Amazon music service embraces Android, ignores iOS

Amazon.com beat Apple and Google to launching a cloud-based music service, offering 5GB of free music storage accessible via PC, Macs, and Android phones and tablets. The Amazon Cloud Drive service and Cloud Player for Android app, however, could face a legal challenge from the recording industry.

Amazon.com Mar. 29 launched a web-based music locker that is decidedly friendly toward Android while ignoring Apple's iOS. The service, which lets users store music in Amazon's bank of servers and stream over the web on any PC, Mac, Android phone, or Android tablet, comprises Amazon Cloud Drive, Amazon Cloud Player for Web, and Amazon Cloud Player for Android (pictured below, at right).?

Amazon is not supporting Apple iOS devices, striking a blow to Apple's successful iPod and iTunes dynasty, which has dominated digital music for the last decade. With such an entrenched legacy of letting consumers tether their MP3 tunes between Macs and iPods, Apple has moved more cautiously with its rumored plans to offer a music service hosted in the cloud.

Google, too, is said to be working on a web music service, centered around Android. Last month, Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha suggested that Google's music service was still on track, and will be available on its Xoom tablet later this year.

Amazon.com customers get 5GB of storage to upload their music library to Amazon Cloud Drive and save any new Amazon MP3 purchases directly to their Amazon Cloud Drive for free. Cloud Drive customers can also store photos, videos, and documents, with storage plans starting at $20 a year for 20GB. Consumers who purchase an Amazon MP3 album will be upgraded to 20GB of Cloud Drive space.

Music files are stored in AAC or MP3 formats in Amazon's Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), and each file is uploaded to Cloud Drive in its original bit rate, says Amazon. Customers may listen to their music from their PC or Mac's web browser via Cloud Player for Web. The device supports Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari for Mac, and Google Chrome.

Cloud Player for Android (pictured at left) includes the Amazon MP3 Store and the mobile version of Cloud Player. In fact, it is now bundled into the new version of the Amazon MP3 App, allowing music to play music stored on their Cloud Drive and music stored locally on their device.

According to a statement by Bill Carr, vice president of Movies and Music at Amazon.com, the key to Amazon's music locker is music portability, a departure from the legacy of using thumb drives and cables to cart music around from one device to the next.

"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," stated Carr. "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."

Sony Music protests Cloud Drive

Sony Music Entertainment was one of the first to speak out about the service: "We are disappointed that the locker service that Amazon is proposing is unlicensed by Sony Music," reads the company response.

Amazon, however, views itself as a storage provider that isn't beholden to such licensing. The company is also increasingly bumping up against Google with its Android related services, which include the Appstore for Android launched last week as a competitor with Google's Android Market.

Availability

Amazon MP3 for Android with Amazon Cloud Player is available now for free download. More information may be found at its Amazon Cloud Player for Android page.

Clint Boulton is a writer for eWEEK.


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Source: http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/Amazon-Cloud-Drive-announced-with-Android-player-app/?kc=rss

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