Great service with map update

[TC350]

ALL satnav maps are available online via piracy. I am not aware of a single model of satnav - in-car, or standalone - that you can't get pirated maps for.

Some are being sold on eBay, others are available for download via file sharing websites and Internet forums. You'll need to be computer-savvy to do it yourself, but it's all there.

This is not an MB problem, it is an industry-wide issue.

My point is that it may be an industry wide issue because the industry itself makes it harder to get hold of the genuine article. I would have happily paid £15 extra for the genuine update if it had been as easily accessible as the eBay pirate version.

 

[markjay]

My point is that it may be an industry wide issue because the industry itself makes it harder to get hold of the genuine article. I would have happily paid £15 extra for the genuine update if it had been as easily accessible as the eBay pirate version.

True, but it's a chicken and egg situation... you are buying IPR, not physical goods, and the high price is in part the result of the number of paying customers they get - the less people buy the product, the higher the cost per person - after all, MB buy the maps data from HERE then prepare the software and distribute and support it, that's an unavoidable cost to them that must be recouped.

 

[markjay]

There's another reason why some software vendors do not bother fighting piracy, and it's financial viability.

You have to keep in mind that there's a certain proportion of those people who are using pirated software, who would not have used the product if they had to pay for it the full retail price.

The industry will tell you that they are losing £££££££ to piracy, but this is not the case and the vendors know it - the only real damages they suffer is from those people who use pirated software but would have otherwise paid for a legal copy if a pirated copy wasn't available.

Software vendors can therefore often find themselves in a situation where fighting piracy (which is an ongoing operation, not a one-off) will cost them more than what they are losing in real terms.

How many people on here do not bother updating the maps "because it's too expensive"? The fact that some of these people will pay a small amount for a pirated copy, does not mean that they would have paid the full amount to MB if the pirated option wasn't available.

Which is probably, in part at least, why some vendors appear to be limiting the efforts they put into fighting piracy.

 

[SidewazeSamm]

So thanks to the above posts, I've now discovered what version of Comand I have and how the maps can be updated.

Now what about the traffic information? MB now only seem to provide this as part of an expensive package of goodies that are not applicable to my 9-year old car.
Is it possible to get this direct from TomTom or wherever?

 

[markjay]

...Now what about the traffic information? MB now only seem to provide this as part of an expensive package of goodies that are not applicable to my 9-year old car.
Is it possible to get this direct from TomTom or wherever?

No, it is not. I have tried....

TomTom provide the data to MB, but MB provide the connectivity to your car. Without MB's connectivity, TomTom have no way to deliver it to your COMAND unit. And in any event TomTom don't have it as a product that you can order as a consumer.

 

[C240Sport97]

is there a version 21 for NTG 4.5/4.7

 

[Connoisseur]

deleted

yes

 

[kam09]

Had my w205 comand maps updated via usb stick n activation code by satnavishop eu for an absolute steal of a price few months ago using a discount code.. took just over an hour to update and highly recommend them..