ZumoCast Is Like Cloud Storage Without The Cloud, Or The Cost

Jul 27, 2010

ZumoCast is a new cloud storage service, sorta, minus the cloud. The application streams files directly from your home desktop computer to another Internet connected device.

A year and a half ago Y Combinator startup Zecter launched a cloud storage service called Zumodrive, with a twist – Zumodrive creates a drive on your device that is synced to the cloud. But instead of syncing those files with all of your other devices, Zumodrive tricks the file system into thinking those cloud-stored files are local, and streams them from the cloud when you open or access them. That makes it perfect for mobile devices with limited local storage.

HP has tapped Zecter to provide cloud storage on netbook devices. And they have mobile apps for all the usual suspects.

But that doesn’t solve the problem of storage costs. All the cloud storage startups are charging an arm and a leg for decent storage. 100 GB on ZumuDrive is $20/month, for example.

Enter ZumoCast. Install it on your Mac or Windows computer and tell it what files to make available to the app. Then install it on your iPad or phone and stream those files directly from your main computer. In tests today it streamed high definition video seamlessly to my iPad over Wifi. It looked quite snappy, actually.

CEO David Zhao says they use the same technology behind ZumoDrive to automatically adjust for bandwidth fluctuation, and transcoding on the fly means most file types, as long as they don’t have DRM, stream fine.

It’s a great application for accessing home videos, music and pictures. And the application also allows you to locally store a file as well if you like, so you can watch a DVD rip originally on your home computer during a long flight.

Best of all is the price – free. Zhao says eventually they’ll charge for additional services with a freemium product.

The app is still in approval at Apple, but Zhao says he’ll let as many TechCrunch readers get the beta version as he can. Use this URL – http://www.zumocast.com/?i=techcrunch – to sign up.

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Zecter

Information provided by CrunchBase

Faisal

Thats neat, Orblive is similar but it fails to stream DRM protected songs, does this stream them?
MG Siegler

There’s an app for that!
http://www.dailylifetips.in chandra

yeah application is there which can be utilised for this purpose
Walter

The problem is Orblive sucks big time and won’t even run on Windows 2008 R2 X64.
I’m actually quite looking forward to a good alternative.
Matt

AirVideo streams videos to iEverything, there’s live transcoding adapting automatically for every kind of bandwith and it works like a charm. The server’s available for Windows & MacOS X and you don’t need to setup anything like DynDNS. 3us$ / 2.39 eur last time i checked.
Matt

Oh, and AV supports multiple audio streams and subtitles – you can select them from the client. Had to stay in hospital for a long time – free WiFi, my iPod, and a home computer being online 24/7 and accessed through TeamViewer (a kind of fool-proof VNC) and AirVideo saved my sanity for sure.

PS: It also supports one-click non-live encoding, so you can fill your iPhone/Pad/Pod for those long flights without fiddling with Handbrake and the likes.
Chad Weinman

Will fill the hole that was left when SimplifyMedia was acquired by Google.

The key will be what is app can stream via 3G.

Should be great to try.

Invites already swallowed up though.
http://bakhona.wordpress.com bakhona

DOES ANYONE KOW IF THIS APP IS AVAILABLE ON LINUX? UBUNTU SPECIFICALLY …… Thanx
http://marketmpb.blogspot.com Matt Blum

i was thinking the same thing… out for Linux?

check out
marketmpb.blogspot.com
for a great laugh
suzanne

honestly, i’m really starting to hate google. i loved grandcentral, but they swallowed them up to create google voice. i loved simplifymedia, but they swallowed them up to create something else with a similarly inferior interface, i’m sure. i recently read an article wondering if google was heading the way of microsoft…i have to say that their recent track record of innovation thru acquisition suggests to me that perhaps that’s not too far off base.
http://www.bestcloudserver.com John

Would be so nice if this was offered on UBUNTU!
Tyler

aww, all your keys are used up.
http://www.zumocast.com David

More invites have been added to the link above. Thanks for your interest in ZumoCast! We appreciate all the comments. ZumoCast is initially available for Mac and Windows during the private beta. Linux support will come soon. :)
Susan

I loved reading MG’s take on the Apple/Google War a few weeks ago.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/01/itunes-cloud-google/

It seems that the Zumo folks may actually deliver this before the big boys.
David

It doesn’t seem like AirVideo supports non-video files though. Videos are definitely nice, but they’re not everything, and I’d rather not have a billion different servers running on my comp.
Mike

Not sure if you guys have tried LIBOX yet but you may want to give it a shot as a comparison…
Similar to ZumoCast, it allows you to access all your media anywhere you have a internet connection, on any device, and without worrying about codecs/formats. Oh, and you can also privately share all that media in it’s original quality with your friends. LIBOX is also a platform so many applications from 3rd party developers will be coming down the line.

Their individual mobile applications should be launching soon but current mobile browsers support file playback.

http://www.libox.com/
Steve

Looks cool! Just downloaded it. Easy to install but how long does an import take? I tried adding a folder with some videos and it’s been importing for hours!
Hellkeepa

This seems to be just like Opera Unite, at least from what I can gleam from this article. So, for those who’re looking for a *nix alternative to this, I can recommend you to test Opera; Unite’s built into the latest versions.
Oren

A new version which is coming tomorrow includes some real value updates such as radical improvement in import speed 300% to 500% faster :)
Mike

The importing time has been a known issue for LIBOX and as Oren said, it will be addressed in the next update. Should include radical improvements in speed.
Nydia Palmer

Not sure if you’ve tried of MiMidia yet but, you may want to give it a shot as a comparison…
Similar to ZumoCast, it allows you to access all your media anywhere you have a internet connection, on any device, and without worrying about codecs/formats. Oh, and you can also privately share all that media in it’s original quality with your friends. They currently have a Iphone app and working on apps for Blackberry and Andriod. You can sign up for 3 months free up to 500 GB and try there service.

http://www.mimedia.com