Amazon launches Cloud Player music streaming service

Add to My Stories

• Service comes as a surprise to rivals Apple and Google, who are planning their own streaming facilities
• Android smartphones can play music library too
  

Amazon has launched a music streaming facility which allows users to store and access digital files at any time and from any computer.Cloud Drive, and its sister service Cloud Player, were unveiled and made available to the public in the early hours of this morning.Cloud Drive lets users upload and store music, video and photo files on Amazon's servers, which can be accessed from a web browser on a Mac or PC.

Cloud Drive: Users can upload and store music, video and photo files on Amazon's servers, which can be accessed from a web browser on any computerCloud Player, on the other hand, lets you play songs you've uploaded on your computer or ona smartphone that runs Google's Android operating software.The 'cloud' in the services' names refers to the practice of storing contentonline and streaming it to a computer over the Internet.While Cloud Player is currently only available in the U.S., British users can already use the Cloud Drive facility.

More...

• Gone in 24 hours: iPad 2 fever as Apple's must-have tablet sells out
• Facebook puts vulnerable children at risk of depression, warn doctors

Amazon's surprise move will come as a shock to Apple and Google, which are both believed to be working on similar services that would allow consumers to access their content when away from their home computer.While Amazon will charge for the Cloud Drive service, it's offering anyone with an Amazon account 5GB of free storage. That's less space than you'd get on the smallest iPod Touch, but it's a move that's likely to woo plenty of users who might later decide to pay for more storage space.
TheSeattle-based company, which already runs an online storage service forc! ompanies called Amazon S3, decided to roll out a consumer cloud service to make it easier for customers to access digital content no matter where they are, Amazon music director Craig Pape said.

Surprise: Amazon's move will come as a shock to Apple and Google, which are both working on similar services Theofferings could also benefit Amazon's bottom line - the company realised customers were hesitant to purchase MP3s at work because they didn't want them tied to their office computer, Mr Pape said, so Cloud Drive and Cloud Player may drive more impulse music shopping.'At the end of the day we're trying to delight customers, but we're trying to sell more music, too,' he said.Thecompany also wants to sell cloud storage. If your tunes and videos takeup more space than the 5GB Amazon is giving out, you can pay an annual storage fee to use Cloud Drive.To use 20GB of storage, for example, will cost U.S.-based customers $20 (and this includes the free 5GB).
For an undisclosed period of time, however, Amazon is offering 20GB of free storage to U.S. users who buy a digital album from its MP3 store.Documents or videos you've uploaded to Cloud Drive will open with programs on the computer you're using, Pape said, while songs in MP3 or AAC files will be playable through the web-based Cloud Player.
The player offers simple controls - you can play, pause or skip tracks, or build your own playlists.
For users who want to listen while on the go, an updated version of the Amazon MP3 digital music-buying app will include Cloud Player, letting users play music they've stored with Amazon's service on their mobile phone as well as tunes that are already on their handsets.