Hi.
I have / had both of them (both 3TB).
In my opinion My Cloud is better and has more / better possibilities. It is worth to pay little more, but not so much.
If you cannot afford My Cloud and My Book is in your range - take it. It is simple and good disk. I liked it.
My Book Live
1 core processor 800MHz, 256MB RAM
Read speed was about 90MB/s (I do not remember for sure, but it was reported in some reviews, that it is a little faster than My Cloud, but both are probably the fastes in this price and volume range).
No USB (no possibility of expanding cloude storage space).
Disk backups only to other My Book Live device (or you may just copy by hand to any device).
Some lacks in users / shares management (you may live with this if we talk about home use).
Soundless (mostly). Even during hard work it is really quiet.
Fanless (I like it).
Very low power consumption (you should not turn it off).
The same mobile application as My Cloud.
Only a little worse web user interface, with a little less information.
Previously had Twonky, than changed to DLNA.
Older product.
Black only.
My Cloud
2 core Cortex-A9 processor 650MHz, 512MB RAM
Read speed was about 75MB/s, write about 40-60.MB/s. Of course it depends, but it is still one of the fastes devices in its class. Of course you may read a lot bragging about NASes and their possibilities and speed, but why to pay twice or more for such devices if speed is enough to watch movies on TV etc.? In my opinion it is better to spend this money in the future for next (and newer) disk, to have second backup / cloud device, and keep it in other place, just in case.
USB 3.0 (possibility of expanding cloude storage space; you may plug in you camera and share images; use your friend’s pendrive; whatever; Without browsing with administrator rights you cannot delete or add anything to such USB device - pleasant security).
Disk backups (snapshots) to any other My Cloud or to USB devices (or you may just copy by hand to any device).
A little better user management (e.g. added read only rights, instead of read/write and no acces only).
Soundless (mostly). Even during hard work it is really quiet.
Fanless (I like it).
Very low power consumption (you should not turn it off).
The same mobile application as My Book Live.
Very nice and fast user interface.
Has Twonky.
Newer product (from half of this year or something like that, maybe even from September)
White only.
Both work great and fast enough in local LAN, cloud (internet or home WiFi), TV with WiFi Android device etc.
Remember that video through WiFi vary on your WiFi devices, not disk. HD may be too big to be watched smoothly.
Use fast WiFi or LAN.
Probably both have WD Red inside. My Cloud probably for sure (WD staff on this forum).
It looks real, because My Cloud is a little slower, so probably this is WD Red’s IntelliPower (adaptive speed, to avoid overheating, without significant performance loss).
But remember - slower does not mean slow!
Cons? For both:
No print server (buy router with this function).
No possibility of IP camera monitoring.
No www server, etc.
Until you do not play with servers and web services you do not need this. And mostly those functions may be realized in other devices (e.g. router).
I have My Cloud now and do not want to change back to My Book Live.
In both cases (disks) - beware of firmware upgrade.
Always download file by yourself, directly from WD web page, put it on your computer (or even on USB device if you have My Cloud) and update it directly through web browser user interface.
To avoid any problems, connect your drive directly to this computer, where firmware file is placed. Check any possible power failures, and do nothing more (turn off / close all other applications etc.).
Earlier you should can enable ssh, just to leave backdoor open - just in case. You will find simple instructions on this forum how to do it.
Turn off automatic updates.
And update only if you are sure, that this version of firmware is checked and confirmed by many users as correct and working fine.
If something will happen, think before RMA (replacement). You will get used (probably repaired) drive as re-certified.
Waranty will be the same, but it is used (somehow) device and such devices are sold in official shop with 6 months waranty, so probably your disk (until physical damage) will be better. Just avoid updating without being sure and safety steps.
Other companies have the same policy of RMA, and slower disks (e.g. Seagate - check their support forum).
If you buy and will have problems - you may ask me. Or search this forum.
