On the year anniversary of launching Google Cast at last years CES Google have revealed that Cast will be coming to more speakers and devices this year.

Google’s Cast is Google’s answer to Apple’s AirPlay. With Cast you can use most Android devices and Chrome browsers and a Wi-Fi connection to wirelessly play music and videos on compatible speakers, TV’s and entertainment systems. You can cast YouTube videos, control Netflix and most importantly select and play music from most streaming apps and music players.

The downside to Google’s cast is that it’s a little ahead of it’s time, despite the blanket availability of Wi-Fi there are still very few speakers or players with Wi-Fi built-in (which makes sense as they don’t need it). This has led to underwhelming use for both Apple’s AirPlay and Google’s Cast and the market for streaming speakers has been taken over by Sonos speakers.

Now Google have announced that they will be partnering with a number of manufacturers to expand the compatibility of Cast. Although Sonos make a great product it would be great to have an alternative so the market doesn’t stagnate and continue to innovate and expand.

Although very few speakers and players feature Cast built-in Google have launched an audio variant of their popular casting device Chromecast. Chromecast Audio is a small disc-shaped device with which you can plug into any RCA, 3.5 mm or Optical inputs and then cast wirelessly from your device or Chrome browser to listen to music from hundreds of compatible sources including Spotify, Google Play Music, Deezer, Napster and more.