WD MyBook locks your media files

Author: Gareth Halfacree
Published: 10th December 2007
Comments (33) Stumble
WD MyBook locks your media files

Western Digital 1TB MyBook - with added DRM on files you legally own

So, you've bought yourself a shiny 1TB MyBook network-attached storage drive and want to use the famed media-sharing features to access your music collection from work? Not so fast, bucko: that sounds like pirate talk to Western Digital.

The drive, advertised with the taglines “Anywhere, Anytime Access” and “Share Photos and Files”, is aimed at users who have a large media collection and don't want to leave their PC on to access it. Offering the ability to “listen to your music while on vacation,” the drive seems like a dream come true for storage of your music and video collections. Purchasers are starting to find, however, that it's more of a nightmare thanks to overly restrictive DRM included by Western Digital.

The MyBook comes with built-in software to share files via a web interface, but if the files you want to share are AVIs, MP3s, DivXs, or any one of thirty-five different banned file extensions then you're out of luck: the software will refuse to even acknowledge their existence for anyone except the administrative user who created the share. Wanted your classmates to view your latest mash-up before it hits YouTube? Ain't happening.

Coming so soon after the PlusNet “we're not here to police your usage” pronouncement it's interesting to see that there are companies out there who feel the need to introduce 'features' likely to inconvenience everyday users more than they will the dirty filthy pirate types, just in case you might possibly have thought about sharing that Artist Formerly Known As Squiggle song.

If you're a creative type and were looking for a way to share your masterpieces, it might be a good idea to look elsewhere: after all, both you and Western Digital know full well that nobody gives anything away for free unless they're breaking the law.

Feeling peeved at being branded a pirate for having MP3 files on your NAS? Or do you have a better solution than Western DigitalRM's MyBook? Tell us your thoughts via the forums.
Quote C-Sniper 10th December 2007, 14:33
Yay! Flac is not blocked!
Quote koola 10th December 2007, 14:34
I just hacked the firmware, installed SSH, disabled the mionet service and then installed a FTP server (It runs linux btw). No problems accessing any content outside of my home network :)

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot WD.
Quote bubsterboo 10th December 2007, 14:52
Well, I'm not buying one of these.
Quote WILD9 10th December 2007, 14:57
Wont be buying anymore WD products then.
Quote Aterius Gmork 10th December 2007, 15:04
Too bad. Thought I'd buy a MyBook, but that won't be happening now. And I wouldn't even have stored any of these file types on it. Damn it, WD, it is a matter of principle.
Quote badders 10th December 2007, 15:07
Surely you can log in as the Administrative user who created the share, right?
Quote steveo_mcg 10th December 2007, 15:35
I wonder if they're drm is covered under the GPL maybe some one should threaten them the way ASUS were.
Quote rewind 10th December 2007, 15:57
Surely a bit of cunning file renaming will get around this ? ... was only planning on letting mates download it to play anyway. Streaming is poo.

It was on my list of new years purchases.

Shame as it was mostly going to be used for uploading DM videos of the clan etc. I will be looking for an alternative before buying but it does have some (otherwise) nice features and the price is good.

I hope WD catch wind of the shame.
Quote yakyb 10th December 2007, 16:07
create a dedicated PC whats the issue here thats what i have

thats what you get when you buy a prebuilt solution its always (almost anyway) better to spec up a solve the problem yourself.

its fairly simple to setup a dydns then use IIS or apache to create a web shareto give access to your files may be a little more convoluted but in the end offers a better solution
Quote rewind 10th December 2007, 16:13
True... although the 1TB was going to be a back-up drive too for tunes, videos and pictures I don't want to share. I do have an old P4 2Ghz PC sitting there (massive 30GB storage).

Might set this up as a NAS just for sharing and then buy a non-WorldBook for backup.

Good plan, cheers.

FreeNAS looks interesting, albeit complicated. Anyone here using it for sharing across the web ?
Quote Delphium 10th December 2007, 16:29
tut tut, why do it WD, only going to push customers away in this move.
Ah well there are other solutions.
Quote outlawaol 10th December 2007, 17:59
WD is great stuff. To bad they made a cool device then made it completely useless.

I'll still buy WD HD's for my computers, but this one is on the naughty list.

:)
Quote Lowsidex2 10th December 2007, 18:15
I feel dirty for having been a loyal WD harddrive user for the last decade or more.
Quote AcidJiles 10th December 2007, 18:16
as usual an over reaction and the actual way to get rid of privacy is provide what consumers want not try and stop them doing what they want as they ignore or find a way round it. when tv shows downloads are avaliable at a decent price (subscription models rather than per show) in decent enough quaility without drm or restrictions then you will see a change, before that not very much.
Quote airchie 10th December 2007, 18:45
Quote:
Originally Posted by rewind
FreeNAS looks interesting, albeit complicated. Anyone here using it for sharing across the web ?
Never used it for sharing over the web but I used it at work to set up a simple file server and it worked like a charm. :)
Quote Bluephoenix 10th December 2007, 20:05
makes it pretty damn useless.
Quote DXR_13KE 10th December 2007, 20:08
this is very dumb.......

edit: just read the list....this is dumber that i thought....
Quote specofdust 10th December 2007, 20:32
This is a real shame. I was dead set on picking up a gorgeous red WD passport 250GB drive to go with my WeePC, but now I think I'll have to find another brand. I really feel like I need to do my tiny bit to punish WD for dicking around their users like this.

Some companies need to remember that WE pay their wages, WE create their profits, and WE control whether they live or die. Not the RI-MotherF***ing-AA.

edit: corrected for noobtastic spelling ;(
Quote completemadness 10th December 2007, 20:40
Strange - i didnt know the MyBook came in a NAS version
My 500GB model has eSATA and USB ....
Quote customh 10th December 2007, 21:45
Quote:
Originally Posted by specofdust
This is a real shame. I was dead set on picking up a georgeous red WD passport 250GB drive to go with my WeePC, but now I think I'll have to find another brand. I really feel like I need to do my tiny bit to punish WD for dicking around their users like this.

Some companies need to remember that WE pay their wages, WE create their profits, and WE control whether they live or die. Not the RI-MotherF***ing-AA.
Well said, spec. Was considering a passport for the dorm, and a new internal for a friend's mini. now i have to find a diff brand.
Quote:
Originally Posted by completemadness
Strange - i didnt know the MyBook came in a NAS version
My 500GB model has eSATA and USB ....
^^ His username says it all...
Quote steveo_mcg 10th December 2007, 22:09
Quote:
Originally Posted by specofdust
This is a real shame. I was dead set on picking up a georgeous red WD passport 250GB drive to go with my WeePC, but now I think I'll have to find another brand. I really feel like I need to do my tiny bit to punish WD for dicking around their users like this.

Some companies need to remember that WE pay their wages, WE create their profits, and WE control whether they live or die. Not the RI-MotherF***ing-AA.

hear hear
Quote Dreaming 11th December 2007, 04:32
Quote:
Originally Posted by WILD9
Wont be buying anymore WD products then.

Unfortunately I feel I have to agree. Unless I get another 500gb, cos I'd want that to match the one I already have (OCD for symettry, or making sense?).

Samsung & Western Digital have always been the top two for me, and nothing in price or performance between them. When one starts slapping down heavy handed DRM rules on products where I'm not really sure they should be, then I (and I'm sure many others) can afford to 'vote with our feet'.
Quote LucusLoC 11th December 2007, 06:07
you can send angry email here: PressRelations@wdc.com

im not totally positive that is the right place, but they should get the message. enough angry mail and the may relent, giving me the option to buy WD again. i wont purchase their products until the issue an apology.
Quote Boldar 11th December 2007, 07:57
So, if I were to buy one of these and put my holiday videos from my camcorder on this device in order to share my copyrighted material over the net, can I, as the copyright owner, sue WD for punitive damages as they are denying me MY rights under copyright laws?. ;)
Quote impar 11th December 2007, 09:22
Greetings!

File the story under F, F of FUD.

I have gotten e-mail all morning about this story claiming that the MyBook network storage system from Western Digital disables the sharing of movies and music. This isn’t true, the drive will hold / store / share anything you like. The problem the person had wasn’t with the drive, it was with the personal private network software from MioNET and even then it is only limited to internet file sharing. So the WD drive works fine, one of the optional features is to blame, so there is no need for wide scale panic.
Quote PQuiff 11th December 2007, 15:50
LMAO!!! and now the sites been taken down...i mean having maintenance
Quote completemadness 11th December 2007, 20:40
Quote:
Originally Posted by customh
^^ His username says it all...
Care to elaborate?

I find it odd that they named it exactly the same, but the 1tb model is a NAS and the 750gb (and less) is an external HDD
Quote whisperwolf 11th December 2007, 20:54
Quote:
Originally Posted by completemadness
Care to elaborate?

I find it odd that they named it exactly the same, but the 1tb model is a NAS and the 750gb (and less) is an external HDD

its the My book World edition and My book World II that have Ethernet connections, come in 500gb, 750gb 1tb 1.5tb and 2tb capacity. I've got the 500gb My book world, and although it works as a local drive I tried the mionet webservice that comes with it, t'was rubbish, and they charged you a subscription for it.
Quote completemadness 11th December 2007, 21:00
Quote:
Originally Posted by whisperwolf
its the My book World edition and My book World II that have Ethernet connections, come in 500gb, 750gb 1tb 1.5tb and 2tb capacity. I've got the 500gb My book world, and although it works as a local drive I tried the mionet webservice that comes with it, t'was rubbish, and they charged you a subscription for it.
Ah, Ive only read it being called the "MyBook" when your saying there are actually different .... Models? Categories? sharing the same name

Its seems like an odd design to use though, the MyBook (i thought) was sort of meant to be a portable drive that "looks" like a big book, but you don't (usually) need portable NAS (in my experience anyway)
Quote whisperwolf 11th December 2007, 21:10
Quote:
Originally Posted by completemadness
Ah, Ive only read it being called the "MyBook" when your saying there are actually different .... Models? Categories? sharing the same name

Its seems like an odd design to use though, the MyBook (i thought) was sort of meant to be a portable drive that "looks" like a big book, but you don't (usually) need portable NAS (in my experience anyway)

there's lots of models in the range, Essential, premium, Pro, world, and the new range of Home, office and studio, all have different connections and some other unknow, tome, differences. The world edition is great for me as it sits on the book shelf next to the phone and router. and it nearly blends in. the Pro II edition has two drives inside didn't look very portable, a bit chuncky.
Quote Tile 11th December 2007, 21:31
Deleted
Quote customh 11th December 2007, 21:53
Quote:
Originally Posted by completemadness
Care to elaborate?

I find it odd that they named it exactly the same, but the 1tb model is a NAS and the 750gb (and less) is an external HDD
Quote:
Originally Posted by completemadness
Ah, Ive only read it being called the "MyBook" when your saying there are actually different .... Models? Categories? sharing the same name

Its seems like an odd design to use though, the MyBook (i thought) was sort of meant to be a portable drive that "looks" like a big book, but you don't (usually) need portable NAS (in my experience anyway)

Sorry, I was kind of a troll, was just picking at your not thinking that there could be different models of mybook.
Quote customh 11th December 2007, 21:53
argh. wrong button.
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