Amazon.com has launched a new music service called Amazon Cloud Drive, along with web-based and Android-based music players. It enables customers to store music online and then play it on any Android mobile device or web-connected computer. Customers can save new Amazon MP3 purchases in ‘the cloud’ and can also upload their existing MP3 or AAC music collection.
Bill Carr, vice president of Movies and Music at Amazon, said “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. 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.”
Amazon customers are given 5GB of free Cloud Drive storage, which is increased to 20GB if they buy an Amazon MP3 album. Additional storage - which can also be used for photos, videos and other files - can be bought from $20 a year for 20GB.
Amazon.com says the 5GB free storage is available to all Amazon.com customers but expanded storage is not available in the UK.