Amazon has announced a number of cloud services, which include a Cloud drive for the web, a Cloud music player for the web and a Cloud music player for Android devices.
Other such services like the Microsoft Live SkyDrive and Google Docs have been offering cloud storage for a while. While the Microsoft SkyDrive offers 25 GB of free space, Google offers continuously increasing free storage, which is currently at 7.5 GB.
The Amazon Cloud Drive will enable users to upload files and music of up to 5 GB for free. If the users purchase a song from the Amazon MP3 store, they will get additional 15 GB of storage for free. These users can also play their music directly on their Android phone or PCs using the Amazon Cloud music player.
Though users around the world can store files on the Amazon Cloud Drive, only US customers will be able to buy and play their music online. All Amazon music purchases will be stored in the drive, which will not be included in the storage quota.
People who need more storage can purchase storage plans starting at $20 a year for 20GB of storage.
While the Cloud drive will take care of storage issues the Cloud player will handle multimedia duties on the web and on Android devices. People can add files in MP3 or AAC formats. The Cloud player for the web supports Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari for Mac. The player offers various music management and streaming options.
The Android version of the Cloud player comes bundled with the Amazon MP3 app, which also has Amazon's online music store. Users can easily play music, which is either stored locally or on the Amazon Cloud drive. The Cloud player will come with standard music app functionality like searches for artists, albums or song names.
According to Amazon's Bill Carr, vice-president movies and music, "We're excited to take this leap forward in the digital experience, 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."