By Claire Reilly
Western Digital introduced a cache of new products to its line-up yesterday, with the launch of the next generation of its WD TV Live streaming media player, as well as two dedicated apps for Apple and Android mobile devices.
The refreshed WD TV Live brings a new user interface to the mix, allowing users to navigate through their music, video and photo files, and access internet services such as Facebook, Picasa web albums, internet radio (including TuneIn Radio) and a dedicated YouTube channel that has been tweaked for the device.
The media player also gives users access to RSS feeds and a set of casual games that are streamed through the Fun Spot Games service.
Video files are played in Full HD 1080p quality, and there are also features such as Dolby Dynamic Range Control (which equalises sound levels across multiple videos) and a ‘lip sync’ feature that allows users to match-up video and audio on movies to compensate for any lag.
The WD TV Live will be available from Harvey Norman, Dick Smith, JB Hi-Fi and Officeworks for RRP $179.
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In addition to the WD TV Live, Western Digital was also promoting its WD 2go and WD 2go Pro mobile applications, designed to work with the company’s My Book Live drive.
Available for both Apple and Android devices, the apps lets users to create their own “personal cloud”, giving them remote access to the My Book Live through a mobile device. These apps join the WD2go website, which also lets users browse the files kept on their My Book Live storage drive from any computer in the world, thanks to a dedicated website.
“The personal cloud products give you the ability to know exactly where your data is and have access to it all the time, creating your own personal cloud,” said Damian Hodge, Western Digital business development manager, branded products. “Basically anywhere where there’s an internet connection you can access your data.”
“With our WD Photos, WD 2Go and WD 2Go Pro applications – which are available on the Android marketplace as well as the Apple App Store – as well as with WD2go.com, basically you can access your data from anywhere.
“With WD2go.com your drive becomes just like a local storage drive that all your data is stored up in the cloud. We’re really offering our customers now a complete solution.
The basic WD 2go app is available for free, while WD 2go Pro can be downloaded for a one-off fee of US$2.99. The Pro app gives users the same functionality as the basic app, with the additional ability to “clip” or cache files on a mobile device, as well as options for automatic syncing, content sharing and password protection.