Sony Electronics is rewarding owners of its 530 series of dual format DVD/CD-recordable drives with a free firmware upgrade that will allow them to achieve up to 8X DVD-R and 4X DVD-RW recording speeds.

Owners of the internal DRU-530A or external DRX-530UL Dual RW drive will be able to download the free firmware upgrade from Sony's Storage Support Web site at http://sony.storagesupport.com/dvdrw/dru530adwn.htm before the end of February.

With the firmware upgrade, users will be able to record a full 4.7GB DVD-R disc in around 10 minutes, using 8X DVD-R media to achieve the faster speed. In addition, using 4X DVD-RW media, users will be able record a full 4X DVD-RW disc in less than 15 minutes.

The firmware upgrade will increase the drives' DVD-R speed from an original 4X, and their DVD-RW speed from an original 2X. Both drives also support up to 8X DVD+R and 4X DVD+RW, as well as up to 40X CD-R and up to 24X CD-RW recording speeds. Note that Optorite will also release a firmware upgrade for DD0401 adding 8x DVD-R and 4x DVD-RW writing.

The DRU-530A and DRX-530UL DVD/CD rewritable drives are sold through nationwide resellers and retailers, mail order catalogs and select online shopping sites, including SonyStyle.com. The estimated selling price for the internal DRU-530A model is less than $220, while the MSRP for the external DRX-530UL drive will be less than $300 when it becomes available in early February. There is an additional $30 mail-in rebate in place for both models through July 4, 2004.