Windows Live FrameIt Digital Frame Content Service Released in Beta

Written on Aug 7, 2008 by Brian and filed under FrameChannel, FrameIt

Microsoft has recently released a free content service for digital picture frames called FrameIt. FrameIt takes a clear shot at the more established FrameChannel service, which is embedded with many Internet-enabled frames, like the D-Link DSM-210 that we just reviewed.

FrameIt lets users customize a content feed that is delivered via RSS. The promise is nearly identical to FrameChannel, you can customize weather data, news sources and your own photos via Live Spaces or SmugMug; amongst other things. Once you customize the channel, all you have to do is plug in the address of your custom RSS feed into the frame. The frame then consumes the feed and starts displaying your data.

The main setback for Microsoft though is that many frames don’t have their own RSS readers. The D-Link model can consume RSS feeds, but it does so through the FrameChannel interface which mangles the FrameIt RSS feed.

Microsoft also needs to work on the content delivery a little bit. Some channels like weather and their stock photo galleries work well, but the news feeds leave quite a bit to be desired.

FrameIt is in beta and is available to everyone right now. Follow the developments on the FrameIt blog, or customize your personal RSS feed now.

FrameIt Content Screen Shots