Google announced a few weeks ago that Spotify support would soon be coming to the first and second-generation Chromecast media streamers. Spotify was updated about a week ago with support for casting to Google’s new Chromecast and Chromecast Audio devices, while the first-gen device needed a firmware update to be compatible with the music service.
If you’re an owner of the 2013 Chromecast and would like to stream your music from Spotify, you now can. The new firmware update should have already rolled out to your Chromecast. If it hasn’t, a simple reboot will do the trick.
Now that Spotify works with Chromecast, the app will automatically be able to detect what other devices are currently playing on your Chromecast network, and synchronize at the same spot in the playlist. So if your friend’s device is connected to your Chromecast and you’d like to start controlling their playlist from your phone, you can. All you need to do is open the Spotify app, select your home network, and your device will be able to instantly control the playlist that’s currently playing.
Spotify finally capitulated and added support for Chromecast streaming recently, but there were a number of caveats. Streaming to the Chromecast Audio required a premium subscription and the first-gen Chromecast wasn’t supported. That second issue won’t be a problem anymore. Reboot your first-gen Chromecast, and Spotify should work just fine.
The lack of first-gen support wasn’t some dastardly plan to get you to buy a new $35 Chromecast. The old streaming stick simply needed a firmware update to work properly with Spotify. Google will still sell you a new Chromecast, but there’s little reason to buy one right now.
Your device might have grabbed the Spotify update already, but if not a quick reboot will get it done. The Chromecast can be rebooted from the Chromecast app or you can just unplug the power.
Google announced a few weeks ago that Spotify support would soon be coming to the first and second-generation Chromecast media streamers. Spotify was updated about a week ago with support for casting to Google’s new Chromecast and Chromecast Audio devices, while the first-gen device needed a firmware update to be compatible with the music service.
If you’re an owner of the 2013 Chromecast and would like to stream your music from Spotify, you now can. The new firmware update should have already rolled out to your Chromecast. If it hasn’t, a simple reboot will do the trick.
Now that Spotify works with Chromecast, the app will automatically be able to detect what other devices are currently playing on your Chromecast network, and synchronize at the same spot in the playlist. So if your friend’s device is connected to your Chromecast and you’d like to start controlling their playlist from your phone, you can. All you need to do is open the Spotify app, select your home network, and your device will be able to instantly control the playlist that’s currently playing.
Spotify finally capitulated and added support for Chromecast streaming recently, but there were a number of caveats. Streaming to the Chromecast Audio required a premium subscription and the first-gen Chromecast wasn’t supported. That second issue won’t be a problem anymore. Reboot your first-gen Chromecast, and Spotify should work just fine.
The lack of first-gen support wasn’t some dastardly plan to get you to buy a new $35 Chromecast. The old streaming stick simply needed a firmware update to work properly with Spotify. Google will still sell you a new Chromecast, but there’s little reason to buy one right now.
Your device might have grabbed the Spotify update already, but if not a quick reboot will get it done. The Chromecast can be rebooted from the Chromecast app or you can just unplug the power.
When it debuted two years ago, Google’s Chromecast shook up the market for digital streaming devices. The company is hoping now to build on that success, releasing a new and improved version of the Chromecast.
The new model isn’t a whole lot different from its predecessor, but I’m impressed with how good a device it has become.
The original Chromecast stood apart from the competition when it launched. At $60, it was much less expensive than its rivals, most of which cost at least twice as much. Unlike those devices, it was the size of a USB stick and could be hidden from view by plugging directly into a television.
It also worked differently from those devices. It didn’t come with a remote control and didn’t offer any kind of on-screen interface. Instead, users controlled and interacted with it through their phones. If they wanted to watch or listen to something, they beamed it to the Chromecast from their handheld device.
When it launched, the device seemed to be more of a work-in-progress rather than a finished product. It only worked with a handful of apps, and it could be hard to find ones that were compatible with it.
There was no way to beam pictures or movies stored on users’ phones to their televisions. And video streamed to it could be choppy, in part because it could only connect to Wi-Fi networks over the 2.4 GHz band, which is generally overcrowded.
By now, though, Google and its legion of software developers have addressed many of these problems. The company says there are now thousands of Chromecast-compatible apps, many of which are available for both Android devices and for Apple’s iOS, which underlies the iPhone and iPad.
Among them are many of the most popular streaming media services, including in New Zealand, Netflix, Lightbox and Quickflix (but not Neon).
Additionally, you’ll find apps that will let you beam drawings, pictures and presentations to your screen. You’ll even find a selection of games that you can play on your television, via Chromecast, using your phone as a controller.
If you have an Android device, you can even beam apps to your screen that don’t have built-in compatibility with Chromecast. Google has developed a technology similar to Apple’s AirPlay that allows Chromecast to mirror what’s on their phones screens on their televisions.
Although the new Chromecast still doesn’t come with a remote control, Google does have a Chromecast app for both Android and iOS devices that makes it easier to control and use the device.
Owners use the app for the initial configuration of a Chromecast. But they can also use it to find other apps that are compatible with the device, both ones they’ve already installed and ones that they can download from a special section of Google’s Play store. The device also has a search feature that allows users to search for movies or television shows across several Chromecast compatible apps.
With the updated hardware Google has also addressed the original device’s connection problems. The new device, which looks like a small disk with a flat USB cable coming out of it, supports the latest wi-fi standards. It has multiple wi-fi antennas that can help signals get around obstacles in a room and it supports the less crowded 5 GHz Wi-Fi band.
The device isn’t perfect, of course. The new Chromecast doesn’t support 4K, the new standard for ultra-high resolution video that’s becoming more common among the latest televisions. And you’re unlikely to be able to play high-end games on the Chromecast that are in development for the new Apple TV.
The Chromecast also works better with Android devices than with iPhones or iPads, because the default apps in iOS don’t work with the device. That means that you can’t beam to Chromecast songs from Apple Music; videos you’ve purchased from iTunes; Web pages or videos you’ve pulled up in Safari or pictures and videos from the Photos app. In some cases, you can work around these limitations, but the apps that allow you to do so aren’t always easy to use.
Meanwhile, the lack of a remote control can be annoying. If you need to pause a movie because the phone’s ringing, it’s a lot easier to push a button on a physical remote than to find the media controls on your phone after you’ve unlocked it first.
Still, the new Chromecast is a much more complete and satisfying device to use than its predecessor was at launch. And when its latest rivals cost more than $100, it’s still a heck of a deal.
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