Multicast is... a need. Well, at least in some scenarios. If you have information (a lot of information, usually) that should be transmitted to various (but usually not all) hosts over an internet, then Multicast is the answer. One common situation in which it is used is when distributing real time audio and video to the set of hosts which have joined a distributed conference.
Multicast is much like radio or TV in the sense that only those who have tuned their receivers (by selecting a particular frequency they are interested on) receive the information. That is: you hear the channel you are interested in, but not the others.
