RSSWestern Digital bans sharing of media on MyBooks
By Ed Oswald | Published December 7, 2007, 10:51 AM
The hard drive maker has now taken on the added role of content policeman by ensuring nearly all media formats cannot be transferred using its sharing application.
Using its Anywhere Access application will prevent users from sharing nearly any file with a multimedia extension over its network, the company said. Western Digital says the move is due to "unverifiable media license authentication."
Essentially, since the device can't tell whether a user has the rights to a specific file, it does a blanket block of all media files. Included in the list are AAC, MP3, OOG, and WMA audio files, as well as AVI, DVI, MPG, QT, and WMV music files.
But it gets even more bizarre: as Wired points out, file types like those for Amiga's Impulse Tracker sequencer software are also banned. There's one interesting problem though -- the software hasn't been updated in ten years.
Western Digital has not provided any reasoning for the new restrictions on what owners of its MyBooks may share over a network. However critics are almost sure the policy is due to an overzealous entertainment industry.
"Liability or not, hobbling a product in this way simply devalues it, to the point where it's almost false advertising to call it a network-attached storage device," Mark Hachman wrote for GearLog.
To its defense, Western Digital is claiming it may add media sharing into future versions of the MyBook, but would not confirm of deny any future product.
I stopped buying WD crap awhile ago. They always screw you outta the warranty. The last drive I bought, I went to register it and was told I only had 2 months left on the one year warranty. Same with a drive I bought a couple years ago, that one had only 8 months left. I emailed WD several times and never got one response back. So now I will never buy another WD product.
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|Personally all this tells me is Never buy a WD product, and if a client does so stupidly, low level format that b**** before using it. Problem solved.
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|whats the Anywhere Access app lol.. ive got 2 WD drives but never used this app i think atleast =)
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|LOL they banned .IT files?? With very few exceptions those were original works by hobbyist musicians. Good grief, who's running WD (into the ground)?
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|Haha, no kidding!
I haven't listened to my collection of MOD files in a long time (probably 10 years or so). Reading that just made me a little nostalgic... where'd I put 'em?
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|I have 3 solutions for all:
1. don't buy it, it's bulls***, not only file types limitations are the problem, but the transfer speed too (3-5MB/s instead of theoretical 12.5M/s at 100Mb/s)
2. hack it like i've done it following martin.hinner.info/mybook to get ssh connection (now i think about deploying some lightweight vpn to get real world-connectivity not just like miocrash)
3. the other features that would be nice to deploy are: p2p clients: dc++, torrent, ... ftp client and so on ... and implementing some simple web interface to control downloads from this networks
2,3 -> after this points, it would have real value of network disk, not like this MioDisasterNothingAccessibles***AroundTheWorld
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|Who actually uses 3rd party software for simple tasks like this anyway. This doesn't matter. I do feel sorry for the novice users though, a****** companies like this don't make it very pleasant for them. WD has went downhill in the past few years anyhow. It is things like this that are making me seriously reconsider the vendors I deal with.
To all the people worrying about DRM lately...stop worrying. DRM only will effect those who allow it to :). Linux is not going anywhere. Intelligence is not going anywhere.
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|Not that it matters since I don't use their software with Mybook but if I did I would be very unhappy. So if I have a home movie in avi format I would be unable to share that over my network? Or a mp3 file of my son at a recital?
It is wrong to ban all files types because of some mis-use. There will always be mis-use of things but they choose to focus on that apparently.
I know its a lawyer thing but still the wrong move.
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|This is a class action lawsuit waiting to happen, by people who could not access their own media files. Whether such customer actually exist is not important; the suit will be initiated by lawyers, and all mybook owners will be invited to join. Then they'll get WD coupons as settlement, while the lawyers get cash.
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|this is why the US is mess up. Why is this allow anyway. Lawyer can file lawsuit with no plaintiff.
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|It's things like this that make people whom arent that computer savvy climb the walls in frustration.
There are workarounds, ie transfering as archive, or modify extension etc..the possibilities are many. But its more an irritation than a form of restriction.
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|Why do you spammers bother?
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|Give it time and they won't have to block anything. Your computer will just refuse to access the file because you don't have the rights.
TPM TPM TPM
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|"as well as AVI, DVI, MPG, QT, and WMV music files."... :) i didn't know those were music files now!
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|You can jump on WD's back about this, but the problem stems from one source: lawyers from content agencies putting monopolistic threat against hardware makers. The direct problem with this is DRM itself is inherently flawed historically and those flaws are not restricted to simple content violations: see sony rootkit introducing massive security holes in whatever WIndows OS installed on.
DRM should be avoided just from the perspective that it can introduce security flaws and you risk losing data.
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|The MyBook line are crappy to begin with. Anyone want my Mybook drive????
Goodbye WDC
Why is it WDC responsiblility to be the media police? sad.. very sad....
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|Sure. Send it my way. :)
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|Send it here. Ill pay shipping!
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|You have just lost another customer WD. Have fun going down in revenue!
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|I'm guessing they haven't figured out what file types take up the most space or that they have and want to reduce usage. Either way, bad idea.
If a hard drive limits what can be placed on it, what's the point in using it? A media company isn't going to be able to use this, for example.
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|MyBooks are crap anyway. Trust me--I own two of them. Unfortunately.
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|seems like noone will buy their products anymore.
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|that's only if you decide to use their "Anywhere Access" app... there are dozens of different ways of sharing your data. MyBook is only an external HD, works just like any other external HD... the only difference is the inhouse backup software they're using....
I've never used any included software with my MyBook... works great!
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|Is there a point then? Why block something if you're not going to block it otherwise? Don't tell me what I can or cannot do with my bits. That's bulls***.
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|I agree it's really pointless. Just don't use their software.
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|Yea, thats what I thought. I read the article and was like big deal, use a better application.
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|Well thanks for helping me decide to never buy a MyBook. Don't ever try to tell me what I can and can't copy on my local network.
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|Simply stupid.
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|So pretty much all of the types of files you'd care to store on an external drive are blocked from being stored on this device?
Wow. That's brilliant.
These guys should do marketing for Microsoft.
Oh...wait...
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|I will no longer be buying their products. They're on my Sony list.
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|lol, they havent reached the sony level for me yet.
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|That's pointless.
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|I, too, was/am in the market for NASD and was seriously looking at MyBook. It just came off my list of potential products, just like anything with the name Sony on it!
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