I go back and forth. It is a good price for a little computer you attach to your tv that can sideload apps and do a lot of the same audio/video things your phone can do. But then, the beauty of the original Chromecast was that it was a wireless external display for your phone, so you didn't need to manage apps and logins on yet another device, just hit the cast button to play music, video, pictures or games on your tv. It was incredibly versatile and really had all capabilities of your phone, with zero setup or fuss. I know you could just use the new Chromecast like the old chromecast by Chromecasting, but sometimes more is not more. I also really hope that little chromecast icon isn't going away in media apps anytime soon.

I agree that for us the old one was perfect, but for less tech savvy people, using their phone to control the TV never worked. For my parents this is perfect.