For Chromecast users who have been waiting for the ability to "cast" or stream digital media they own on their own local drives, there's good news: Plex, a media streaming app that announced beta Chromecast support for premium (paid) members late last year is finally opening its streaming app to everyone, for free. But, of course, there's a catch.

Plex is a website and app that allows you to put all of your local media -- videos, music, and photos - into one virtual space that can be accessed and played across all of your devices. In December, Plex was announced as one of the 10 new apps available for Chromecast, with many more soon to come. But Chromecast support was in beta and only available for members who paid for premium accounts.

Plex for Chromecast -- Now For Everyone 

On Thursday, Plex announced on its blog "good tidings" and great news about expanding Plex casting to anyone for free. "You've been very patient, and we're thrilled to announce that Chromecast support is now free for everyone!" Plex joyfully proclaimed. "All you have to do is update to the new releases of our iOS and Android apps, and you can enjoy the absolute best local media app for Chromecast."

"Seriously, though, if you've been waiting to check out Plex on the Chromecast, it's completely awesome. Downright rad," said the company's blog.

But using the Plex mobile app is where the catch comes in on all of this joyful "free for everyone" talk. The app costs $5 for iOS and Android (free for premium members) so using Plex with your Chromecast won't be completely free. Still, it beats paying a monthly subscription fee to get access.

Plex also added other enticing features that have been long-awaited by Plex users, including a music shuffle option for the iOS app and the website, an improved search and browse feature, and quick-editable play queues for music, movies, and TV shows. For iOS users, there's also a new feature called "Camera Upload" which automatically puts new photos into your Plex cloud, which of course now can be instantly displayed on the big screen through the Chromecast. Here's Plex's demo video for its camera feature:

Plex Camera Upload from Plex on Vimeo.

Chromecast Update

In the same week, Google updated its Chromecast app and software, adding support for 50 new languages in the app, improved functionality with Samsung devices, and some new settings and bug fixes.

A lack of Chromecast local media support has been one of the top complaints for users, after an update from Google in the early Fall of 2013 disabled the (free) indie apps that featured that function.

Now with support for Plex, as well as other apps like AllCast and RealPlayer (all of which require either an app purchase or a subscription for decent cloud storage to hold more than one movie), Chromecast is beginning to look like a multi-functional, low-cost streaming tool -- even if you have to pay a little to get some features.