Amazon Upgrades Their Cloud Player Music Storage System

By: Kuljit Grewal  |   August 3rd, 2012   |   Business, News

Earlier this week, Amazon.com announced some significant changes to their Cloud Player storage system. Users will now be able to scan and match their personal music library (iTunes and Windows Media Player) with that of Amazon MP3 and their 20 million song music collection. This feature will allow instant uploading of all your music into the cloud with the added bonus of up converting all matched files to 256 kbps, thereby offering superior quality to what you might have.

 

If the above sounds familiar, it is due to the fact that it is similar to competitor Apple’s iTunes in the Cloud, which also incorporates the scan and match functionality along with file quality upgrades.

 

It is however a significant change in strategy for Amazon, who required licensing agreements with several music distributors and studios including Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group as well as 150 independent companies.

 

Once uploaded, songs can be accessed from various sources including the Kindle Fire, any Android device, iPhones, iPod Touch as well as any web browser granting you the ability to take your music collection with you anywhere. Android and iOS devices can download their respective applications here.

 

The Cloud Player will be available in two formats; a Free tier and a Premium (a.k.a. paid) tier. The Free tier allows for all music that is purchased on Amazon as well as 250 additional songs from your personal library. For a fee of $24.99 (USD), Premium members can add up to 250,000 songs as well as anything that has been or will be purchased on Amazon.

 

Existing Cloud Drive users who have music on their drive will have to transfer these songs into the new Cloud Player. The services will be segregated moving forward, with music having to be kept on the Cloud Player exclusively.