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Google Launches 'Google Play Movies & TV' App, iOS Chromecast Users Gain Alternative to iTunes

Shizho said:
I know you are being sarcastic....
But, I must point out... this helps out Apple, more than it harms them. We all know that for YEARS iTunes ran @ break-even... Apple would MUCH rather get you in a hardware buying cycle than, for example, buying some mp3s on your PC. The content is only available to create an ecosystem that is easy to use & hard to leave.
Google just lost that as leverage themselves... to whit: a user can say to themselves "I want to leave iOS, but I just have too much purchased content that would be a pain to convert & reorganize for Android... I have so many movies, song playlists, & even television show subscriptions. I had best stay." However they can NOT now say "I would like to leave Android to try Apple... I just can't because I don't want to lose all my Google Play purchased multimedia", as it would seamlessly come with them. This is a HUGE win for Apple!!! Easier for quality (cash spending) customers to switch.
It makes sense for Google too.... since they do not make money off the Android OS, a single iOS user that purchases heavily from Play store would net them much more than a dozen Android users that rarely, if ever purchase content from the Play store.
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My very reason for being sarcastic. ;)
 
Todd B. said:
lol. Google releases a limited amount of product, hype it to all the Googlebots, and then go "YAY LOOK AT HOW FAST WE SOLD OUT" and you think that's a big deal?

That doesn't even go into the people that end up using it as a paperweight or send it back when they realise that Google released another broken, half-finished product which is actually crap.
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Who are these googlebots you speak of?

I know plenty of people who own rokus and appleTvs that are collecting dust. Your point?
 
samcraig said:
I know plenty of people who own rokus and appleTvs that are collecting dust. Your point?
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What's funny is that, for all the bashing it's getting around here, Chromecast is almost exactly what I was expecting out of the future rumored Apple TV. As in you use your smaller screen devices to browse for content, then send it to the TV to watch.

It addresses what I think is biggest issue with SmartTVs, that guiding a little box through an onscreen UI using a remote control is clunky and slow compared to being able to interact with the information right in front of you through a touchscreen device.

That's the future of TV to me. You only use the big screen for watching TV and movies, but don't interact with it otherwise. Setting up your DVR, browsing through channels, and all that good stuff is handled by your phone or tablet, which are better suited for the job.
 
Todd B. said:
That doesn't even go into the people that end up using it as a paperweight or send it back when they realise that Google released another broken, half-finished product which is actually crap.
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I'm not sure about this compared to my Roku, but I am POSITIVE it would make a crappy paperweight.
 
jsw said:
I'm not sure I understand reasoning behind the negative comments.

This is a free app. It is not a required install. If you don't like it or want it, there's nothing compelling you to use it.

Of course iTunes is better on iOS devices. There is pretty much no reason at all to get this if you only own iOS/Apple devices. I suspect Apple's policies are behind the fact that there's no local storage, because there's absolutely local storage for Play movies on Android devices.

However, if you have any Android devices, you're likely to have some Play content - contrary to what seems to be the belief here, people do buy content outside of the Apple ecosystem - and this app lets you play it on your iOS devices or stream it on a Chromecast. I don't see how this is a bad thing.

Also: why all the talk about lack of privacy? How is buying/renting a movie from Google any different at all from buying/renting one from Apple?

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Um, what? There are no advertisements in Play Movie streams.
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Yet !
 
Pretty wary of Google's next TV related venture since Google TV was such udder garbage.

However, 30-day rental is a wonderful thing. *tsk* Apple*tsk*
 
samcraig said:
Who are these googlebots you speak of?

I know plenty of people who own rokus and appleTvs that are collecting dust. Your point?
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if you have a smart phone and a roku what is the point of chromecast? you can already send videos from your phone to the roku youtube app
 
Renzatic said:
That's the future of TV to me. You only use the big screen for watching TV and movies, but don't interact with it otherwise. Setting up your DVR, browsing through channels, and all that good stuff is handled by your phone or tablet, which are better suited for the job.
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That's what I do already, with either phone or a single remote. And have for more years than we've had app-based smartphones.
 
JAT said:
That's what I do already, with either phone or a single remote. And have for more years than we've had app-based smartphones.
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With the app, are you talking about a remote replacement, or something with a Netflix like UI that displays channel listings, lets you read about and select movies to watch, and so on and so on?

I don't think the Chromecast is perfect. I'd much rather it told a TV what to do, rather than stream to it. But I think it's a good first step towards something better.
 
Renzatic said:
With the app, are you talking about a remote replacement, or something with a Netflix like UI that displays channel listings, lets you read about and select movies to watch, and so on and so on?
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I've tried both. I still prefer a button remote for actual control since it can be used without looking at it. But I generally have iPhone in pocket and a computer is part of the HT, too. So I frequently look things up without a linked app. I can set recordings from anywhere and often do that with Tivo's app.

Tivo for TV, it has its own UI and guide. Recently been using PS3 for streaming, each app in there has an ok UI, although I don't like using the controller, need to address that somehow. Putting the UI in my hand instead of on the big screen doesn't mean anything to me.

So I guess I don't do exactly what you were thinking, but it is pretty comparable. What I meant is my TV has been nothing more than a monitor/display for years. I am trying to get to a point where I can get a new A/V controller for the HT, but that is a couple grand and it may be awhile, yet. Too many more important things to pay for.
 
Oletros said:
But you can replace the + with ""
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Or you could just leave it on verbatim (I do), however double quotes don't replace 100% of the functionality that + did. It meant [this exact term MUST be on the page to show up in results] while quotes vaguely mean [prefer this spelling and prioritize the results for me, but also include related results sometimes].

The first is extremely useful for research and troubleshooting obscure and specific bugs, the latter includes too much cruft to be used without verbatim...and still not quite as powerful.

Edit: Try searching for [iOS bug "iPhone 4S cat" memory] and you will see the search doesn't require the term in quotes to be present. I would say try searching [iOS bug "iPhone 4S cat" memory] into Bing...but it doesn't work exactly right there (and includes more spam/redirecting ads).

Come to think of it, that's probably the reason I still end up using Google... Now I just need to commit this tidbit to memory so I can stop repeating history.
 
Last edited:
yep

the ios and android youtube apps will detect the roku youtube app on the local network and you can send videos from your phone to the roku. also works on youtube on newer smart tv's and blu ray players

nice feature google made to overcome the input issues on tv and blu ray
 
cgdrennan said:
BOOTCAMP! I'm sick of people still thinking nothing is compatible. If anything they are better than Microsoft and google now
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Apple's, Google's, and Microsoft's hardware accept all the other apps. Apple's apps only accept Apple's hardware. To add to that, not as many people make apps for Google's and Microsoft's hardware. So that's why it looks like Apple is the most willing to accept third-party apps when it's really not the case – on the Android market, most things fly. Also, Microsoft and Apple don't really have any control over what apps are installed on their PCs.

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samcraig said:
Right - so it does do something more than Roku does. The OP seemed to imply that the chromecast didn't do anything that other devices already did.
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The Chromecast originally didn't do that. It simply downloaded and played whatever your device was playing. And if it still does that, it would explain why there's no offline viewing. But I've read that there is an experimental feature to mirror your screen from a Mac using Chrome.
 
JAT said:
:confused:
You work for a news/rumor/blog site, right?
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I'm sorry, but I'm missing your point. First, no, I don't work for any site. Second, my point was that Google isn't doing much of anything that Apple and Amazon aren't also doing... as well as Facebook, etc.
 
I'll agree to disagree that Google's new iOS app is a true alternative to iTunes until Google lets the user buy their media content inside the app. ;)
 
brinary001 said:
Ah! You are correct, sir. Didn't think about that..

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I just realized in my first reply to this story I said ass instead of as. Sorry!
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That's Ok, I wasn't trying to correct you or anything....! For the last 5 years I have only used windows PC at work (no iTunes installed on them) so I genuinely wasn't quite sure.
 
BvizioN said:
That's Ok, I wasn't trying to correct you or anything....! For the last 5 years I have only used windows PC at work (no iTunes installed on them) so I genuinely wasn't quite sure.
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No it's understandable. iTunes is everywhere these days. Apple has helped a little over the years like when they ported it to PC, but third-party devs are helping a lot as well trying to fill the gap between other markets when it comes to streaming and syncing your iTunes content.
 
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