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Test drive of Amazon Cloud Drive for MP3s

By | March 29, 2011, 4:38am PDT

Summary: Amazon is now fully ingrained in the Android ecosystem, with its new cloud services joining the Amazon Appstore to position Amazon to be a full service shopping destination for Android.

Amazon is now fully ingrained in the Android ecosystem, with its new Cloud Drive and Cloud Player joining the Amazon Appstore to position Amazon to be a full service shopping destination for Android device owners. The new Cloud Drive comes with an update today to the Amazon MP3 app for Android that brings cloud storage into the music buying process, and adds the Cloud Player to Amazon MP3 for streaming the user’s music to any Android device or web computer.

I installed the new Amazon MP3 app this morning and have taken it for a test drive to see how well the cloud additions perform. The short answer is not a surprise to those familiar with the way Amazon does things: it works pretty well.

Upon installation, the new MP3 app that is used to find and purchase music from Amazon notifies the user about the new cloud services. It explains in simple terms how music streaming works and gives the option to store all future purchased to the cloud drive for streaming anywhere. Note that the free account gives you 5 GB of storage which will handle a few hundred songs, and that paid storage starts at $20 per year for 20 GB of storage. Once you tell Amazon to store purchases in the cloud, you’re all done.

Buying a song is the same simple process as before, you listen to a preview if desired and select buy. Rather than download the song to the Android device’s local storage, the song is put in the cloud for immediate access via streaming. It is simple and fast, and will appeal to most consumers.

The Cloud Player is part of the Amazon MP3 app, and playing songs is as simple as selecting them on screen. The streaming starts immediately and is of decent quality to get good audio playback. There is an option on each song stored in the cloud to download it to local storage with a simple click on the screen.

The new cloud services joining with the Amazon MP3 store is a brilliant move by the company, and as colleague Larry Dignan points out it is the “consumerization of Amazon Web Services”. It couldn’t be easier for consumers to get started in the intimidating world of cloud services.

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Topics

Amazon.com Inc., MP3, Digital Music, Digital Media, Personal Technology, Consumer Electronics, James Kendrick

James Kendrick has been using mobile devices since they weighed 30 pounds, and has been sharing his insights on mobile technology for almost that long.

Disclosure

James Kendrick

James Kendrick has no affiliations or relationships that need to be disclosed.

Biography

James Kendrick

James Kendrick has been using mobile devices since they weighed 30 pounds, and has been sharing his insights on mobile technology for almost that long. Prior to joining ZDNet, James was the Founding Editor of jkOnTheRun, a CNET Top 100 Tech Blog that was acquired by GigaOM in 2008 and is now part of that prestigious tech network. James' writing has appeared in many print publications: Smartphone and Pocket PC Magazine, Information Week and Laptop Magazine to name a few. James' coverage of the mobile technology sector has regularly appeared in the New York Times, Salon.com and CNN/ Fortune online. Not just a writer, James has filmed numerous video reviews and how-tos that have garnered well over a million viewers. He has appeared on local news segments and been interviewed by the Associated Press on mobile technology topics. Additionally, James has been podcasting about mobile technology for years.

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baconman84 1st Mar
I've even written the software and iOS app to get you started; it's called Remote Potato and so far is doing this for thousands of people, for free. (obvious disclaimer: am the author) If you don't use Win7 then search for other alternatives, there are similar products around.

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Can I
littvay 29th Mar 2011
Can I store my existing mp3s up there or only what I buy from Amazon?
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Contributr
RE: Test drive of Amazon Cloud Drive for MP3s
JamesKendrick 29th Mar 2011
@littvay You can upload your existing music no problem. Doing that now myself (10 GB worth).
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Past Amazon mp3 sales?
daniel_w_45502@... 30th Mar 2011
I have uploaded some mp3's already, it's pretty nice for someone who wants to listen to his music without putting it on a work computer.

Here's my issue though. I've bought quite a few albums on Amazon, and if Amazon doesn't count the music you buy from them as space, I'd like to get my past purchases to count (which so far I've not found a way to do this). As of this morning (and after an e-mail asking the question, getting a response that I'd get an answer within 12 hours, over 24 hours ago) the issue is still the same.

Also, watch the 20GB gimmick. Right now till the end of the year you're supposed to be able to buy an album through Amazon and get extra GB free. Note that it's only good for one year, and then you'll have to pay for it again. Easy way to get users sucked into the system.
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RE: Test drive of Amazon Cloud Drive for MP3s
totalkaos 30th Mar 2011
@daniel_w_45502@... I tried to no avail to find a way to do that for hours yesterday. I have lots of music that I've purchased through Amazon and can't access the computer where I downloaded them. If their cloud storage stores music bought on their site so well, you'd think they'd give you access to stuff you've paid for in the past also. I'd be interested to know what they tell you about the situation.
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RE: Test drive of Amazon Cloud Drive for MP3s
daniel_w_45502@... 30th Mar 2011
@totalkaos Here's the quote of the e-mail

"Only new Amazon MP3 purchases saved directly to Amazon Cloud Drive will not count against your storage limit. We are giving all customers 5 GB of free storage so that you can upload any music that you want to listen to, including previously purchased music."
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Pointless, why pay for something you can do already
carlosp_uk 1st Apr 2011
Why would I pay for this? I already have a music library on the Internet, accessible from every computer in the world - it's called my home PC. Not only can I get to my music, I can play my songs, stream my videos and pictures to any browser and any mobile phone, completely free-of-charge.

You can do exactly the same too - I've even written the software and iOS app to get you started; it's called Remote Potato and so far is doing this for thousands of people, for free. (obvious disclaimer: am the author) If you don't use Win7 then search for other alternatives, there are similar products around.

Seriously, we all have a piece of the Internet that we already own. Why pay twice?
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I've even written the software and iOS app to get you started; it's called Remote Potato and so far is doing this for thousands of people, for free. (obvious disclaimer: am the author) If you don't use Win7 then search for other alternatives, there are similar products around.

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