The Chromecast family is rapidly growing now that Google released an SDK to outside developers. Chromecast welcomed Crackle, Rdio, Vudu and PlayOn to its list of compatible applications for content streaming from your mobile device to your TV.
Ever since Google introduced Chromecast, developers have been vying to get onto the popular new content-streaming platform. The SDK helped speed up the process and now Chromecast has dozens of partners and a lot more users. Each of the four new apps Google added to Chromecast on Monday bring something new to the table.
Vudu is available as an app for mobile devices, computers and Smart TVs. It contains a collection of movies and TV shows, which users of the app can rent or buy and then stream on their devices. The Android app for Vudu already supports Chromecast streaming and new reports indicate that the iOS app either has the ability to connect to Chromecast, or will very soon.
Crackle is actually Sony's video streaming app, which lets users stream TV shows and movies for free. The videos have advertisements, but then again so does TV, so all in all, it's still a good app. Both the Android and iOS Crackle apps now work with Chromecast, too. Crackle is also available on Roku's media-streaming dongle, so Chromecast can't claim exclusivity in this case.
Rdio, one of the most popular subscription music-streaming apps is also compatible with Chromecast now. Rdio costs $10 a month, but it will give you access to millions of songs. Rdio has apps for iOS, Android, Windows and Chrome, so no matter where your music is, you'll be able to stream in with Chromecast.
Last but not least, comes PlayOn, a service that combines several popular content-streaming platforms in one easy-to-use service. Although you have to install PlayOn to your computer and pay a fee to join the service, you will have access to 60 different video-streaming services, including Amazon Instant Video, EPSN, Comedy Central, Adult Swim, SyFy and Hulu. PlayOn for Chromecast is still in beta, but the mobile app should arrive soon with Chromecast support.
