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mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,738
6,109
No we dont use iphones and adding songs to the queue in Google Play music. If you are not aware of it you can download the Google Play music manager on your pc and maybe mac and it will scan your itunes folder, music folder or any folder you want and add them to your account online. It will match 20,000 songs for free and you can stream them to any device, it is a great service and app

that is bad ass. I never really listen to music, but I will definitely pass the info on.
 

mclld

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 6, 2012
2,658
2,127
Not only is it a great way to access your music on any computer/tablet/phone but it is a great backup for your music since you can download the songs if you need to
 

jsw

Moderator emeritus
Mar 16, 2004
22,910
44
Andover, MA
NIf you are not aware of it you can download the Google Play music manager on your pc and maybe mac and it will scan your itunes folder, music folder or any folder you want and add them to your account online. It will match 20,000 songs for free and you can stream them to any device, it is a great service and app
It absolutely works on a Mac (I use it, and I only have Macs at home, well, aside from one Chromebook), and it's fantastic. It also runs in the background (if you tell it to load at startup) and will continually upload any new iTunes content. I can get an iTunes song on my daughter's iPhone and then, moments later, it download via iTunes onto my Mac and then uploads essentially immediately to Play. Very, very nice, and also Play has free songs as well.

Highly recommended, even if you only use iTunes music.
 

Quotenfrau

macrumors 6502
Mar 6, 2011
474
21
Sadly Chromecast is not available in Europe.

What I miss? What does it, that ATV doesn't?
 

jsw

Moderator emeritus
Mar 16, 2004
22,910
44
Andover, MA
why not? What's a Chromecast alternative then?
As of the moment, it's not comparable because the number of things you can do with a Chromecast is very limited. Netflix, YouTube, Google Play, and Chrome tabs are all you can stream.

That will change. Channels will be added. But for now, the primary benefit of the Chromecast over, say, an Apple TV or Roku is the ability to stream Play content if you actually have any Play content. Otherwise, the other devices do more and justify their higher costs.

The Chromecast is a fantastic device for the price. It does what it says it does. But it's not yet as capable as the others.

The alternative? An ATV or Roku 3.
 

mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,738
6,109
As of the moment, it's not comparable because the number of things you can do with a Chromecast is very limited. Netflix, YouTube, Google Play, and Chrome tabs are all you can stream.

That will change. Channels will be added. But for now, the primary benefit of the Chromecast over, say, an Apple TV or Roku is the ability to stream Play content if you actually have any Play content. Otherwise, the other devices do more and justify their higher costs.

The Chromecast is a fantastic device for the price. It does what it says it does. But it's not yet as capable as the others.

The alternative? An ATV or Roku 3.

exactly this. A lot of companies have come out and said they will support chromecast such as HBO GO.
 

Lobwedgephil

macrumors 603
Apr 7, 2012
5,792
4,757
My chromecast is dead on arrival today. Tech support trying to say its not compatible with an airport extreme and I need to downgrade my airport firmware to 7.6.1 Which is not happening. All I get is a tiny color bar instead of the setup screen.
 

TheHateMachine

macrumors 6502a
Sep 18, 2012
846
1,354
exactly this. A lot of companies have come out and said they will support chromecast such as HBO GO.

Yup there is already scraps of HBO testing on the current device with the latest software. Not to mention people are already hacking it and adding all sorts of crazy stuff like emulators.

Not to mention the Google Cast SDK for App mirroring that is now open to Android and Web Devs.
 

jsw

Moderator emeritus
Mar 16, 2004
22,910
44
Andover, MA
My chromecast is dead on arrival today. Tech support trying to say its not compatible with an airport extreme and I need to downgrade my airport firmware to 7.6.1 Which is not happening. All I get is a tiny color bar instead of the setup screen.
That's BS on a number of levels.

First, I'm on 7.6.3 and streaming with a 2012 Airport Express to the Chromecast. No issues. None.

Second, the WiFi has nothing to do with the setup screen you see on the TV until it's setup.

Your 'cast is DOA and they should accept a return on it. However, feel free to say you switched to a Cisco router or whatnot and still see the issue. They're getting hung up on the wrong thing. Or say you downgraded to 7.6.1. Doesn't matter - it's not the wifi.
 

ob81

macrumors 65816
Jun 11, 2007
1,406
356
Virginia Beach
My chromecast is dead on arrival today. Tech support trying to say its not compatible with an airport extreme and I need to downgrade my airport firmware to 7.6.1 Which is not happening. All I get is a tiny color bar instead of the setup screen.

I have an AirPort Extreme from like 2007 and it is a Japan edition and it worked after tweaking. While on 5ghz, it did not work. On 2.4ghz, it worked fine.
 

mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,738
6,109
My chromecast is dead on arrival today. Tech support trying to say its not compatible with an airport extreme and I need to downgrade my airport firmware to 7.6.1 Which is not happening. All I get is a tiny color bar instead of the setup screen.

that would be weird that it works with my new airport express but not the extreme....
 

Assault

macrumors 6502a
Mar 19, 2013
513
0
in the taint
HBO Go and Hulu confirmed a few days ago that they will make official apps for Chromecast. More will follow, until this is common for every mainstream media app.

----------


This will be the main reason why I will stick with CM10.2 Kangs on my new Nexus 7. I will also be buying another Chromecast, cause these little things are just plain awesome. Looks like I will be dumping all my Apple TV's now and Roku's within a few months.
 

T5BRICK

macrumors G3
Aug 3, 2006
8,314
2,391
Oregon
My chromecast is dead on arrival today. Tech support trying to say its not compatible with an airport extreme and I need to downgrade my airport firmware to 7.6.1 Which is not happening. All I get is a tiny color bar instead of the setup screen.

Not that you needed any extra confirmation here, but my Chromecast is running fine on my 5th gen Airport Extreme running firmware 7.6.3. But, just like the other poster mentioned, I'm unable to get it functioning on the 5GHz band.
 

jsw

Moderator emeritus
Mar 16, 2004
22,910
44
Andover, MA
Not that you needed any extra confirmation here, but my Chromecast is running fine on my 5th gen Airport Extreme running firmware 7.6.3. But, just like the other poster mentioned, I'm unable to get it functioning on the 5GHz band.
I don't think it supports the 5GHz band at all.
 

T5BRICK

macrumors G3
Aug 3, 2006
8,314
2,391
Oregon
I don't think it supports the 5GHz band at all.

That's very strange then. When I first fired it up, the thing actually saw my 5GHz network but refused to connect to it. After a few tries, I just used my regular 2.4GHz network and it has worked fine.
 

Shanghaichica

macrumors G5
Apr 8, 2013
14,725
13,245
UK
I'm just going to upgrade my Apple TV, it's more useful to me as I buy a lot of iTunes content. I've only ever bought one movie on google play and that was just a test. The chromecast is not available here yet. I will probably still get one when it comes out to play around with as its only $35.
 

Explicitic

macrumors 6502
Oct 26, 2012
455
11
Undecided
Chromecast just got more useful with AirCast :)
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/play-almost-any-video-on-your-chromecast-with-aircast/
 

DeathTheKid

macrumors member
Aug 12, 2013
77
1
why not? What's a Chromecast alternative then?

There is actually a pretty cool alternative that ranges from about the same price as the Chromecast to about $80. It is called Android Mini PC and runs full Android and hooks up to your TV or monitor. Here is one for $35.

Personally, I am thinking about getting one similar to this one instead of the Chromecast. However, I didn't realize that you could mirror Chrome tabs until this thread on the Chromecast. So, I may get a Chromecast, since I could watch flash videos through the Chrome browser.
 
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