I have had theSony DRU 500 AX for a couple of weeks now and in summary its a very good Writer as a unit but the bundled software and in particular the "Veritas DLA" program is one of the most proprietary and fascist programs out there. That software blocked out so many other of my multi media programs that eventually it locked itself out and I had to call Sony to get a patch to get me going again. Even Sony's technical support admitted that the DLA software causes alot of problems and conflicts. I know alot of you out there from what I have read just avoided installing the bundled software all together.
If I uninstall the DLA program then I cannot format my DVD+- RW's in such a manner that when I record over them with some other non- proprietary multimedia program, then my system gives me a message of "UnSupported Media". With the DLA program I have no problems in using some programs like Instant Copy for example, BUT, DLA is incompatible with NERO and some other programs that prevent me from using my HP CD Writer since DLA is incompatible with Direct CD and Easy CD Creator. My question here is what are those of you out there with the DRU 500 AX using as a substitute for the Veritas DLA program. Any input would be greatly appreciated.