Google Adds Chromecast Local Media Support (Kind of), and Other Apps in Massive Update

Google just added a slew of app support to Chromecast, cementing the internet TV dongle as the best stocking-stuffer gadget of the season.

On Tuesday, Google added 10 new apps to the list of Chromecast-supported software, expanding the Chromecast's ability dramatically and re-enabling support for streaming locally-owned media to the TV. The new apps include some important (and some silly) streaming services: Vevo, Songza, Plex, Post TV, Viki, Revision 3, BeyondPod, aVia, RealPlayer Cloud, and Red Bull.TV.

This is good news, and it's been a long time coming.

Google's Chromecast streaming TV gadget began in late summer this year with a bang, but the device soon fell to a whimper over the next few months. The TV dongle, not much larger than a thumbstick flash memory drive, was designed to plug into the HDMI port of a HDTV and connect to your WiFi, giving you an easy and cheap way to "cast" or stream internet content on your home theater system.

The $35 device, which initially came with 3 months of Netflix streaming service included (which made the Chromecast practically free), sold out quickly and was hard to find for the first month. It came with immediate support for Netflix, YouTube, Google Play Movies and Music, and the Chrome browser, which meant that you could stream internet video from a computer onto the TV screen.

But those were the only apps available for Chromecast for quite some time, even though Google promised more to come. After what seemed like forever, Google added Hulu Plus to its app repertory in October, followed by Pandora at the end of that month. But during that time, Google had also updated Chromecast, locking out some third-party apps that promised to stream local media (downloaded music and videos) from computers, which was a huge initial feature that Chrome browser, by itself, had a hard time covering adequately.

Later in the fall, the trickle of apps continued with the long-promised HBO Go support for Chromecast. But now that trickle has turned into a full blast, as Google added some vital apps to its Chromecast ecosystem.

Most importantly, local media playback is back. Plex is the most important addition: it's a very flexible media server app that runs on iOS and Android mobile, and on desktop computers through the web (on Chrome browsers), which allows for casting local video to the Chromecast. Support for casting photos and music is coming soon. The only (frustrating) caveat with Plex is that, for "an initial period," Plex on Chromecast will only be available to PlexPass - that is, paying - members of Plex's service.

Eventually that will change, according to Plex's blog, and I hope it changes very soon.

Another option is also a paid app, (and in this case, it's not likely to change) called aVia, which allows you to cast photos, videos, and music from an Android device or a local network-attached storage device, to the TV. RealPlayer Cloud - a cloud storage site from RealNetworks - also allows casting from iOS, Android, or the web, and it's free for up to 2GB of storage, and cheap after that.

In addition to these (admittedly frustrating for now) local media playback options, Chromecast added some other random app offerings. Vevo is another interesting YouTube-like addition to the Chromecast app-mosphere, and BeyondPod, which a great podcast aggregator and player, makes for a well-rounded audio offering from Google's dongle. PostTV is the Washington Post's news app, and the rest are curiosities that any successful app ecosystem is likely to pick up.

It should be noted that Google is still not allowing direct streaming of local files from PCs and Macs, which is something Chromecast users lost when Google blacklisted AllCast. Instead, users have to upload their media to a cloud service - a somewhat annoying and unnecessary middle step. However, reports have it that Android 4.4.1 is being designed to work with Chromecast like AirPlay screen-mirroring, so stay tuned for more improvements to the $35 TV dongle as they come along.