traditionalists might balk, but the holiday shopping season is already underway. Skeptical? Head to your local department store and you'll be inundated by Christmas trees and ornaments. Bargain hunters, though, know that the real deals are more than a month away.
Black Friday, traditionally, is when retailers truly slash prices. Early birds can save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars off of their holiday bills. Switched.com checked with a few elves, who gave a sneak peek at what you can expect deal-wise this year.
Blu-ray Players and Movies: Blu-ray is shaping up to be the biggest door buster of this year's Black Friday. de Grandpre expects at least one retailer will offer a Blu-ray player for just $49. Look for bargains on Blu-ray films as well, with last year's hit titles (such as "Iron Man") to fall as low as $5.
Laptops: With the proliferation of Netbooks this year, it's never been easier to find affordable portable computing, but Dan de Grandpre, CEO of DealNews.com says it will get even cheaper on Black Friday. Look for well-equipped Netbooks to sell for $199 – and basic 15" laptops to go for as little as $249.
HDTVs (Pretty big): The holidays are typically the best time to buy a new TV – and Black Friday is the time to do it. If you're looking for a normal sized set, you're in luck. Piper Jaffrey analyst Mitch Kaiser says he expects to see 32-inch LCD sets for as low as $299. GottaDeal.com is estimating 37-inch plasma and LCD sets will fall to $399 or less.
HDTVs (Really big): Need something bigger? How about a 46-47 inch LCD set for $599 – a 25 percent savings? Or a 52-inch LCD for $999? Dealnews says you can expect both. Plasma deals will be a little harder to come by, but a 50-inch set should run roughly $899.
HD Camcorders: You've wanted to shoot your child's school play in HD for a while, but haven't been able to spring for the pricey camcorder. This might be the year. Low-end, flash-based 720p models could drop as low as $60 (though you won't be able to zoom with those). Expect a high quality 1080p HD camcorder for $349.
GPS: While navigation systems have dramatically expanded their reach this year – even making it onto the iPhone – there's still a market for car-based systems. Dealnews predicts you'll be able to find a no-name entry-level system for $49, while a Garmin or Tom-Tom brand will be as low as $69.
Digital Picture Frames: Showcasing your digital pictures consistently gets cheaper. This year, skip the 7-inch screens and focus on the 8- or 9-inch ones, which should be available on Black Friday for as little as $30.
Monitors: Computer monitors might not be the sexiest of gifts, but they're usually welcomed with open arms – and they'll be cheap this year. Name brand 22-inch LCD models may go for as low as $99, while 24-inch models will drop below $150.
Memory: Don't know anyone who needs a monitor? External hard drives are always popular, since they're an easy way to back-up data. Dealnews expects a 1TB drive to fall as low as $49 this year. Gottadeal is looking for 8GB flash drives to hit $15.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
sasha said 3:56AM on 1-30-2008
i've encountered a similar situation. i've requested to cancel my account 3 times now in the past 5 days. nothing had been happening. all of a sudden, i go to log in today to check if they finally canceled it and.... my email wouldn't work for me to log in. hooray! or so i thought. now, my site still exists, i just can't log in anymore. i even go to search for my page with my email address and it says the email address does not exist in the myspace community. i can't get in at all. i'm almost positive that no one has "hacked" into my account because i am still getting email notifications of new comments and friend requests at the same email address.... it's so frustrating! it even let me sign up for a new account with the same email address! my old site that is still up is private, so i'm not too concerned but i've gotten the same automated responses as you. :( it just sucks because this has never been a problem in the past for me.
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sasha said 3:58AM on 1-30-2008
all the word going around about "International Delete Your Myspace Account Day" on january 30 may have something to do with all the difficulty....
http://bloggasm.com/january-30th-is-international-delete-your-myspace-account-day
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Kristina said 3:13PM on 3-26-2008
I have been trying for 3 YEARS to delete my account. Emailed them several times, followed all directions and jumped through every hoop. Still no luck, and I am worried about losing my job, as I did already once before. Yet, there my profile sits, in internet limbo!
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Lo said 2:04PM on 9-27-2008
I SWEAR I'VE TRIED FOR THE PAST 4 DAYS TO CANCEL IT. I GOT THE AUTOMATED RESPONSE IN THE EMAIL, BUT STILL NOTHING HAPPENS. WTF, IT'S PRETTY ANNOYING!!
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Ry said 7:12PM on 11-25-2008
When you cancel your account, they ask for a reason. In that reason, put 'Stress related' and it seems to disappear immediately. I had a cousin put a lot of profanities, complaining, and a big 'F myspace'. No cancel. He put in stress related, and it was gone within an hour.
Worked for me 4 times on friends accounts that wanted to cancel. Hope it helps the rest of you too.
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Alia.Erskin said 9:26AM on 6-21-2009
i want to come off myspace now
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Andrew said 8:18PM on 1-16-2008
I canceled my myspace account just yesterday. No problems at all. Took me 5 minutes and my whole account was gone. I have a GMail email account.... the email host provider could have been blocking incoming emails from a myspace.com based email address for these people that couldn't delete their account.
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Cee Lo said 8:33PM on 1-16-2008
I had the same problems with mine. It was linked to an AOL account. I eventually posted a bunch of profanity, slandered Myspace, and put a link up on how to spam Myspace users. I then emailed Myspace and told them that my account violated policy and they should remove it. It took all of about 3 hours.
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Katie said 7:13AM on 1-17-2008
I have been trying to contact myspace for 4 months now. I have been trying to cancel my account and they just won't get back to me. I have a slightly different problem because my Myspace account is linked to a terminated AOL account. I canceled the AOL account without realizing that my myspace log in account was the same.
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Taylor said 9:13AM on 1-17-2008
Same freaking thing happened to me.....I have repeatedly tried for about 6 months to remove my account. MySpace is almost a joke anymore.
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Kathy said 6:27PM on 1-17-2008
I understand the concerns. My sons account was being run by someone else and they refused to terminate it. It took me months and calling them which they told me was illegal for my friend, who is a cop, to help me find their number on the internet-public space-to call them. It then took a month longer and turning them into the FBI website before they would do anything! Not on my reputable list! Parents have every reason to be concerned even more. Myspace will not work with you. Be careful!!
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Andie said 4:03PM on 1-18-2008
I also have been trying to cancel my accounts since november. I recieved the link and followed the instructions within the email, and guess what? My account has not been deleted. I sent emails to customer service and it still didnt work. I've just stopped going on the site. I get a ton of friend requests but i'm never on.
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AM said 6:52PM on 1-18-2008
I've had a similar problem. I signed up with MySpace using one email address that I later got locked out of because I forgot my password. Yahoo never responded to my repeated attempts to get my password reset. I finally gave up and created a new email address...which is what I use now. I could never change my email to the new one because MySpace makes you confirm changes to your account by clicking on a link in your registered email. I emailed MySpace several times over the past two years, asking them to change my email...never got a response. I think they're sending responses to my now-defunct account...even though I tell them specifically that I can't access that account. It's pretty clear to me that they don't have real people answering their emails--or they're idiots who don't care.
I've been so annoyed with the site that I've tried to cancel for the last 6 months, with no progress. Recently, I totally gutted my profile and dropped all friends. So, I'm still on MySpace, but I never access it. Totally annoying!
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F M Richbourg III said 3:01AM on 1-19-2008
As long as you avoid going to the MySpace website, the hackers cannot hurt you.
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Joreatha said 12:47AM on 1-19-2008
Nope, I didn't have any problems either back last Nov. I just went in and said cancel, it asked me if I was sure? I said yes. Was sent an email to confirm my request, again I said yes. That was it.
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Rodalys said 2:39AM on 1-22-2008
Ok people, I requested MySpace acct. deleted just because I wanted to change the MySpace.com/yourname URL in order to give it out. Well this cannot be done! So I next procedded to Cancel the acct. on the Site received the email and waited couple of Days and then created one with the URL I wanted! Grnated I didn't have Info, Pics, music etc. yet as I was a new member, so this cause me no Losses.
Now for those here that CANNOT Cancel their accts. my suggestion is to just GO and DELETE ALL their Personal Info (Including E-Mail), Pics, Music ... whatever of a Sensitive/Personal nature ... CHANGE their email to a "throwaway email" eg. myspacenomore@mail.com and just FORGET ABOUT IT!
If there's nothing of you there not even your TRUE Email addresses then ... what do you care?
I hope this helps!
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