mSpot, a streaming music and movie service, has just announced its partnership with Google TV to deliver more content to the Internet TV platform. The service offers full-length movie rentals, but it also works between devices so you can pick up where you left off when watching a film on your PC, tablet or mobile phone.
Sponsor
You may be familiar with the name mSpot because of its mobile offerings for iPhone and Android, which are separated into two apps: mSpot Music and mSpot Movies. With mSpot Music, you first have to download its installer on your computer and upload your files to the “cloud,” in this case the cloud referring to mSpot’s own servers. Once that process is complete, you can stream your own music from your mobile phone, anywhere you have an Internet connection.
However, with mSpot Movies, an entity so different that it even lives at its own domain name where it makes no mention of its sister service, you simply download an app to watch free movie trailers and rental movies that start at $2.99. There is no computer-based installer as you’re not accessing your own digital media collection, but actual movies from Hollywood studios who have partnered with the company.
Now on Google TV
mSpot has not created a special “app” for Google TV for its Music offering – it says you’ll have to load up the Chrome Web browser and head over to its mobile site at m.mspot.com instead. Here, your music library is available for streaming from your TV. You get the first 2 GB for free (1600 songs) then its $3.99 for 40 more gigs.
It sounds like mSpot’s Movies’ integration has been given more consideration, though. You launch the service from its own icon in the “Spotlight” section on Google TV (or via mspotmovies.com). And the interface, says the company, has been optimized for the big screen, even if you’re browsing for movies from 10 feet away (as you probably are). Again, movies are $2.99-$3.99 to rent.
Another interesting side note – mSpot says it will begin offering DRM-enabled caching of movies on your devices starting this year. That way, you could stream content even when offline. Despite the near-ubitity of cell coverage, dead spots and low-bandwidth areas are still an issue for many. And streaming movies to your mobile is something many travelers do – often on planes without Wi-Fi, as well as trains, subways, buses, etc. When that offline feature launches, mSpot may begin to get even more pickup than they have now.
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