Conclusion:

The Seagate FreeAgent Go series of drives have been available for quite some time now, and despite some cosmetic changes and increases in storage capacities, they have remained about the same. While change is generally considered to be a good thing, when you get something right the first time, there is really no reason to change.

While the drive covered in this review may be the same, something has definitely changed. Seagate has decided to try their hand at digital media distribution through a partnership with Paramount Pictures. Including a hit movie like 2009's Star Trek with the purchase of the drive is pretty cool, and being able to expand your digital collection with even more movies through Seagate could be appealing.



The whole process of accessing the movie included with my drive turned out to be a bigger hassle than I could have predicted, and I hope that I am alone in that boat. Even if things went well, there are several steps that need to be taken online to unlock the content which is already on your drive, which may put people off. In the end I finally unlocked Star Trek for viewing, and was a bit disappointed to see it wasn't even high definition.

Searching the web for the Star Trek loaded FreeAgent Go didn't turn up much in terms of where to buy this drive just yet. But, looking at the Seagate site shows that you can get a 500GB unit with the movies pre-loaded straight from them for $99.99 (US). Seagate charges the same amount for the drive without the movies, and coincidentally that is the same price over at Newegg.com. The one difference being that at Newegg you get the drive's USB dock instead of the movie.

While we're talking about price, we have to consider the price of additional movies through this program. When I first accessed the store, prices were higher than they are now, so I have to change my initial opinion before even finishing the article. Many of the movies are now $9.99, while people paying for Star Trek will have to fork over $14.99. These are on the verge of being good deals to me. Taking a look at Star Trek only, I see I can get it from Amazon.com on Blu ray for $20, or on DVD for about $17. For $20, I have a true high definition version of the movie complete with the box, inserts, and other items that make owning movies fun. I can also rip it to my FreeAgent Theater+ in a format that may be better than what is available from Seagate, and at least I might be able to use more of my 16:9 format wide screen TV.

Pros:

» The FreeAgent Go is a great USB 2.0 drive
   » Solid performance
   » Attractively styled
   » Competitively priced
» Price is basically the same with or without the movie

Cons:

» Unlocking movie hopefully goes better for everyone else
» Web portal to access movies is compatible only with Internet Explorer 7+
» Movies only play in Windows Media Player 10+ or on FreeAgent Theater+
» Not high definition: Movie has resolution of just 720x300

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