It’s not often that we get excited about optical disk drives. No doubt, like most users, we tend to install them and forget about them till they are needed. However, Samsung’s newly announced SE-208BW optical drive does double duty as a smart media hub, enabling users to wirelessly stream and play CDs and DVDs on their wireless devices, including smartphones and tablets.

Along with traditional CD/DVD playback and writing capabilities, the drive includes an integrated wireless access point and can be connected to an ethernet LAN cable. The device can further be used to wirelessly connect to a smartphone or tablet PC to backup data such as pictures, video or contacts onto CDs or DVDs without having to turn on a desktop or notebook computer. Or if one prefers to back up data to the cloud, the SE-208BW can be connected to an external hard disk drive or USB memory drive, along with an internet LAN cable, to turn it into a personal cloud server.

The company explained that, for users who have an existing access point which suffers from weak signal strength, the SE-208BW can also be used to “amplify Wi-Fi signals and widen the connectivity range across the home.” Additionally, for TV's with DLNA compatibility, the SE-208AB comes with Allshare, which will enable  users to drive content through the TV menu to play and record multimedia files onto CDs and DVDs. The drive further offers a USB powered interface that eliminates the need for a separate electrical outlet.

The external drive provides a variety of speeds across different data media types including: 24X CD-ROM, 24X CD-RW, 8X DVD reading and 8X DVD±R, 5X DVD-RAM, 6X DVD+R Dual Layer, 6X DVD-R Dual Layer, 8X DVD+RW and 6X DVD-RW recording. The SE-208BW is slated for release early next year. Pricing is unavailable at this point.

In recent news, Samsung also unveiled its Galaxy Note smartphone.

For more follow TechSmart on Twitter and join us on Facebook.