Iomega today introduced an external harddrive with integrated playback capability such as image, audio and video files. According to the manufacturer, the portable "ScreenPlay" offers its playback feature when connected to any TV or A/V system. A separate connected computer is not required to playback the content.

With 60 GByte capacity, the new device does not quite offer the necessary size to house all digital that is created in modern households. Even if Iomega claims that users can "liberate their audio, video and photo files from the PC and take them anywhere," we would expect the ScreenPlay to be more an interesting option for users that want to take some audio, videos and images on the road.

The USB 2.0-based drive comes in a silver and black casing and integrates audio and video (NTSC and PAL) outputs and offers a set of DVD-style playback buttons. The package also includes a wireless remote control. Iomega promises the drive to be available "just in time" for holiday shopping and a suggested retail price of $220.