Chromecast is great for slinging video to TVs but it’s not so hot for streaming music. Enter Google Cast Audio, which promises to do for tunes what Chromecast does for telly.
Cast Audio-compatible speakers, sound bars and A/V receivers will let you beam songs, playlists and radio content from services including Deezer, Rdio, TuneIn and Pandora as well as whole bunch of other Cast-compatible services.
Brands and manufacturers who’ve lined up to get behind Cast Audio so far include Denon, LG and Sony. All Android TVs will be Cast Audio compatible to boot. More brands will be announced throughout 2015 – let’s hope that Pure and Samsung get on board.
Chipmakers Broadcom, Marvell, MediaTek and system integrator Libre Wireless are also on board with Cast Audio, so any set-top boxes, speakers and connected TVs with chips and hardware from these companies could, in theory, bring Cast Audio fun to people’s living rooms.
Tomer Shekel, product manager of Google Cast for audio says that games consoles will support the new standard too, but has so far neglected to mention which of the current gen machines will be able to play ball.
Given that Spotify has invested heavily in its own Connect ecosystem, the jury’s out on whether or not it’ll come to Cast Audio. In the meantime, let’s keep our fingers crossed.
Check out Google’s video below for an idea of how Cast Audio will work.
Leave a Reply