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Using Seagate wireless plus with IOS8

I have just been given a Seagate Wireless Plus as a gift. (1TB version)

After setting it up and adding a few HD movies to it I tried to stream them to my iPad mini.

Although I can connect to it, I am unable to play an iTunes movie. I tried streaming to an iPhone6 and it was the same.

When I try to play the movie it comes up with a grey screen and a play symbol struck through.

The movie is owned by me so DRM shouldn't be an issue.

Some information I have read says it cannot stream HD content but Seagate disagree with this.

They said it is an issue with IOS8 and nothing they can do about it.

Any ideas?

iPad Mini, iOS 8.1

Posted on Nov 13, 2014 7:04 AM

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Posted on Nov 30, 2014 10:53 AM

Same problem here. I contacted Seagate support just a few days ago and here is their response:


Dear Jeff:
Thank you for contacting Seagate Technology 1st Class Email Support. I understand that you are having an issue with your drive not playing iTunes content. I apologize for the inconvenience and will gladly assist you with this issue.
ITunes DRM protected videos are currently not playing on iOS 7.2.1 or iOS 8 devices when the files are saved to a Go Flex Satellite, Seagate Wireless, Seagate Central or LaCie Fuel as they had been with prior versions of iOS. We are investigating this issue with Apple to determine if we can restore this functionality and will offer a software update as soon as possible. We are investigating the issue for a solution.
Also, since this change came from Apple themselves, you may also find it useful to contact Apple and find out if they have any ETA on resolution of the issue.
If you have any additional questions, please let me know by replying to this email. Screenshots are a great tool for troubleshooting, so please attach screenshots showing any error messages you may get.
Regards,
Krista
Seagate Technology 1st Class Email Support


So it appears that Apple should be involved also since prior to the IOS updates, I had no issues at all viewing my iTunes movies (including HD) via my Seagate Wireless Plus.

15 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Nov 30, 2014 10:53 AM in response to matthewfrommansfield

Same problem here. I contacted Seagate support just a few days ago and here is their response:


Dear Jeff:
Thank you for contacting Seagate Technology 1st Class Email Support. I understand that you are having an issue with your drive not playing iTunes content. I apologize for the inconvenience and will gladly assist you with this issue.
ITunes DRM protected videos are currently not playing on iOS 7.2.1 or iOS 8 devices when the files are saved to a Go Flex Satellite, Seagate Wireless, Seagate Central or LaCie Fuel as they had been with prior versions of iOS. We are investigating this issue with Apple to determine if we can restore this functionality and will offer a software update as soon as possible. We are investigating the issue for a solution.
Also, since this change came from Apple themselves, you may also find it useful to contact Apple and find out if they have any ETA on resolution of the issue.
If you have any additional questions, please let me know by replying to this email. Screenshots are a great tool for troubleshooting, so please attach screenshots showing any error messages you may get.
Regards,
Krista
Seagate Technology 1st Class Email Support


So it appears that Apple should be involved also since prior to the IOS updates, I had no issues at all viewing my iTunes movies (including HD) via my Seagate Wireless Plus.

Feb 20, 2015 6:23 AM in response to jhmalone101

I to have the same issue and got the same exact E mail from Krista at Seagate. I also have San Disk Wireless Flash drives that act the same way. They use to work fine but quit working when I upgraded to IOS 7.2.1 or higher. I believe this is a problem caused by apple and will not be resolved until they fix the issue with IOS. Below is an E mail from Krista at Seagate when I questioned why this this problem has existed for so long without a solution.


I completely understand your frustration, but our hands
are tied until Apple comes up with a solution for changes they made to DRM
content. From what I heard yesterday, Apple has finally figured out what the
issue is, but do not have a time for the fix to be implemented yet. Until they
resolve the issue, all devices that could previously play DRM content are not
able to play it. This is not just Seagate products, but products from all
companies. That is why I referred you to Apple, not just as a way to pass the
buck. I apologize if that came across as any way other than to try to get Apple
to fix their issue that is affecting your enjoyment of our product.


Please reply to this email if you require further
assistance.


Regards,

Krista

Seagate Technology 1st Class Email Support


So bottom line if apple does not step up here all of us with this type of hardware are at apples mercy.

May 9, 2015 10:48 PM in response to Paul Skee

Same issues here. Seagate points finger at Apple, Apple doesnt care. I have a paperweight that's useless to 5 Apple devices now. Very frustrating. The humorous part I find is Seagate support continues to plug Wireless Plus as a way to stream movies on IOS device. One would think they'd have the brains to stop and think about that.

Aug 6, 2015 1:15 PM in response to matthewfrommansfield

Hi I have just been sold a seagate wireless device by the apple shop to view iTunes videos and they had no clue it wouldn't work . I specifically asked about an extension to my i tunes library to play through my i pad. I feel completely let down by Apple and their staff in their store. I will now have to tell everyone who asks that apples service and support is not what it was, and frankly they have lied to me as the equipment they have sold me is identified on their own web site as not working.

Does anyone know when the resolution is going to be available please or have i just bought a 2 TB dongle.


I was also not happy to find out this has been an issue since Nov 14 when have just bought this in July 2015

Aug 18, 2015 12:59 AM in response to matthewfrommansfield

This for me is the last straw with Apple. I too have purchased a 1T Seagate wireless drive as I travel the world for business and love my movie collection. Now the hundreds of pounds I have spent on these films is wasted and i'm now done with Apple. The ipad Air is going to be erased and offered up for sale on ebay and so will the iPhone. I am constantly feeling ripped off by this company who care nothing for its consumers. it is motivated by greed and will try and hide its passion for ripping off its customer by hiding behind glossy marketing.


NO MORE FOR ME!!!!

Nov 5, 2015 3:29 PM in response to matthewfrommansfield

I have had the Goflex Wireless for a couple years now and it worked great until I upgraded to iOS 7.2.1. It has been about a year since the update has caused this device not to work with iTunes purchased content and still no solution. With several versions of iOS being released in that amount of time and information the issue is with the changes in the DRM known since iOS 8 you'd think Apple could offer a fix. It just doesn't seem important to them that many customers have purchased content and now cannot access it easily. The worst part is both companies are still advertising that iTunes media can be streamed from these devices which is at best false advertising and at worst a lie as they both have admitted in support forums that it does not work. We have purchased this content and should be able to use it as advertised. Fix this issue!

Nov 15, 2015 7:53 AM in response to TanCrusader

Hi Tan,


Indeed false and misleading advertising it is. I sincerely thought that this was a solution for me who happened to be on the road at least 6 months of the year. I have spent thousands of dollars in iTunes over the years and now find myself having to use a DMR removal software that is very time consuming and hogs the ressources of my Mac. Unfortunately it is the only work around for this problem that I know of. I am truly fed up with this and will now save my money and start using P2P sites to get what I need. By not offering a solution to this problem both Apple and Seagate are tarnishing their brand. I am now embarrassed because I recommended this product to friends in the past and they are now contacting me to see if there is a solution. The Seagate has now just become an expensive hard drive with no more attributes than the cheaper models. The Seagate Wireless has nothing to offer and consumers should be made aware of this. I am not a US citizen but I believe there are some places in the US where you can register complaints against companies that are misleading their customers. If enough of them are registered against Apple and Seagate maybe something will be done. I also find it pathetic that Seagate is putting the fault on Apple. To me it appears that both companies lacks the will to resolve this problem. Why should they, it is not hurting at the till yet. If we can impact the ktching-ktching they love so much to hear maybe it will become quiet enough for them to hear us.


We now live in a society where once you pay for an item it's yours and the companies no longer hold liabilities on their products. I long for the days where you could return just about anything by driving back to the store where the purchase was made. With online shopping being global most dissatisfied or disappointed customers assume the losses when something is wrong as it is sometimes costlier than to repack everything and send it back. I don't believe there is much QA/QC done on anything being shipped from online retailers. This is another story altogether but it ties in well with the lack of integrity that is now becoming a standard for companies with web storefronts.

Jan 13, 2016 9:46 AM in response to TanCrusader

Today I had an update to the Seagate app and the summary is now indicating the streaming of iTunes content will not work with iOS devices later than 7. This seems to indicate they are no longer trying to find a solution to the issues the customers have bee having with this compatibility since the release of iOS 8. New updates should offer additional features and options rather than removing functionality that had previously worked.


From information in the support forums the issues originate with changes Apple made and it seems they have no inclination to remedy the problem. Most likely they don't care that they've broken somehing that used to work as it doesn't really affect their products or sales. As a customer who has purchased a lot of iTunes content, the copyright information was also purchased and shouldn't limit which device I'm able to use to store and steam that purchased content. Apple has increased the space available on all the devices, but with HD content and the addition of iTunes extras with almost everything now the average size of a movie is increasing. Having the wireless hard drive kept me from having to constantly remove and download content whenever I wanted to watch something different. With slower internet connections it takes a lot of time and sometimes frustration to change the content on my iPad. Apple should not be able to further restrict how purchased content is viewed by removing previous compatibility. I still hope they address and fix this issue.

Jan 13, 2016 12:30 PM in response to TanCrusader

Yup,

I just discovered this as of iOS 9.

I own three iPads and bought the Seagate Go Flex Satellite WiFi drive over two years, ago.

I put my entire iTunes movie collection on that drive, so I could stream my movie library to any of my iDevices without having to suck up valuable storage space by having to load movies onto each of my iDevices to be able to watch movies.

I did some traveling, again, recently, not thinking anything of it and took one of my iPads, my external speakers and my Seagate Wireless drive with me, so my Wife and I could watch our favorite movies on the go and this is when I found out that the drive with Seagate's app will no longer stream my movie library from the drive!

I have a LOT of movies on that Seagate Drive and now do not have the ability, now to stream that movie content.

It's the same deal with a New SanDisk 128 GB WiFi connect drive that I just purchased to that, also,claims to stream movies, but can't stream iTunes movie content.

I purchased the SanDisk drive because it is very small and very compact and I thought I'd be able to stream my movie content from this drive from inside my a shirt or pants pocket!

I can stream my ALL my purchased iTunes music just fine, but WHOA nellie! You want to stream your iTunes movies, too??? Apple says "I don't think so!".

I don't know why Apple changed the DRM protection. I purchased the movies, I should be able to stream and watch the movie content from whatever device I choose to stream it from. That's why I paid what is, essentially, the physical disc price for a downloaded version of these movies.

So, I watch the content from wherever I want from whatever device I want to watch/view stream the content from!

Maybe it was the movie industry and NOT Apple that requested the change? I don't know.

The movie industry is a really greedy industry, too! Just as bad as the music industry.

All of know it that I purchased hundreds of dollars of movie content from iTunes over the years that I can no longer play anywhere I want from what ever device I want now.

I should've just done with purchasing movies online with what I did with purchasing music online. If I only purchase a few songs from an album, I'll purchase the just those songs from iTunes. If I find I like most of the songs on a music album, I just go out somewhere and purchase the physical music CD because I feel I can do anything I want with it because I purchased the music content on physical media.

Until Apple and the movie industry rectify this issue, I am not going to purchase any more iTunes movies from the Apple online store.

I am going back to purchasing full! physical DVDs/Blu-ray discs and do what I need to do to get the content to stream to all my devices without restriction.

I can't afford to go and repurchase ALL of the iTunes movies I have purchased over the years, but I can change my buying habits, now, going forward.

I am forced back, now to deciding what movies and how many movies to put back on my iDevices to be able watch when I travel.

The size of the HD movie downloads are large and I hate putting ANY of those movies back on my iDevices.

My Seagate drive is just good for Music, photos and data, now. Same goes for my new SanDisk drive.

I am really bummed out about this situation. Plus, Apple is going to lose fairly regular sales from me, now because of this issue.

I am surprised the Apple bothered to bring back Home Sharing in iOS 9.

Feb 10, 2016 4:50 PM in response to matthewfrommansfield

I just bought the Lacie Fuel after talking with a chat room rep about all the problems for video streaming this would solve. I was thoroughly disappointed after reading all these comments...


What happened for me was I backed up all my movies to the drive. Then I went to my ipad opened the app clicked play and it redirected me to Safari and had a play icon in the middle of the screen that then jumped up to the top of the screen and when I clicked on it to play the screen goes black like its going to start a movie but then just doesnt do ****......


I am a little frustrated with Apple not removing the product if it doesn't work the way its supposed to... Needless to say I will be returning it tomorrow for a full refund.. Waste of time and money....

May 1, 2016 5:06 AM in response to matthewfrommansfield

Ditto here. I had the Seagate drive, then the Lacie fuel. They worked well in my all iPads but after upgrading the OS, I got the same experience as Ranyland. Now, it is just a simple external drive. I still can get access to my files connecting directly to my computer but the whole issue of having a wireless access to your data bank using your iPad while crossing the pound is gone.

Morale; resist any upgrading until all these issues are resolved.

Using Seagate wireless plus with IOS8

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