Sony USB2 memory sticks

I apologise for what may be a somewhat OT post, but it seems to me
that this NG would be most well informed about it.

Sony Micro Vault USB 2.0 memory sticks are being widely offered at
online auction sites in India. One seller is offering a 256MB stick
for the equiv of US$25 all-inclusive. One prospective buyer sent an
enquiry (to another seller) with a comment that he'd heard about some
people complaining that the formatted capacity is only half of the
stated value.

My questions are :
1) Is the stated price at the "it can't be genuine" level ?
2) Has anyone heard of a flood of non-genuine Sony Micro Vault sticks
?
I believe these things do happen - imitation products or
factory-rejects being re-introduced into the market by unscrupulous
parties.

"Zotin Khuma" wrote in message
om...
I apologise for what may be a somewhat OT post, but it seems to me
that this NG would be most well informed about it.

Sony Micro Vault USB 2.0 memory sticks are being widely offered at
online auction sites in India. One seller is offering a 256MB stick
for the equiv of US$25 all-inclusive. One prospective buyer sent an
enquiry (to another seller) with a comment that he'd heard about some
people complaining that the formatted capacity is only half of the
stated value.

My questions are :
1) Is the stated price at the "it can't be genuine" level ?
2) Has anyone heard of a flood of non-genuine Sony Micro Vault sticks
?
I believe these things do happen - imitation products or
factory-rejects being re-introduced into the market by unscrupulous
parties.


I recently bought a 256mb Disgo for 19GBP (including postage) and it is fine
so, yes, there are some bargains around.

Keith Willcocks
(remove .nospam from address to reply)

On 5 Oct 2004 01:41:31 -0700, (Zotin
Khuma) wrote:

I apologise for what may be a somewhat OT post, but it seems to me
that this NG would be most well informed about it.

Sony Micro Vault USB 2.0 memory sticks are being widely offered at
online auction sites in India. One seller is offering a 256MB stick
for the equiv of US$25 all-inclusive. One prospective buyer sent an
enquiry (to another seller) with a comment that he'd heard about some
people complaining that the formatted capacity is only half of the
stated value.

My questions are :
1) Is the stated price at the "it can't be genuine" level ?
2) Has anyone heard of a flood of non-genuine Sony Micro Vault sticks
?
I believe these things do happen - imitation products or
factory-rejects being re-introduced into the market by unscrupulous
parties.

Flash memory prices are plummeting but many vendors have old
stock, the price can vary widely even in the US, let alone
India. I don't know what the going rate is there,
particularly at an auction where prices can be way off
center.

I'd not be concerned about whether it's genuine Sony, Sony
has nothing in particular to give them an advantage on flash
drives. Rather the stated speed should be accurate as well
as capacity. Certainly there are fake products in the
market but getting a branded flash drive is a lot less
important than many other types of components.

Buy from someone who demonstrates they will accept returns
if product doesn't live up to advertised specs... a 256MB
drive may be lower than 256MB actual capacity due to Sony
claiming 1000 bytes = 1K, and a little more loss due to
formatting, but far more than 1/2 of capacity should remain.