Circuit City Allowing HD DVD Trade-ins?

According to word out on the Internet, first based on a Circuit City employee in Chicago (this is getting way too "whisper-down-the-alley" for us already) and then confirmed by High-Def Digest, the consumer electronics chain is trading in HD DVD players bought into their stores in the last 90 days as opposed to their 30-day return policy. According to the internal memo announcing the demise of the format, they will either give customers a Blu-ray player - with customers paying the price difference - or a gift card. This is more or less a "black ops" promo and isn't widely reported or promoted.

Those who bought or received HD DVD players for Christmas are really making out as the chain is going to give you a chance to jump on the "winning" format instead of living with a format that has no immediate future. The trade-in, however, will not be widely promoted and it will be only made available if the customer asks for it.

We'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has actually done this - let us know in our forums.