Anyone have any additional shipping date info for the 500ax

[tjkidd]

I ordered my 500a in early December. It shipped from JandR on the 28th of December. Canada post sent it back to them on the 20th of Jan as the package was damaged. So here we are Feb 10th still no drive. I hear that the 500a is discontinued for the 500ax that i posted back in December. At the time I found a shipping date for that drive for the 3rd of feb but now i am wondering if it was the 2nd of march!!! Anyone have any info on what Sony is upto. Where are the compitition. Why isnt there someone else competing here with Sony. You could take the market share as Sony seems to have dropped the ball. Good thing for them there is no other drives availble.

Just my thoughts
nothing like a little vent
Kidd....out

[w00tski]

i was wondering if this drive is the same as the 500A or not, because i read in the dvd writer section that it ships with 2.0c firmware, this sorta got me worried it may be a different drive than the 500A model.

[bmiller]

I ordered mine from futureshop.ca last Saturday,and it was delivered yesterday.The box says it is a 500a,and i upgraded to firmware 1.0f.So far it works ok.
The sony website only has a link to the new 1.0g.I had already downloaded the 1.0f.
Future shop had 103 last staurday,and now they are down to 71.I suspect in a couple of weeks they will be all gone.

[bdgriff]

I thought Sony was recalling all the 500A's left on the shelves (IF ANY) and replacing w/the 500AX??. I was online w/Sonly LIVE sales rep last night and she said they have the 500AX in stock now. It was 349.00!
Just went on Bestbuy.com and they have the A model for 349.99 also. And it says "IN STOCK" usually ships in 2-3 days. Not sure if anyone else has seen this. I already cancelled one order from Upgradesource.com and am waiting for mine from safeharbor...Hope this helps someone. 8)

[bdgriff]

Just a update to my previous reply. I JUST got off the phone w/Bestbuy and they DO have the Sony instock. The sales rep said it just came in, but he also said it was the 500A model not AX. Anyhow, I went ahead and placed my order. Should be here Next Wednesday. Cheers.

[MJDore]

I got mine at my local Best Buy. Its the 500AX and I was told that was all they were going to be carrying from now on. That's all they had on their shelves, too.

Who knows.....

[dun4cheap]

I had one in my hand at a Best Buy in San Diego. Little pricy compared to the $247 I paid for my DRU500a which has the same abilities.

[NightWing]

Last week at the Compusa in SD they had a lot of the AX and the USB external in stock.

[tjkidd]

Contacted jandr again today. they are still saying that there estimated arrival date for the ax drive is 17 april.

[bl2003]

I've been through the same thing this past couple of months. I ordered the 500A back in early Jan, with a promise date of Jan 29th. Of course that date came and went, and we called the supplier to check status, they're in the process of replacing the 'A' with the 'X'. No new news, I realize, but their arrival date is this week (Feb 11-14), so I expect the drive next week, and I would imagine that's when it will be arriving for most everyone else as well.

[bl2003]

I had one in my hand at a Best Buy in San Diego. Little pricy compared to the $247 I paid for my DRU500a which has the same abilities.

You must have purchased the drive from Dell, because that's $40. under cost.

[Earthbulb]

My mates AX drive came with 2.0c and then a day later 1.0g came out. Im guessing 2.0c is 1.0f cause, unless they are super slow on updating their firmware online there wouldnt have been enough time to package the AX with 1.0g. He flashed to 1.0g and all was cool.

He got it in Australia straight from Sony online... the local stores have been promised the drive for ever and have only got a trickle supply, it was more expensive through Sony but arrived within 2 days.

Also if your in Australia and want Ritek media you can buy it at www.pcx.com.au

[NightWing]

Got my 500A and it had a build date of Jan10 while my friend has a 500AX but a date of Jan 22. Go figure!

[dun4cheap]

You are correct. Even though Dell was un organized, I placed the order on October 7 and recieved it on October 30 or 29. One of my better investments. The drive really does perform. Then Sony released the new firmware making it burn 4x dvd+r and it got even better.

[Triffid]

I just bought one of these. I live in Australia and I bought it direct from Sony Style. Got delivered within a few days of placing the order.

To make things even better, I received an email a couple of days later saying that I had been a winner in a promotion they were having and that they were giving me back ALL the money I had spent on it.

At that price (ie $0) this drive is much better value for money than the pioneer

BTW I have made a few DVD's already and everything works great. The only problems I have are:

a) finding media faster that 1x (I think we are a bit slow introucing these in Oz)

b) getting some good editing/authoring software. The stuff that came with the drive isn't great. I've been using demo versions of a couple of Ulead products for authoring, but I haven't made up my mind yet which way to go.

[flanman]

Just a little FYI.
I just bought one yesterday from Circuit City for $349.00. Not sure what the diffictulty is? They had them in stock to ship, and also in a local store. I opted to get at local store. Ordered at 10 am online and picked up in store on my lunch hour. I am in AZ if that helps.

flanman.

[bacardi/avt]

I looks like Sony don't thinks the European market is a priority since all people getting their hands on the DRU-500 lives in the US or elsewhere.

[tjkidd]

Called again today as i noticed my VISA statment was frelled. Found out that because of the difference in exchange rates I lose 34usd because I had my order refunded and the new drive order placed at their recommendation. Sucks to be me since neither VISA or JandR won't do anything for me. On the upside when I talked to JandR they said that my item shipped today. I noticed that they are now listing the 500ax drive on there site which is new for today but they dont list stock yet. Oh well the saga continues. I hope this gets resolved soon.


Kidd out.

[bdgriff]

Just as another update: I got my email confirmation 2day that my sony shipped from Bestboy online. So, who knows whether it will be a A model or the AX, don't really care as long as I get it next week. They also list BOTH models now on the web site, but the AX has no stock.


Laters

[tjkidd]

Well febuary 23rd and still no drive. I did however check the visa statement and it is indeed been charged to my account on or around the 14th of feb. So im figuring this week some time. I was suppose to be sent express post. what ever that means. We all know that customs can frell up any deliver method no matter how much you pay.

Kidd out
and still driveless

[housepig]

I just got back from Best Buy in Roseville, MN US (just north of Minneapolis). They had the 500-A and the 500-AX in stock on the shelves, for the same price ($349).

Meanwhile, a friend who works for Sony is still trying to get me a 500-A through Sony's in-company distro network.... and has been trying for about 6 weeks.

- housepig

[tjkidd]

Well my Drive finally arrived... but wait why does this box say Misco and not jandr? doh thats right misco didn't cancel my order back in december and they finally got in there first shipment of 500a's and sent me one. Of course they charged me almost $700 cnd for it. Then the following day i got a door knocker from purolator saying my drive was in town. So I ended up with two drives. No biggy sold one of them to a friend of mine for cost, the canadian one. and hooked up my 500ax. well let me tell you it works just fine, even thought i haven't copied a dvd to dvd yet but i was able to get rid of a ton of video taking up space on my hard drive. 8 dvds total. I am a little miffed however when i eject my drive with nothing in, it stutters on the way out. anyone have a fix for this? or have the same problem. Mine was manafactured Jan28 03. I dont feel like returning it for something i can live with. Anywho guess im fixed up now. Have a good one.

Kidd out