New Cast Ready speakers from several leading audio brands will launch over the course of year, say Google.
Google Cast technology already powers the Google Chromecast and Chromecast Audio devices as well as other electronic equipment, including the Nexus Player (which runs Android TV) and some Sony & LG sound bars.
Google Cast allows audio equipment manufacturers to add a widely supported technology to their hardware, ready to handle streams from Spotify, Pandora, NPR Radio, YouTube and an ever-growing set of other popular streaming services.
It’s fast becoming the common standard for internet connected audio systems, able to add new and novel features through software updates — something standard bluetooth-based speakers either don’t or, in some cases, can’t do.
More Google Cast Ready Speakers & Sound Bars Coming
Sony and LG already ship the tech in a range of its speakers and sound bars. In 2016 a host of other big names in the audio hardware space, including B&O (BeoPlay), Philips, Pioneer, and Harman Kardon, are joining in the musical jamboree.
Cast Ready sound equipment will also shortly receive multi-room audio support, as was recently added to the Chromecast Audio puck. Multi-room audio enables you play a single audio stream across multiple speakers, in sync, and no matter their position in your house.
With a broader range of hardware support and neat new features, Google Cast for audio is well on its way to becoming a cheaper alternative to the successful Sonos sound system.
Adding to the strong sales of the Chromecast and Chromecast Audio devices with a range of additional hardware options should help put an even greater spotlight put on the streaming platform, and help foster features and uses, and greater support from apps and service.
- Source: Google, via ChromeStory