Difference between My Book and My Book Live

[smlmeyer]

I basically just want an external hard drive so that me and my girlfriend can access all of our music wirelessly via the network. Now, it seems that a My Book should be able to hook up to a router just as easily as the Live via USB. What's the advantage of the Live? Can the My Book only do backup and not be accessed in the way I'd like? I just want to know it's worth the extra money for a 2TB Live. Thanks for any help, I appreciate it.

[TonyPh12345]

The My Book Live hooks up to your network via ETHERNET, not USB to your router.

[martin_320nm]

I just bought a 'live' so it could be linked to the router by the ethernet cable and thus be used by any  device on the network at ethernet speeds. In contrast, a USB interface is ok to hook-up directly to a computer, but they are less flexible when you have a network with several devices using the 'shared' drive.

[smlmeyer]

May I ask how they are less flexible? Thanks for the answers guys!

[martin_320nm]

because with a USB connecton, it would be totally dependent on the computer it is attached to. But with an ethernet connection at the actual network hub, it can "serve" anybody's PC/Mac on the network, or any device (such as a media plater, Xbox PS3 etc)..

[martin_320nm]

 . . . on the other side of the coin, USB is much simpler to get working. You don't have to bother about IP addresses and firewalls gettig in the way. Setting up a network LAN for the first time is usually total nighmare! It took me a day before all my various parts could talk to each other. But with a USB drive to a PC, it's just 'plug & play'.