Amazon launch ‘cloud drive’ for music storage

Amazon, the giant online store have launched a new cloud based storage service called ‘Cloud Drive'. To tie in with the launch they have also released a music player which they call Amazon Cloud Player for the web.

Amazon have launched the storage service as a means to access music from anywhere that has an internet connection. They have also released a special, customised version of the cloud music player for the Android operating system.

Amazon issued a statement which said this was a ‘leap forward in the digital experience'. Bill Carr, vice president of Movies and Music at Amazon said “The launch of Cloud Drive, Cloud Player for Web and Cloud Player for Android eliminates the need for constant software updates as well as the use of thumb drives and cables to move and manage music.”

“Our customers have told us they don't want to download music to their work computers or phones because they find it hard to move music around to different devices,” Carr said. “Now, whether at work, home, or on the go, customers can buy music from Amazon MP3, store it in the cloud and play it anywhere.”

Other reports indicate that Apple are working on a similar system, so Amazon has managed to beat them to the punch this time.

The Amazon service can accept files in MP3 or AAC formats and allows the end user to upload their digital music files to Amazon's cloud, to be played back on PC, MAC, or any Android device with the player installed.

Customers get access to 5GB of free storage for ‘starters', which is upgradable to 20GB with the purchase of an Amazon MP3 album. Further storage costs $20 for 20GB per year. Amazon said that music purchases made on their store are saved directly to the Cloud Drive and don't count against the user storage quota.

The Cloud Player for the Web, supports Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox and Safari, so all the major browsers are supported. The Player for the web offers download and streaming options and Amazon said that iTunes and Windows Media Player can be used to add their music to iPods and MP3 players.

KitGuru says: Sounds like a pretty handy system, and not expensive either. Interested?

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