You don’t need me to get all snarky about the DRM scheme Western Digital has added to its new My Book NAS-enabled external hard drives, not when Austin at the Register is doing such a good job of it.
Austin points out that the new drive won’t let you copy another user’s media files (wma, mp3, etc.) across the network, because it can’t verify your licenses for said media.
Look, Western D, I appreciate what you’re trying to do here, saving us from the evils of piracy and all, but it’s not your job. Your job is to make storage, and make it accessible, period. If the RIAA is slipping you a little something-something under the table, well, then I’m going to start looking at Seagate, among others.
Western Digital drive is DRM-crippled for your safety [The Reg]
I assume this is all simply based on the file extension? If I am correct, this would be so 1995 and people could simply rename their files or add a second extension such as .EatItWD to their files so that they will be copied.
I’m glad WD doesn’t produce printers, otherwise I’d have to be afraid that it suddenly doesn’t print a document it cannot verify ownership for. Or what if they made TVs and the TV would shut off when trying to watch those pirated pay-per-view channels because it cannot verify your age.
Great way to create PR-problems for yourself when you have a perfectly fine line of products out there and everyone is wishing for that 320GB passport drive.