If you’ve read any of my other “reviews” (or “personal experience”) of gadgets, phones, and what not, you know that I above all things like uncomplicated stuff that works. Having used a number of so-called “Media Centers” and “Media Hubs”, both hardware and software, I was not entirely happy about going shopping for sometihng to replace the Netgear EVA9150 Digital Entertainer Elite. When I ran into the WD TV Live, it caught my interest mainly due to its size and the way the product was pitched. The idea is that this is a “streaming” or “management” device, without its own storage. Needless to say, it has support for network attached media (NAS) or a local USB hard disk, as well as Internet-based services. This is not a guarantee for anything, but it’s a step in the right direction. Pairing this unit with a Samsung S2 USB drive allows me to keep some serious media at the ready, as well as replacing that media when the kids aren’t around.
When I first noticed this product from Western Digital, I was also told a new version was on its way. So, I did some reading on the upcoming model and decided to wait. When it appeared on the Swedish market, I got myself a unit. This is an inexpensive, very capable, and affordable “media player” or “media center”. If you want to find out my opinion about it, keep on reading 🙂
It’s the classic battle of big vs small, the single user vs the large company, grassroots vs the global corporate world, David vs Goliath; you get the idea. What’s interesting about this isn’t necessarily the issue at hand, but more that we have never had so many legislative checks in place to prevent this as we do now.