Summary: I wanted this to connect as a network storage on my home net. I have a 108Mbs Netgear Rangemax MIMO router with an excellent wireless connection (but with a 100Mbit port connection). I connected this to one port on the router. After a blue screen of death and a reboot I was up and running. I bought this primarily to offload photos, music, and videos from my laptop to the network. Then I can access it from any machine I connect to my network. I was able to put music on the MyBook and play it from iTunes. Playing music was fine. Scrolling through the currently playing track was noticeably slower than if the mp3 is local.
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Then I tried a WMV video. Of course, depending on bit rate, file size, etc. your experience will differ, but it wouldn't play more than a few seconds of the movie without it hanging. No good.
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I didn't even bother with photos after that experience.
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It may work better if you have a router with a gigabit ethernet port, but I doubt it.
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Not sure what the previous reviewer is talking about regarding the subscription service. MyBook World comes with MioNet service, which is similar to GoToMyPC. But instead of giving you access to a computer, it gives you access to the drive. That license is free, will not expire, and can be shared with anyone (via email link). The \"for purchase\" license is to use MioNet to expose files, folders, and cameras on additional computers. You can then access that from other MioNet-enabled machines - and you can share with anyone. The license that you have to purchase is for each machine that you are exposing files/folders from. You can share those files with anyone. Note that the included version of MioNet (branded for WD) claims to restrict sharing of most media files (mp3, avi, mpg, wmv, aac, etc.)
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I don't think you need to install MioNet if you don't want to share your drive outside your network. Since my router was on a different subnet of my network, I had to tell my firewall (ZoneAlarm) that it was a trusted zone. Then I could access the drive by mapping it to mybook.
I haven't tried actually accessing any folders over MioNet yet (like from my office PC).
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If you want to just share documents, backup files, and store photos, this will probably work for you. If you plan on doing high-volume data transfers, don't bother.

Summary: After I got my WD MyBook WE, I hack it to disable Mionet and install many software such as php server, torrent, ... The result it work well. I can use torrent with no need turn on my PC. I can do my web server, file server, share file in windows or linux, printer server, and much more because you can download free linux source codes, compile and use it in this toy.

Summary: This is an excellent product, and I am glad that I made the purchase. It is very sleek, quiet, and fast. I have it connected to a WRT350N Linksys Wireless N Gigabit Router w/Storage Link. I could have easily attached an external HDD to the router, but the World Edition had Remote Access. Everything over the network is extremely fast, as if the Hard Drive was directly attached to the computer. I watched several Windows Media High Definition Videos with no flaws, as others have had trouble. I suspect that this is not an issue with the device itself, but those user's home networks. I am utilizing the Gigabit Connectivity, and I am using wireless N at 130MB/s, compared to most routers which are only 54MB/s. The only flaw with this is that the Remote Software is not yet Vista compatible. The other reviewer who said that there was a fee for remote access was incorrect. That fee is to have remote access to a COMPUTER, not the My Book. If they would have looked closer they would have known that.
I highly reccommend this product. If more space is needed, the World Edition also comes in 750GB, 1TB, 1.5TB, and 2.0TB sizes.