Storage specialist LaCie hasn't done much with its Silverscreen media-playback hard drive of late, so it's fallen to another supplier to attempt to attract the digital media generation in an external hard drive that can play as well as store music and movies.

Enter iZak, a 40GB hard drive - there are 80GB, 100GB and 102GB versions too, we hear - that can play MPEGs 1, 2 and 4, DivX, WMA, AAC and MP3 audio and video files. It ships with its own remote control, and can be hooked up to a TV via a variety of formats supplied by an adaptor that plugs into the drive'e proprietary AV port. It also has a mini USB port for data transfer and power, and an S/PDIF optical port for audio.

This is all pretty much what LaCie's Silverscreen does. iZak supplier Unibrain has added a neat touch: it supplies tools to allow you to reconfigure, even replace, the drive's on-screen user interface.

The iZak costs €179-319/$229-389 (£120-214), depending on the capacity you choose. Details of where you can buy the unit can be found on Unibrain's website. ®