Advice needed about a memory stick pro duo

muffler

I got a message from a guy selling a 4Gb memory stick pro duo offering it for €50. He says its new and its a MagicGate brand, Model: MSX-M4GS. Im a bit sus about it as the guy says he tested it on his own PSP which i dont understand why if it was bought legit it would have a gurantee.

I was looking to buy one for the kids PSP - either 2gb or 4 gb.

Does anyone have any knowledge of this Magicgate brand. Are they good enough or worth the money.

I googled the make and model and its getting some bad reviews as in being a fake of the type bought on eBay. But then again Sony and sandisk are also listed as fakes on ebay also.

All advice would be most welcome as Im not too familiar with these matters.

mayto

magicgate are sony, most pro duos around are fake but most still work fine. There was a recent thread in the bargain alerts section regarding pro duos.

i was just looking for pictures of a pro duo with magic gate and found some here, link also seems to have a guide to telling if pro duo is fake

http://reviews.ebay.com.au/FAKE-Sony-Memory-Stick-Pro-Duo-MagicGate-Cards-Exposed_W0QQugidZ10000000001535703

muffler

SanDisk seem to manufacture magicgate cards also - see here

Im not sure now what to do.

mayto

Sony developed the pro duos with Sandisk so thats probably why both say it. However sony usually have codes like MSX-M2GS if you look at those pictures in the site i linked. A 50euro pro duo is more than likely fake and you'd probably get fake 4gb's yourself cheaper on ebay.

muffler

Thanks for the replies mayto.

I have been trawling through a few of the more reputable online stores and there are 2gb ones available at a fair price so I think I will go for that option.

dgsmithy

Incorrect answers,

MagicGate = Brand that manufactures Pro Duo's etc.

Sony, Sandisk, lexsor, etc. = Just rebaged Magicgate hence Magicgate on ALL duo's.

griffdaddy

I'd just go for a fake 4gb muffler, it makes absolutely zero difference once the iso/video/mp3 is on the card. I've been using a fake 2gb since September and find it works perfectly, transfer rate is just a bit slower when putting stuff on, but that makes no difference to playing games, videos etc.

I thought that Magicgate was the digital rights management/ copy protection system for storage media and not a company?

mayto

dgsmithy wrote:

Incorrect answers,

MagicGate = Brand that manufactures Pro Duo's etc.

Sony, Sandisk, lexsor, etc. = Just rebaged Magicgate hence Magicgate on ALL duo's.

Im afraid your incorrect and nialler24 is correct

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagicGate

"MagicGate is a copy-protection technology introduced by Sony in 1999 as part of the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI). It works by encrypting the content on the device and using MagicGate chips in both the storage device and the reader to enforce control over how files are copied.

MagicGate encryption is used in the memory cards of the PlayStation 2 and, as of 2004, has been introduced into all of Sony's Memory Stick products. Some devices, such as Sony's Network Walkman, will only accept Memory Sticks which use MagicGate technology.

All Memory Stick Duo cards equipped with MagicGate can be identified by a notch located on the rear end of the card."

Anyways if sony were gonna sell rebadged pro duos why the hell would they keep the name of the of the original manufacturers on it! This is sony were talking about, they would just create a different memory card if that was the case seeing as there so fond of there own products.