well the thing is this, the beta has been going on for around a month id say, and im a member of the Gamer Advisory Panel it was a bunch of peeps selected by sony to be in this panel, they just took people from the GAP to be in the beta so we are actually getting in late.
also if i remember correctly i have to return the hdd at the end of the beta, they say the hdd is beta itself so who knows.