Google today announced a new variant of its Chromecast streaming device that aims to simplify music streaming, it’s a simple little device that allows users to stream music from their smartphones to any conventional speaker. It basically does for audio what the original Chromecast dongle did for video streaming, the dongle hooked up to TVs through an HDMI port and allowed users to easily stream content from services like Netflix, HBO Go, YouTube and many other services.
The Chromecast dongle can stream music but since it only plugs into an HDMI port you can really hook it up to a standard speaker set, and that’s where Chromecast for Audio comes in.
It plugs into the standard 3.5mm audio jack of a stereo or any other audio device and simply lets users stream music to that device, all users have to do is power up the external device and plug in Chromecast Audio. They can then use their Android device to play music which will be streamed through the external speakers over the local Wi-Fi network.
Users can even combine multiple Chromecast Audio units to create their own multi-room setup, it’s compatible with 802.11ac Wi-Fi and 5GHz wireless networks so expect good performance, the device itself isn’t bad to look at it actually looks like a tiny vinyl record.
Chromecast Audio is available for purchase starting today in 17 countries through the Google Play Store for $35.
To see how it works, watch the demo we videotaped at the press event in San Francisco:
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