One of the most common laments I hear from Apple haters--a surprisingly large, vituperative contingent as it turns out-- and also even from Apple owners, is the lack of a memory card slot on all models of the iPhone, the iPad and the iPod to expand the onboard storage capacity. But that doesn't mean we can't add flash memory to these devices.
Kingston Technology Company, Inc. proffers the Wi-Drive, a lovely little tapered accessory that harkens back to the size and style of an iPod touch, but with different intent. Available in 16- and 32-gigabyte capacities, the Wi-Drive broadcasts up to three separate streams to different Wi-Fi-enabled devices simultaneously over 802.11g/n, allowing multiple users to access media not stored inside their portable players.
Wi-Drive connects to the computer via USB 2.0 (cable included) for simple drag-and-drop loading of video, music and photos into the sleek device's flash memory cache, including purchased, copy-protected content. The Apple client (iPod, iPhone or iPad) needs to download the free app from The App Store, and then the Wi-Drive access point can be recognized and its riches exploited. AAC, MP3, WAV, m4v, mov, JPEG, M-JPEG, AVI, jpg, bmp, PDF, doc, docx, ppt, pptx, txt, rtf and xls file types are all supported.
The slender, lightweight Wi-Drive disappears into a shirt pocket, and since there are no moving parts it operates quietly and efficiently (if a tad warmly). The rechargeable internal lithium battery (AC adapter also included) is good for about four hours of use.
Official pricing for the 32GB model is $179.99, and $129.99 for the 16GB model, although both are substantially discounted on Amazon.com. The 32GB model marked down to a mere $99.99 is a particular steal, and a great gift for any iPhone, iPad or iPod touch user... or a parent thereof!
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