I received an email from Amazon when the cloud drive was launched and was given $2.00 in credit towards mp3 purchases. Intrigued by this new development (and the free music credits), I ventured to their website to check it out. I quickly found a song I wanted and clicked the buy button. It asked if I wanted to save the music to my cloud drive. “Simple enough,” I thought. Then I wouldn’t have to download it – I could just stream it. I immediately went to my new cloud drive, selected my new song (which was available immediately) and pressed play. It buffered up the song and played but I discovered it was also downloading to my computer as well. Bummer.

Next I decided to try uploading some music. I clicked “Upload to your Cloud Drive” and was prompted to download the “Amazon MP3 Uploader.” Wait a minute – so I have to use proprietary software to upload music? “That’s a bit inconvenient,” I thought, but I downloaded it anyway. After installing the software, it decided it had to scan my entire hard drive for music, which was a long and tedious process.  Once it finally loaded, it told me I had X playlists and X songs not in my cloud drive and asked if I wanted to upload it all now. I declined (as it would have been way more than 5GB of space) and chose a few albums to upload. What I found was that it killed my internet speed and I saw no way to limit the upload rate. Frustrated after about 20 minutes of sluggish internet, I killed the uploader until that night when it could run and not bother me.

In the meantime, I checked out the Android mp3 player from Amazon, wondering if it too would have to download my music before playing it. I discovered that while it can play the song through buffered memory, it still has to download; so listening while downloading isn’t a good option as the song often plays faster than it downloads (unless you’re using Wi-Fi). So once again I’m stuck waiting.

Ultimately, I was able to get the music I wanted uploaded and then downloaded again (to my phone). Now that I have done so, I can simply open the Amazon cloud player and quickly hear what I want (slightly faster than searching my hard drive and includes better filtering options). So was the hassle worth it?

Pros:

• Music can save directly to the cloud (optional). This allows me to download my new music at my convenience and on whatever computer or mobile device I wish to listen to it on.
• I no longer have to use a USB flash drive or external to move music around.
• Creating a playlist is simple
• Music can be viewed by songs, albums, artists, or genres.
• In addition to music, the cloud drive can also store documents, pictures and videos
• Music can be listened to through a web browser or via a mobile device using Amazon’s MP3 app.
• 5GB free storage space

Cons:

• Uploading and downloading again is time consuming
• No upload speed limiter makes for doing anything else while uploading nearly impossible (and I have a 15MB connection)
• Must use proprietary software to upload music
• Must buy an annual subscription if you want more than 5GB of storage at $1/GB.
• No true streaming – music has to be downloaded to each device you wish to listen on

Overall, I would say Amazon has a potentially great thing going on here. If they simply added the ability to stream without downloading, I would give the Amazon Cloud Player and Drive 5/5 stars. As it is now, and considering their hefty fees for storage in excess of 5GB, I give it 3.5/5 stars. It’s a great concept, but could use a few tweaks to make it the best.

• iTunes, Amazon and Spotify Controlling Digital Music Revenues in the UK – March 29, 2011
• Waterproof MP3 Player – June 26, 2010
• Download Music from MySpace with Grab That File! – May 19, 2010
• Cincopa Cloud Stores & Streams Your Media – February 20, 2010
• Album Art to Complete Your Collection – February 10, 2010

Amazon Cloud Drive as Dreamy as it Claims? originally appeared on: Crenk
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It has been reported by AIM (Association of Independent Music) that iTunes, Amazon and Spotify, make up 94.4% of all indie digital revenues in the UK. Thus, the other services arent really worth worrying about at the moment.

Alison Wenham, head of the UK-based consortium, pointed to a lopsided logjam. “There are now a series of monopolies and it is jolly hard for anyone else to get a slice of the market”.

In the US there is still no Spotify presence and it seems as though eMusic is the third largest player, but Im sure they will change when Spotify finally enter the US this year.

via RouteNote

• Google Music Beta Now Available: Average Music Locker Service! – May 11, 2011
• Amazon Cloud Drive as Dreamy as it Claims? – April 29, 2011
• Nokia E7 Has Finally Launched in the USA: Buy From Amazon Now – April 8, 2011
• Google Offers Available in Charlotte, Kansas City, Milwaukee, San Antonio and Tampa – January 25, 2012
• How to Download Spotify App Clients for Windows and Mac – December 2, 2011

iTunes, Amazon and Spotify Controlling Digital Music Revenues in the UK originally appeared on: Crenk
Join our Community: Twitter, Facebook