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Visionary Tools
Registered: 06/23/07
Posts: 7,953
Last seen: 1 year, 9 months
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Western Digital want to loose their business
#7731905 - 12/08/07 04:20 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Western Digital drive is DRM-crippled for your safety
Western Digital's 1TB My Book World Edition external hard drive has been crippled by DRM for your safety.
A kindly Reg reader tipped us off that the remote-access HDD won't share media files over network connections. Which is, as you can see here, the entire stinking point of it.
It's a scary world full of potentially unlicensed media. We're fortunate there's a hard drive vendor willing to step forward and do some indiscriminate policing for us.
From the WD site:
"Due to unverifiable media license authentication, the most common audio and video file types cannot be shared with different users using WD Anywhere Access."
WD's list of banned file types encompasses over 35 extensions. This includes AAC, MP3, AVI, DivX, WMV, and Quicktime files. And why not — Windows TMP files too.
The storage device is billed as a "surprisingly simple and secure way to access and share data and photos" using your home or office network. And technically that's true — namely, the "way" in question is not letting you do it. Abstinence is simple and secure. You've got to hand it to Western Digital.
If you must have the drive, you could work around the crippled WD Anywhere Access client app. Or be satisfied sharing your impressive collection of .doc files. But this is — supposedly — a remote access hard drive.
So what's the point if WD is going to use a shotgun feature killing technique and assume there isn't a legitimate and legal reason to share an AVI file? (Hello, digital camera).
That's a very good question. ® ---------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------
And here's one of the comments
Easy workaround By Matt Brigden Posted Friday 7th December 2007 19:13 GMT Go
Zip the file . Works fine on mine lol .
Im more concerned with the nobbled ethernet . 4.6mbps max transfer takes the Michael . Really helpful limitation on a drive billed as 10/100/1000 . Several months down the line and still no fix for it . WD have admitted the transfer speed sucks and are "looking into it" . Try looking into it with your eyes open ......
Theres no need to use the mionet software on the cd as you can access to it via java from the mionet site .
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Visionary Tools
Registered: 06/23/07
Posts: 7,953
Last seen: 1 year, 9 months
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Re: Western Digital want to loose their business [Re: Visionary Tools]
#7749920 - 12/12/07 03:50 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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kotik
fuckingsuperhero
Registered: 06/29/04
Posts: 3,531
Last seen: 4 years, 2 months
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Re: Western Digital want to loose their business [Re: Visionary Tools]
#7750627 - 12/12/07 06:26 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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ive been using seagate strictly for the past few years. this is just a horrible idea. who is going to spend money on a hard drive that doesnt let you transfer your files!?
-------------------- No statements made in any post or message by myself should be construed to mean that I am now, or have ever been, participating in or considering participation in any activities in violation of any local, state, or federal laws. All posts are works of fiction.
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johnm214
Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 17,582
Loc: Americas
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Re: Western Digital want to loose their business [Re: kotik]
#7751028 - 12/12/07 07:43 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Why does western digital care? That's what I don't understand.
What is the force making them take this step? It doesn't help the product's functionality, in fact it hurts it. They wouldn't face legal trouble, though someone could sue for anything, as the Sony Betamax or whatever precedent would absolve them of liability.
Basically I don't see the point, are they owned by a big media producer? Why do they care?
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero
Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 1 month, 19 days
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Re: Western Digital want to loose their business [Re: johnm214]
#7752506 - 12/13/07 03:37 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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The problem is with the third party MioNet software (WD Anywhere Access) included with the drive. Western Digital is in spin control. They have pointed out that Samba or Linux can be installed instead. They even have instructions on the western digital site on how to do this (with Samba at least). I'm guessing they were not expecting such a serious backlash from consumers.
As far as why? If a lawyer wasn't involved in pushing the decision, I'll eat my shoes. Three acronyms: RIAA, MPAA and DMCA.
I love this... from WD's site...
Quote:
This storage system and all the files on it are always accessible when you need them, even when your local computer is turned off.*
*Due to unverifiable media license authentication, the most common audio and video file types cannot be shared with different users using WD Anywhere Access.
What file types?
AAC Advanced Audio Coding AIF Audio Interchange File AIFC Audio Interchange File AIFF Audio Interchange File Format AMF DSMIA/Asylum Module File ASF Advanced Streaming Format ASX Advanced Stream Redirector AVI Audio Video Interleave CDA CD Audio DVI DivX AVI DIVX DivX AVI FAR Farandoyle Tracker Music Module IT Impulse Tracker ITZ Impulse Tracker KAR Karaoke MIDI MDZ Cubic Player/Cross-View Music Module Description MOV QuickTime Video MP1 MPEG Layer 1 (Audio) MP2 MPEG Layer 2 (Audio) MP3 MPEG Layer 3 (Audio) MP4 MPEG Layer 4 (Video) MPA MPEG Audio Stream, Layer I, II or III MPE MPEG Video MPEG MPEG Video MPG MPEG Video MPGA MPEG Layer 3 (Audio Stream) MPV2 MPEG Audio Stream, Layer II OGG OGG Bitstream OKT Oktalyzer Tracker Module PTM PTM - Poly Tracker Module (Audio) QT QuickTime Video QT1 QuickTime Video VOB Video Object (DVD Video) VOC Creative Labs Sound WM Windows Media Audio or Video WMA Windows Media Audio WMV Windows Media Video
Woohoo, they forgot FLAC!
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