We originally wrote about ZumoCast, a new cloud storage service, brought to us from the folks who brought us Zumodrive. ZumoCast’s application streams music, videos and files directly from your home desktop computer to another Internet connected device. Today, the startup’s free iPhone and iPad app is available in the App Store.
ZumoCast is the brainchild of Y Combinator startup Zecter, which also launched a cloud storage service Zumodrive. 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. HP has tapped Zecter to provide a cloud storage app on netbook devices and Zumodrive offers a number of mobile products.
ZumoCast was launched as a way to avoid cloud storage costs on multiple devices. Via the web and new iPhone app, you install ZumoCast on your devices and tell it what files to make available to the app. You can then stream those files directly from your main computer on your iPad or iPhone. The app allows you to stream video and allows users to play their entire iTunes libraries from their iPads and iPhones. You can also download your videos, music, and other files directly to your devices so you can enjoy them later, even if you are offline.
The app essentially turns your computer into a personal cloud server that streams your media libraries to your mobile devices upon demand. And it eliminates the cloud when syncing video and music on devices. And the service is free, with ZumoCast planning to offer a freemium option in the future.
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.
While Apple’s iTunes products may compete with ZumoCast, Zhao maintains that Apple’s offerings are more oriented towards sharing around the home. He counters that ZumoCast is meant for both home sharing and being able to access and stream files on your devices while you travel or are away from your home computer.
