I bought mine today from a local Circuit City for $349.99
$10.00 less than
www.newegg.com
Anyways, Nero shows this as the firmware version as 2.0c.
So I would say its not a simply rebranded DRU500A.
I do notice that when you eject a cd, the tray rattles on its way out. Surprised by the fact that I have many low-end cd-r writer which have smoother tray mechanism.