Earlier this week, Google announced Google Cast for audio, its new method of beaming audio to compatible speakers and receivers. Many music services are already on board with Google Cast, including Pandora, Rdio, and Pocketcasts. There is one glaring omission, though: Spotify.
Spotify has confirmed to Pocket-lint that it doesn’t plan to support Google Cast for music playback. Instead, it’ll stick with Spotify Connect, which is its own way to beam music from a phone or tablet to a speaker.
“We launched Spotify Connect because we believe that by owning the technology end-to-end, we can deliver the best connected home music experience,” a Spotify spokesman explained. “Connect’s advantages are already evident, with hundreds of devices from the worlds leading brands integrated.” The spokesman went on to talk up Connect’s “faster experience” and other features.
Considering the fact that Google’s already got a number of music services and speaker manufacturers on board with Google Cast, it’s kind of a bummer that one of the world’s largest music streaming services isn’t joining in too. Sure, many speakers are likely to come out with support for both Google Cast and Spotify Connect, but wouldn’t it be nice if we had just one beaming feature to deal with?