News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

January 07, 2007

music

CES '07: Netgear's Digital Entertainer HD goes head-to-head with the iTV

Authored by Dan Moren at 10:08 AM
Category | Music
Digg it | del.icio.us

digitalentertainer3.jpgPerhaps attempting to steal thunder from part of Steve Jobs’s Tuesday keynote, Netgear today announced a device that looks rather like a shot across the iTV’s bow. The Digital Entertainer HD streams content wirelessly from any PC, Mac, or network storage device in your house, and even allows you to attach an iPod, or other storage device via a USB connection. And, as you might guess by the moniker, HD is a big part of its game.

The device can be hooked up to your HD TV, where it’ll display its own onscreen interface for viewing photos and video, listening to music, and even streaming content from the net (YouTube functionality was demonstrated, but Netgear has also struck a deal with BitTorrent’s legit side to allow the downloading of movies and TV shows).

Here’s the kicker, though. The Digital Entertainer HD lets you stream music you’ve bought from the iTunes Store over its connection, but only from a PC. When pressed on this point, Netgear reps were went into evasive maneuvers so fast, you’d have thought they were being tracked by heat-seeking missiles. They wouldn’t speak as to how they stream the content, though they stressed that it would only work if the PC was authorized to play that song. My guess, Apple is not going to be thrilled about this.

Netgear reps also refused to comment on how their device compares to the iTV, which is reasonable as it hasn’t been announced. But come Tuesday morning, you can bet the comparisons will be drawn. Given that Macs still seem to be second-class citizens in this device, and as the UI could probably best be described as “uninspired,” I don’t expect to see Mac users flocking in droves. The Digital Entertainer HD hits in Q1 for $349; that’s a price point for Apple to beat, in my opinion.


Post a comment

(If you haven't logged in with TypeKey, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting. For quicker posting, set up a TypeKey account.)

 


Warning: include(/web/macuser/includes/hbx_page_code_standard.txt) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /export/MW-WEBLOGS/macuser/music/ces_07_netgears_digital_entert.php on line 174

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening '/web/macuser/includes/hbx_page_code_standard.txt' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php') in /export/MW-WEBLOGS/macuser/music/ces_07_netgears_digital_entert.php on line 174


IDG IDG NETWORK:   CIO   Computerworld   CSO   Digital World   Digital World Tokyo   GamePro   GamerHelp   Infoworld  
   ITWorld Canada   JavaWorld   LinuxWorld   Macworld   Network World   PC World   Playlist   Techworld