Yesterday we told you about the new Windows Live FrameIt and hinted at the FrameIt Client coming soon. Today we were able to get hands on with the latest FrameIt Client PowerToy. Here’s a screenshot of the client attempting to add my FrameIt collection named “LiveSide”:

So, you might ask, what is the FrameIt Client and what does it do? Here’s what the official help file says:

FrameIt Client is a PowerToy which enables you to subscribe to collections (RSS image feeds) on the Windows Live FrameIt service, and place the images in those collections into folders on your computer. FrameIt Client keeps the contents of these local collections synchronized with the collections on the Windows Live FrameIt service. This means that your local FrameIt Client collections are always up to date, and contain the same dynamic content and fresh images as your FrameIt service collection RSS feeds on the web.

Using the features provided in FrameIt Client:

• You can send multiple RSS feeds to one folder, direct each RSS feed to a different folder, or send the same RSS feed to several different folders.
• You can specify the size of the images (width and height) that are placed in each folder, or leave them at the native sizes in the RSS feed.
• You can direct the contents of a Windows Live FrameIt service collection to a FrameIt Client plug-in, which can provide support for special devices, or perform virtually any function on the collection images.  Information on how to create a FrameIt Client plug-in is provided in the FrameIt Client section of the FrameIt SDK.

So what good does it do? And why would you want to use the FrameIt Client PowerToy? Microsoft gives us the following response:

You can use FrameIt Client collections (local synchronized folders) for several useful purposes:

• as the source folders for a USB-connected digital picture frame
• as the source folders for a screen saver, slide show, or other image display program.
• You can add the synchronized folders to your Windows Live Mesh and share the images with others.

This means that besides being a completely online service that only provides photos and images directly to internet-capable digital photo frames, with the use of the new FrameIt Client PowerToy you’ll be able to extend your FrameIt Collections (or Collections you subscribe to) locally on your computer for other uses. These extended uses include things such as automatically displaying the photos on an non-internet capable digital photo frame, or use them as your customised screensavers (and desktop background) that dynamically updates as the content of your Collection changes.

What’s also interesting to note is that Microsoft refers to “Windows Live Mesh” now instead of Live Mesh – a result of Microsoft’s recent reorg joining the Live Mesh team with Windows Live group.

Please do take note that the FrameIt Client will be a PowerToy that is designed for advanced power users only and will only be available in English. This product may not be supported by Microsoft in the future.