Amazon launched an online storage and streaming service called “cloud drive” that gives 5GB of free storage space to users who have an amazon.com account. The service can be used as online storage space, but it also provides the ability to stream music to any web-enabled computer or Android device, according to the announcement. Users can upgrade to 20GB of space for $20/year. The 20GB also comes for free to any Amazon customer who buys an album through its digital store. Online music purchases from Amazon would automatically be added to customers’ cloud drive and would not count against their storage quota.
According to users who have tried out the service, it is somewhat hampered by its desktop transfer software, which is built using Adobe’s Air platform. Although the service will work on Android devices, there is no iOS app at this time.
Apple has been rumored to be working on a cloud-based storage and/or streaming service of its own, possibly using the data center it has been building in North Carolina, but it has not released or announced anything yet.