Well it is now official. Amazon.com has launched the Amazon Cloud. This is FREE cloud based storage (much like dropbox), but with an emphasis on media it would seem. Amazon is offering all users 5 GBs out of the gate with the option to upgrade your storage to up to a Terra-byte of storage. (Note: if you buy an album from Amazon MP3, they will upgrade you to 20 GB for free)
The cloud is accessible from any computer and features Android mobile capabilities for streaming the music from your Cloud via QR code. One interesting thing to note about this storage solution is the caveat that all Amazon MP3 downloads do not count against your storage allotment. This is an interesting sales point and is yet another spur in Apple's side (along with the obvious exclusion of an Ipad/iPhone app).
My reaction:
On first look, the service is pretty bare bones. I have made several attempts to upload all of my Amazon MP3 purchases and it seems to want me to do so one file at a time <ugh>. This coupled with the fact that I am already an avid user of dropbox and am also an iPhone user may hamper my willingness to convert to the Amazon cloud. Once they enable me to better use this on my devices- it is a done deal though. This said, I never pass up a good deal and FREE is the best deal- so I have acquired my 5 GB of storage and plan to make good use of it despite the minimal launch functionality.
Music in the Clouds?:
Let's face it folks, Amazon beat everyone else to the punch on the Cloud-Based music idea. Even though, the idea is NOT new and several other companies have made runs at operating such a service dating back to 1999 with services such as "Myplay." The big hangup with moving music to the cloud has always been the legality of such a move and the Major's reluctance to play nice in the sandbox regarding such an idea. I am unsure whether Amazon got major label buy-in, or is operating with the blessing of their huge, well armed legal team under the idea that once the music is purchased, users may do what they want with it for their own personal use (which is what I agree with). In any case, this marks a changing paradigm in the music industry. Forget about being able to store your files in the cloud... being able to store your music and easily access it is going to be monumental.