What gives? When I asked MacMall on Monday (2/22) if they had gotten ANY QPS drives in yet they said NO! SHeesh, between MacMall and QPS, I'm not sure who has given me more bad information.

Anyway, have you burned any audio CDs yet? If so at what speed? What OS are you using? Any info on the how well (or bad) the QPS firedrive works would be appreciated.

kEn

This message is directed towards bbarnhart who posted above. I was wondering what OS you were using and what version of Toast (if you are using Toast). I have a 266 G3 with an OrangeMicro OrangeLink Firewire/USB card linked to my 8x4x32 EzQuest Boa. I've gotten about two burns out of it and every other time I get a "unstable SCSI chain" error. I think it's Toast 4.0.1.1 with OS9 making a bad interaction. I plan to downgrade to 8.6. I was wondering if you had any of these issues with your OrangeMicro card.

Thanks

This is for CCWong

I'm using MacOS 8.6 with Toast that came with the QPS Que! Firewire 4x4x24x CD-RW drive. That computer is at home so I can't look right now. The OrangeMicro Card has one or more extensions and I believe I've installed them along with the QPS extension (and perhaps a Toast extension).

I've made about 25 burns, about 10 CD-R's and the other 15 were CD-RW of which I erased several of the discs and started over. I've never seen the "unstable SCSI chain" error.

Do you have the rebooting problem? I have to unplug the firewire cable for my computer to boot.

Brian

my apologies for this seemingly personal conversation but I hope that many will benefit from this dialogue....

Brian-

I don't have a rebooting problem per se.... I do have to turn on my burner when I startup my computer or else it hangs after loading up all of my extentions and control panels (just before it loads the desktop file). What version of Toast are you using, is it 4.0.1.1? As I said before, I plan to downgrade to OS 8.6 soon (as soon as I find the CD) and I'll post the results.

-Chris

[MikeD]

APRIL! Does anyone realize that's it's still February and this thing has been on backorder since november? Maybe by then there will be 12x.. And this drive should be worth $250 since it won't be keeping up with technology. I don't know.. This is pretty ridiculous don't you think? I'm just REALLY upset at this thing. You would think.. hey maybe a week or two more.. but APRIL??? In LIMITED quantities?! Nuts!

Mike

[daves666]

Just to add a little salt to your wounds:

My 8x EZQuest Firewire Boa arrived 2 days after I ordered it. It took me 5 minutes to set up and so far works perfectly.

Time to cancel those QPS orders!

Well today is Feb 28 which is the last known ship date of QPS drives from MacMall. So what will it be? Ship today or give a new ship date 2 weeks out?

Dave666, I was considering canceling the QPS order and ordering the EZQuest until I saw all the complaints about the blip that the boa drive puts at the end of audio CDs . What was worse was EZQuest's apparent response of "get over it". So far, the few who have tried the QPS drive don't seem to have any major complaints.

Anyway, I'll be calling MacMall a little later to see what the new ship date is for the QPS drive (I'm not expecting them to ACTUALLY SHIP on the date they said).

kEn

[Kbee]

I ordered a Que! Fire 4/4/24 on February 21st from Merisel, and got it Feb 25th. First impressions, the drive is fast, but had some setup issuses with certain machines. I tried it on a PowerMac G4/450, and G4/350, both sawtooth machines, but the drive only worked on the 450. The difference, FireWire 2.2.2 was installed by Final Cut on the 450, by OS 9 on the 350. Then I tried it on an iMac DV, works fine, and finally with my PowerMac G3/350 works fine. There is one issue that does occur on all machines (All are on OS 9), the Toast Reader Extension does not load on any machine, CD's can only be mounted manually, this happens for both Toast 4.011, and Deluxe. Both versions of Toast see the drive, but deluxe produces an error when it tries to start a burn.

Any ideas? I really want to use Toast Deluxe.

[This message has been edited by Kbee (edited 02-29-2000).]

[MikeD]

So what's with these problems with the Boa drives? I guess I'll just HAVE to wait for this darn QPS drive to come in!

Mike

[Kbee]

I have confirmation from QPS that they have shipped small quantities of the 8x4x32 drives to Merisel Canada. I know they have shipped the 4x4x24, because I have one. The store I work at, has stock of the 4x4x24, and we are expecting the 8x4x32. Hopefully everyone's wait is over.

Kbee,

How do you order from Merisel? I have never heard of them. Are they mail order? Do they sell in the states? Do you have a web site address or and 800 number?

kEn

[Kbee]

Ken,

You can't order from Merisel, as they are a distributor in both Canada and the US. Your local Apple dealer on the other hand can. So just phone em up and have them call Merisel and they can get the drive for you.

KBee


BTW is anyone using Toast Deluxe 4.0 succesfully with a Que!Fire?

[This message has been edited by Kbee (edited 02-29-2000).]

[allmodconz]

I don't know if anyone even cares at this point, but MacMall says it'll be "2 to 3 days" before they get any of the QPS 8x Firewire drives in. Like I believe that...

If anyone has an 8x Firewire drive hooked up to an iMac DVSE that they are completely happy with can you please let me know? I really want to get one now but it looks like the safe move may be to wait for 2 months or so until all the bugs are worked out of the ones currently available on the market.

Thanks!

[Kbee]

I just got talked to one of my distrbutors, and coroberating with QPS's story, they are expecting stock, albeit small, of the 8x4x32 drives. It would appear they are shipping now, just not in any great volume.

[daves666]

About the EZquest Boa "problems."

The only glitch so far is that there is about a 1/4 second of noise at the end of audio burns. Other than that, perfect.

It's really not an issue at all, in fact I might not even have noticed it if someone on this forum hadn't pointed it out.

I'm running the drive on a Yikes G4/400 and 8.6.

Just called MacMall about the latest missed date to get a QPS firedrive. Guess what? Two more weeks. This is getting old...fast.

Here is what MacMall said but take it with a grain of salt given that the track record of people answering the phones there leaves a little to be desired.

They say that QPS sent them an email saying that the latest shipment of drives is delayed due to a "component board problem".

I say enough already.

Dave666, Where do I get the EZQuest?

kEn

[allmodconz]

Does the EZ Quest come with software that will allow me to burn MP3 files onto CDR? Is this what Toast does?

[Kbee]

Ken, that is what happens when you deal with big guys like Mac Mall. They have to order product in a certain amout of numbers, so they have to wait till that is available. Phone you LOCAL mac dealer, ask them to phone their QPS supplier, and I think you will get a better delivery date. And if that still doesn't work, heck phone me in Canada.

[MikeD]

I guess I'll play this waiting game! Hey, do you guys want to hear a funny joke? It's called, I called Outpost today (Mar 02) and they said that the next expected date that QPS supposedly has given them for delivery to Outpost, is tomorrow (mar 03), and I should receive it "no later than Tuesday." Uh huh SURE!! WE'll see.. For the 250th time..

Mike

[blizaine]

Ha! that's a good one!

If it were only true....

Regarding the QPS Fire delay.. Buy from Egghead.com! I ordered mine Feb 8 and received it Feb 22. Plus they have the best price and free shipping, at least when I bought mine. I haven't had any major problems with the drive, and the accesories are pretty cool!

[Kbee]

I realise for those who don't have their QPS drives, this is tough, but hang in. You are waiting for a great product. I've had my drive for a week, and I love it. I'm only having problmes with Toast Deluxe. But I just use deluxe and save a toast image and then burn with the toast that came with the drive. It's worth it.

Kbee

[MikeD]

Remember that funny joke I was telling you guys about????? You know that my QPS FireDrive would come on Tueday at the latest.. Well.. It's Tuesday.. It's not here...BUT I checked my outpost status page and it says that it has shipped yesterday and has a tracking number!!! Which means, it should arrive today! Hopefully, it's in working condition! I'll play around with it.. If it does come today (likely since there is a tracking number) and I'll let everyone know. I'll post a review. I can't believe this! This has been on backorder for me since November 8th of last year! 4 months later! ridiculous! This better live up to my expectations! Hope you all get yours soon. I ordered from Outpost.com so if you ordered back in november, yours may be coming in as well!

Mike

[blizaine]

That's great news! I ordered mine from outpost about 1 month after you, so I shouldn't be that far behind. Another interesting note: QPS' site went from saying,
"Please note that our 4x4x24 FireWire CD-RW is currently shipping in limited quantities worldwide. We expect to ship the 8x4x32 FireWire CD-RW in limited quantities early April and the FireWire DVD-RAM in May. "

and now they are saying:
"Please note that our 4x4x24 FireWire CD-RW & 8x4x32 FireWire CD-RW solutions are currently shipping in limited quantities worldwide. We expect to ship FireWire DVD-RAM in May".

That being said and the fact that MikeD's drive has shipped makes me feel a lot better! Can't wait to here how the drive does Mike!

[MacMatvei]

Oh My!

I just got my FireDrive! (Tuesday march 7th).
Funny thing is I had cancelled the order for the 32x and ordered the 24x instead (thinking it would come in earlier)... but I just got the 32x! With no email confirmation to warn me of this good news. I have burned a CD-R a wopping 676 Mb.'s worth of files at 8x (9 Minutes!). Am extremely satisfied as of yet and will try burning an audio cd and a cd-rw later today. It looks so good next to my DVSE!

Keep the faith...I was on order since November!


------------------

[daves666]

Awwww

A happy ending after 74 posts. Warms my heart.

A happy ending for some. I finally cancelled my order with MacMall for the Que! 4x4x24 and I ordered the Que! 8x4x32 from egghead for about $80 more. Just got tired of dealing with MacMall. Will egghead be any better?

Out of the frying pan into the fire.

kEn

[blizaine]

Yeah, my happy ending wont be until I check my outpost tracking number and it has been shipped. I need to stop checking it 4 times a day, I'm killing myself.

I would switch my order over to egghead but I've got over 3 months of pre-order under my belt from outpost, so it would make much since for me.

I wonder if this is going to be another month or something. I should've ordered a month earlier....

[This message has been edited by blizaine (edited 03-10-2000).]

[blizaine]

Outpost says that they are supposed to get a shipment of QPS 8x4x32x drives in tomorrow (March 15th) and another shipment Friday (March 17th). I'm a little more optimistic about this ship date because QPS has started shipping the drive. Well, I guess we'll wait and see....

[cejones]

Don't get your hopes up on Que shipping on the 15th.... I have a 8X on order over at Egghead and they told me they expect a shipment on the 15th and the 21st. Of course, they were supposed to get a shipment on the 9th and that day passed with no shipment....

I think it all depends on "PURE LUCK" if you get one or not... If the bastard companies wouldn't charge my credit card for placing an order on an out of stock item... I would order the drive from every company that sells them to hedge my odds of actualy getting one... and then cancel the other orders once I got one...

of course, with my luck, I'd end up with 4 drives... but hey, I could then sell them on ebay as a "Rare" drive

hehe

[blizaine]

WOOOOOHOOOOOO! Finally! I just got to work this morning (March 16)and had an email from outpost from March 15, saying my drive has shipped! and it will be here today!!!!!! finally after 3 1/2 months!

Glad to hear that you long-time Que! Firedrive waiters are getting the drives in!

I'm jealous! Unfortunately, I got fed up with the response I was getting from MacMall and cancelled my order for the 4x4x24 firedrive. That order was put in on Dec 5 last year.

I put a new order in for the 8x4x32 with egghead over a week ago. So far nothing. Egghead won't tell me how many total are backordered so I have no idea where I am on the list. I assume that there are not as many as on the Macmall list because egghead charges your credit card as soon as you make the order NOT when they ship. Anyone else on this list on Egghead's back order list?

Still waiting (but this time for the 8x4x32)
kEn

[robjmurphy]

Greetings fellow QPS Firewaiters,
Just wanted to add my experiences on this interesting & painfully amusing topic... You have to laugh or else you'd cry
I ordered a QPS 8x4x32 from MacMall mid January. I knew from past purchases of latest & greatest stuffs that these announcements well predate shipping and that ship dates seldom come true in near timeframes. I expected a few weeks/a couple of months delay following the announcement Aug 98. For it to be over 6 months later is astounding but I'd rather it worked than bought something much quicker that didn't!
I had actually intended to place my order much earlier than I did but had been keeping tabs on the QPS web site & checking with vendors so I knew the score with the delays.
I was glad to see QPS indicate on their web site ETAs having made several calls to them already by then. At the time of their early April ETA I placed my order with MacMall (God only knows why them. I can't explain it to myself
I was even more gladdened when I saw the status change ahead of schedule. Kudos to QPS. They must've been burning the midnight oil!
But alas, despite the good news from QPS, I was getting the same ol' same ol' from MacMall.
I had also ordered at the same time the matching green panels to co-ordinate the drive to my LiMac.
The panels arrived a couple of weeks ago, generating false hope. MacMall sent them priority overnight (not requested) @ a cost of nearly $13. For a $10 item! Ridiculous but then I assumed that my CDRW (if it ever turned up!) would ship free.
But I decided after all the hoopla & the fact that MacMall's pricing had been more than erratic - quotes $399 & $449 appearing in their mail order catalogs & on their web site respectively - to tell them to stuff the order. Naturally they refused to do anything acceptable about the shipping charge on my order
QPS had quoted MRP $399, most vendors were quoting that price or under but despite my flagging this info to MacMall they stubbornly refused to do anything about it.
I ended up placing a fresh order a couple of days ago with Outpost. Altho' their price was higher than some others the free overnight delivery made up for it. It's still $60 cheaper than MacMall. Well $47 if you take into account the 'screwing' from MacMall's shipping policy.
Outpost told me that they had been filling some backorders from November/December - a fact that was corroborated by various online posts here & elsewhere & that they were expecting a large shipment (in the region of 200+ units) today. I was also told that they had approx 150 backorders so the likelihood would be that I would receive my long-awaited burner tomorrow or Monday. We'll see. The guy sounded sincere. I just checked online tracking & it's still showing as backordered right now but doubtless I'll be checking frequently over the next day or three.
MacMall on the otherhand were still advising me of early April ship dates & stated that they had several hundred backorders! Understand that if you will.
Anyway I think this post is more than long enough now so I'll sign off. But if all falls into place I'll let you guys know asap.
Thanks for listening to my gripes. Helps getting them offa your chest!

Sorry for continuing this thread, everyone, but it seems that those of us waiting for La Cie Firewire drives got lost in the mix of talking about Que! drives. Does anyone have news about La Cie drives? I just ordered one and checked here afterwards. Big mistake, I guess. Does anyone know if that puppy is going to ship, or should I cancel it and buy a Fantom (or EZquest) drive?

Thank,
Tim

[robjmurphy]

Well I guess I knew it was out of the frying pan... I'm now getting the run around from a different source now at least ; )
Outpost's order 3/17 didn't come off it would seem. Rescheduled for 3/20. Nope not then either. Try 3/22. 'Fraid not ; ) Now it seems 3/24's the golden date. Yup. 'Course it is. I'm not holding my breath.

Dang y'all, I feel bad for all of you. And let me say that I can truly empathize with you guys. When I bought my iMac (revB I believe) last year from MacMall (I still hate those guys ), I had to wait until Apr 9 to get it from the time I ordered it in the beginning of Jan; it's much more stressing waiting for a computer than a recording drive might I add.

The lesson I learned is: If it's not in stock, find someone who will have in stock (there are now 12x write recording drives out now--imagine burning a CD in 6 1/2 min)

Another lesson: Never buy from MacMall--you will just recieve run-around answers from people you can hardly understand!!!

Have fun burning everyone, hope it was worth the wait.

[This message has been edited by TechNutt (edited 03-25-2000).]