Sony protest site

[darian]

I have just launched a new anti-Sony protest site, related to my major problems with SonicStage, which have resulted in the loss of valuable intellectual property.

The address is http://www.42hours.org

I ask the moderators not to remove this post, due to its relevance to the topic in hand.

Edited January 31, 2006 by darian

[Syrius]

Whew. For a moment I thought it was going to be one of those Viagra sites and such.

[darian]

Whew. For a moment I thought it was going to be one of those Viagra sites and such.

No, it's genuine

[zerodB]

Sony makes it quite clear in the SonicStage help Documentation that you should backup your files using the SonicStage Backup Tool in order to restore your data as the contents are encrypted to provent unauthorised copying, blah, blah, blah...

I have done several hard drive reformats in the past, backing and restoring my SonicStage library without flaw using the SonicStage backup/restore program. You did do use this program, didn't you?

[mercury_in_flames]

when you go to restore with the s.s backup tool, why does it say;

'this operation deleted all sonicstage data from the destination hard disk' >??

I mean if i accdently deleted 1 album that ive got on my comp as atrac files, does that mean my whole folder gets reverted to what it used to be? Thats a bit lame isnt it??

[dex Otaku]

darian:

While I somewhat support your idea in spirit, I'm taking note of the fact that the majority of complainants you've linked to from the site are actually people who did not use the product properly, not people who are experiencing bugs.

Sony's DRM [which has been relaxed substantially in 3.x versions, contrary to one of your linked posts] is designed specifically to stop moving tracks from one copy of SS to another. Why people should expect anything other than "blocking" behaviour when they're obviously not RTFM or basically learning how to use the software as intended is slightly beyond me.

There are people out there with real claims to SS being destructive to their data/audio. Perhaps if you linked to people with actual problems, rather than people who don't invest the time to learn how to use the hardware and software as intended and designed, your argument would be more legitimate. At the moment it fails almost completely in that department.

[dex Otaku]

Edit: Having read all of your linked posts/threads, I only saw a ocuple that were even near-legitimate claims of data loss. The rest were -all-, without exception, people who did not learn how to use their hardware and/or software and lost data [or experienced the inconvenience of having to re-rip full libraries] as a consequence - most notably, the "An Anthropologist’s worst nightmare: DRM" post.

Your petition has almost no legitimate claims to support it. That's kind of a shame, since Sony have actually paid attention to multiple specifics of our wishlists on this forum in the past, implying that at least sometimes they do actually listen.

Your boycott isn't really about SS, when it comes down to it; it's about DRM, and the difficulties it causes for users who are basically too stupid to research what they're buying before they buy it, read their Fing manuals, or click "help".

[t0fler]

I would like to repeat the same point I posted on your site,

With such valuable interviews I find it hard to believe that you didnt keep a hard copy on the MD or even move the recording from Sonic Stage, sonys software is buggy but such valuable material should be backed up whether kept on Disk you recorded onto, converted in a WAV and put somwhere safe on your Harddrive

it isnt sonys fault you failed to back up your work

[dex Otaku]

My apologies for the rash generalisation calling users stupid.

[Richard]

To quote from your site:

The bottom line: Sony took inadequate care with my high-value IP

Seems like you did this yourself by not backing up the data with the correct tools.

The bottom line: In this age of information overload, Sony should not expect users to the read the manual from cover-to-cover.

You just shoot yourself in the foot by saying this, how can your claims stand up, when you basically admit you haven't read the manual properly.

The bottom line: It's wholly irresponsible for Sony not to offer a recovery utility.

In your case you could have used the backup tool to backup your data to removable media which could then have been restored via the same utility to your new hard drive. As others have said converting your files to WAV as you uploaded them was also a possibility which would have effectively removed the DRM and again you could have backed these up to a suitably secure location.

[hkey_barker]

On the website you stated. "Users should not be expected to read the manual ..." My question to you is why? Why do you feel like you should not be expected to read the manual? I don't get that way of thinking.

[jonny mac]

Sounds like this website won't be too productive. No-one can guarantee the security of your data and at the end of the day it is YOUR data and the responsibility for its care lies with YOU. You have to take such steps as you can to ensure the survival of your data should some mishap occur. It's your loss if this happens, not Sony's - they can't be held responsible.

I have my music library backed up to three separate copies, in three separate locations. If it was important info like interviews there would be still more copies.