Streaming media players are one of the hottest tech items this holiday season. With Google Chromecast and Amazon Fire TV Stick competing for customer dollars, which one should you choose and where can you find the lowest price on each?
Streaming media players have been appealing to more and more consumers in the past few years. Until recently, the players were all small set-top boxes, which attached to your TV via an HDMI port and were controlled by a separate remote. Roku carved a niche in the market and became the most popular brand of set-top streaming media box, but this year both Google and Amazon joined Roku by introducing the Chromecast and Fire TV Stick respectively, portable streaming sticks that have most of the capabilities of the larger boxes that were once the only choice.
Fortunately both the Google Chromecast and Amazon Fire TV Stick offerings are on sale this Black Friday at a price that makes them a great gift item--$24 to be exact. But which one should you choose? They both perform similar functions, but there are some differences. The Amazon Fire TV Stick comes with a remote, while Google's Chromecast must be controlled via a computer, tablet, or smartphone. Amazon's has better specs, offering more built-in memory and flash storage than Google, and a dual core processor as opposed to Google's single core. Chromecast users have reported the speed to be perfectly acceptable, however, so the biggest difference for consumers may just be the streaming content available from the devices.
The Amazon Fire TV Stick offers access to Amazon's Prime Instant Video Streaming Service, which Google does not, so Prime members seem to have an easy choice. That is unless they also subscribe to or receive HBO Go, which is only compatible with the Chromecast. Other services such as Netflix and Hulu Plus work on either, but some more specific content streams are only compatible with one of the devices, so check the links in the infographic below before you buy.
Once you've decided which device you desire, you're in luck because both are available for $24 the week of Black Friday. If you really can't decide which one you want, at prices this reasonable, you can always get both. The Chromecast is available for $23.99 at Best Buy, the lowest price we've seen for Black Friday, although Target, Walmart, RadioShack and Staples all have it for $24.99, only a dollar more.
Staples recently announced that they will be offering the Amazon Fire TV Stick for $24 in an early Black Friday sale that runs from Nov.23 through Nov.26. While Amazon has not yet announced its Black Friday pricing for the device, customers who order now are being advised they won't receive theirs until after Jan.15, 2015, so Staples is your chance to get your hands on one for Christmas at a great price.
As the holiday season continues, we'll be sure to continue bringing you all the latest deals on the hottest streaming media players and other tech items as soon as they become available.
