WHERE IS THE SONY DRIVE?!

[phalanx]

Hello,
I'm looking to buy the sony dual dvd drive.
Every store in the world it seems doesn't have the Sony dual dvd format drive in stock WTF is Sony doing? I've been waiting to buy this drive for at least 3 weeks now...no one has em, did Sony change its model# I've been searching for "DRU500A" is that correct? Is this a super popular drive or was there just so very few of them made?

[jarvis1781]

I have one, and personally I don't like it because it won't burn my cheap media like my A04 does.

how much are you willing to pay for one?

[byron23]

It is super-popular drive and in great shortage. I heard about 10,000 backorders at buy.com alone. I also tried to buy this but gave it up. Right now DVDR is a seller's market with little competition, the situation that I learned not to jump into as a clever buyer. I decided to give it another couple of months, wait for some other makers launch multi-drive with price around 250$ and decent availability.

[crimpshrine]

I have one, and personally I don't like it because it won't burn my cheap media like my A04 does.

how much are you willing to pay for one?

Sounds like you got a bad one, without any details on what media your actually trying to burn I dont know..

I would have returned it!

I have burned well over 100 cheap disks with 0 coasters. (Both Ritek and Princo)

To poster:

I have already managed to find 3 DRU500A's locally myself. You just have to be persistent if you want one. Call stores regularly, they only get them in a few at a time. (I got all of mine at best buy) Some large places are back ordered 600+ of these.

[jarvis1781]

actually the drive works perfectly fine on my expensive media

but I don't want to spend so darn much for the media

[crimpshrine]

actually the drive works perfectly fine on my expensive media

but I don't want to spend so darn much for the media

What inexpensive brands did you try that did not work?

One or more then one?

I did find one that wont work constantly. K-HYPERMEDIA. I have a friend that's Pioneer failed on the same disks we bought from the same local place on sale though. .

ALL OTHER I tried worked great, both Name brand and generic. Tried like 5 types so far.

Inexpensive is most important to me though since I do alot of burning.

[Benzima]

The DRU 500A is getting excellent reviews but is very hard to get your hands on. I got lucky. Got one via Best Buy online.

I got a total of 100 Accu DVD-Rs from Meritline for ~ $1.00 each. I consider that relatively cheap. I burn DVDs at 2x but PS2 games at 1x. After ~75 burns, they work great.

[Guy Gadbois]

Wow, the DRU500A has been tough to find! After scouring all of the local places, I finally found ONE in stock at OfficeDepot (although OfficeDepot.com said the stores were out of stock). It rang up as $379, but after referring the cashier to their website, they changed the price to $349. According to the manager, there are a few more of these units scattered around the Dallas metroplex at various stores. So if you are in the area and really want one, start calling around to them. They will hold the unit for you if you ask.

Now my only concern is getting the $50 rebate! Did anyone else notice that the rebate was worded to state you get the rebate IF you buy BOTH a DRU500A and a DRX500XL ?? When I called the rebate line, which is an outsourcer of rebates, not SONY themselves, the girl on the other end of the phone sounded clueless about the whole thing, but said you did have to buy BOTH drives. Well, I'll be sending my rebate in anyways with my fingers crossed.

[EZMD]

Look at Mwave.com Ordered mine last week and it got here Monday. I got the external version for $389

[NightWing]

Just check on Mwave site. Groan out of stock with restock maybe around 1/31/03

Hope this does not wind up like the huge storage floppy that Sony tried to release and finaly took back!

[kv5]

Anyone know of a UK dealer stocking these drives ?????

[budzrgood]

tigerdirect has them now instock for 351 2day shipping. 328 instock as of 1-4-03 ordered mine today be here wenesday. damn cant wait.

[Pncrs]

In the Netherlands Sony is only supplying large resellers like Mediamarkt and Dixons. Smaller resellers will have the drive available at the end of January.

Dixons and Mediamarkt are selling the drive for €399, it is possible to get the DRU500A for approx. €370 at smaller shops or on the web.

[NightWing]

They are out but Buy.com has it for around 320 US.

[rhegedus]

Well, in the UK, sources of DRU500As are as dry as Gandhi's sandals.

Dabs are saying 1-2 weeks, but this has been on their web site since November. Watford don't know if they will have any, and smaller retailers show stocks of 0 and don't know if they will have any more.

I'm getting the feeling that this is a deliberate ploy by Sony: initial demand might have exceeded expectations, but you'd expect a big company to react within three months surely?

Best wishes for the new year!

Rob

[jon_w]

I'm burning 58 cent Princos by the dozen with no problems at all on my DRU500A.

Looking back at that Dell deal where I got it for $249 shipped, I guess it was worth the month wait that Dell put me (us) through.

[donpedro]

jon_w, I still believe that they were trying to make people cancel as much as they could since they realized soon that there is too high demand and price was too good . My was $280 since I missed "Small Business" information.

[NightWing]

Have nothing to back this up. So your milage may varry!

Just heard on a local Computer Talk show that the hold up on DVD drive is a shortage of a certain chip. They were talking about the DRU500a drive.

[m1monster]

Got my sony dru550a from dell.com for 250.00
found it does have problems with princo disks though, out of a 50 pack probably 10 crashed but with better media i have had no problems

[NightWing]

Seem to me on the old CDD 521 from Philips had problem with cheep or out of spect media. That was 10 years ago when media was 50 dollars a pop! Hope we do not need to wait that long!

But its looking like the shortage is slowly getting over.

[maineiac]

If you are willing to wait a while to get the Sony, Outpost.com has it for $299 with very low shipping charges. When I spoke with them they said they expected a bunch in by January 11...but that was only for existing backorders. For new orders it would probably be about two more weeks.

[DevieD]

Just ordered mine minutes ago from tigerdirect.com. Cost $339.99 plus


shipping ! They still have 'em in stock. Customer service rep didn't know if they are the original model, or the re-packaged version with the latest firmware already installed. Either way, I'm happy & can't wait to play

[ferris]

Does anyone have any experience with the Sony DRX-500UL. I got mine about 2 months ago but haven't hooked it yet on my new computer.

Thanks,
Mike

[rhegedus]

For those in the UK:

http://www.refreshcomputers.com/acatalog/Main_DVD_Writers_55.html

I just got mine this morning, but I'm shaking like a sh*tting dog so I can't open it just yet......

I'll post a review when I've tested all media.

Rob

[kas187]

im thinking of getting a sony drive but ive read mixed reviews about it although i live in uk its is quite hard to find aswell, so far i can only find the drive on websites and nowhere locally out of interest if you wanna know check these sites out

www.computerprices.co.uk
www.referesh.com

kas 187

[ZippyUK]

I got my DRU-500A yesterday from dabs.com - I did place my order on November the 15th mind....

I saw a DRU-500A in GZ Computers, Ashford Kent today £279.99 if anyone is interested - I hope they have not had it long, as I waited 2 months for my drive.

[rhegedus]

Ordered Tuesday night on the internet from www.refresh.com , received 9am today (Thursday) by courrier!

Hey, Zippy, are Dabs going to give you a refund for their 3 month 'loan' of your cash?

Regards,

Rob

[NightWing]

Have seen a few around in shops locally but strange to see the net places out or backordered.

Have heard both Jan 29 but looks like first part of Feb for the trickle to final start the flow.

[dphirschler]

Just picked mine up last night at Best Buy. They had one in stock. I'd been checking twice a week since Christmas.


Darryl

[rma155]

As others have reported, Office Depot has them.