re: What year did the Black Friday sales die?

I think it varies. Sales of any kind on physical media disappeared when Best Buy stopped carrying them. The one exception is the 50% off Criterion deals but that runs a few times a year. I've been using CCC for years and the deals in general just haven't been that great. I ordered the companion book for The American Revolution today and they had a big "Black Friday Deal" tag on it. The discount on $40 was 42 cents. (I would've bought it for $50.)