I love movies and music. I have a DVD collection that is so large it fills multiple 100 DVD cases. I’ll admit that I shutter when I think about how much I’ve spent on movies over the past 10 years. I’ve recently been spending time working on converting that DVD collection to a digital format because the latest technology like the iPad doesn’t allow for me to watch my DVDs in their current physical format. Getting my video collection into a digital format is only half the problem. The other problem is finding a way for me to access my movies on my different computers, tablets, iPhone, and even a few Android devices. Thankfully there is an app for that!
Tonido is an app that is designed to assist in managing files from a computer and making them available on multiple devices. Essentially, through a Tonido desktop app, your computer becomes a media server that other devices can securely connect to to access your content.
To get started with Tonido I had to do a few things before I could begin watching my movie collection on all my electronic devices. After installing the app on my iPhone, I was a little nervous when it asked me to download software from the Tonido home website http://www.tonido.com/ as not many iOS apps require something to be installed on your computer. But, once I was there and clicked on the get started tab, the site walked me through step by step and was very clear on how to install and configure the software needed to use the Tonido app. I first installed the desktop Tonido software on the computer where I store my movie and music collect. When the installation was complete I created a user account and password with Tonido to allow me to connect to the computer securely from other devices.
I first tested how this all would work my iPhone. I downloaded the Tonido app from iTunes store and then when prompted I entered in my username and password and within three minutes I was listening to an mp3 file from my home computer. I could quickly and easily view the different media files on my desktop computer while on my iPod and selecting them to stream so I could listen to music or watch movies was almost instantaneous. Like many Apple products, it just worked!
After the great success I had with my iPhone, I decided to test the App on an Android device. I went to Google play on my LG phone and downloaded the Tonido app there and within 3 minutes I was looking at a photo album also stored on my desktop computer. I’ll be honest in that I thought there would be no way that the app would work on both devices as quickly and flawlessly as Tonido did.
The coolest part for me was the ability to share over multiple platforms and at the same time. After getting the app installed on all the different devices in our house I was amazed that my wife was using Tonido on her iPad, my son was using the app on my old iPhone, and I was writing this review on the computer they were linked to. Really the Tonido app is a game changer for our family.
I am still figuring out features of the App but the user interface is simple and in addition to playing back media it also seems to allow me to manage the filesystem. Some file management features include the ability to:
- Create a new folder
- Share it
- Upload/download files
- Add to favorites
The app is free and a must have for anyone who has a desktop computer and mobile devices. Besides allowing me to access my movie and music library remotely, it is nice not being limited to the storage space on my mobile devices. The Tonido app has been great and I’m sure my family will be using it more and more.
