Fake Sony Memory Sticks being sold in North America

[Darksaber]

Anyone in the market for a new Sony memory stick, should watch out for counterfeit memory sticks, which have popped up all over the US and Canada. Most of these are sold on Ebay. So make sure you get look for the following signs to be sure to get one from Sony or other respectable manufacturer instead of counterfeit: The original Sticks have information etched into the outside of the case, while the counterfeits have it printed. If a stick is opened up another difference becomes apparent - The Sony stick uses brand name Samsung memory, while the counterfeit has no lable on any of the chips.


Source: DailyTech

[Sasqui]

OK, the burning question is if there is any difference in speed or functionality between them?

[newtekie1]

The chips inside the counterfeit products are also unmarked and perform unreliably. Users who've purchased these sticks tell DailyTech that they are also experiencing differences between usable capacities when compared to genuine Memory Sticks -- the counterfeit products show a smaller capacity.

That is what what the article says. So it seems there are performance problems.

The moral of the story is: Buy Sandisk memory sticks since it appears that only the Sony ones are being counterfeited.

[Sasqui]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

That is what what the article says. So it seems there are performance problems.

The moral of the story is: Buy Sandisk memory sticks since it appears that only the Sony ones are being counterfeited.

I'm sure Sony would LOVE that line!

[Keiki]

Oh crap, I bought a memory stick like 5 months ago from ebay and now i think it may be a counterfeit. The writing on the back is printed on... and as for performance, my storage space is still 1 gb but it seems that sometimes when I listen to songs on my cellphone I get a play error. It seemed like a bargain on ebay cuz I got it for less than 70 bucks

[Mad-Matt]

I baught a 1 gig sandisk card many months ago from ebay as it was easily the damn cheapest place to buy for me (£60 from hong kong seller back in september). It has the descriptions printed on. I suspect its the etched ones that are more counterfeit as the official sony one that came with my uk store baught psp is also printed on the back.

[newtekie1]

The stick that came with my PSP is etched, at first glance it can look like printing since it is brown in color while the stick is black, but running my finger over it I can tell it is etched into the plastic.

[PVTCaboose1337]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

That is what what the article says. So it seems there are performance problems.

The moral of the story is: Buy Sandisk memory sticks since it appears that only the Sony ones are being counterfeited.

Agreed... Got a 1gb stick with USB built in for 70$

[AMDCam]

What kind of nerd is gonna go through all the work to counterfeit them?! They'll need an entire warehouse of machines to manufacture them, plus all the work that goes into making them compatible. Too much work, too little benefit, unless they're making a 1000% profit on every stick they sell to people

[Keiki]

Originally Posted by AMDCam

What kind of nerd is gonna go through all the work to counterfeit them?! They'll need an entire warehouse of machines to manufacture them, plus all the work that goes into making them compatible. Too much work, too little benefit, unless they're making a 1000% profit on every stick they sell to people

I'm assuming that it will be alot cheaper to make than the official Sony ones, and also they would be earning alot of money cuz people can't tell the difference. There are counterfeits for everything these days, so it's actually not that surprising that they have counterfeit memory sticks too