Amazon launches Cloud Drive and Cloud Player music streaming services for Android
As the next step in their seemingly evident quest to integrate with and improve the Android operating system, Amazon just released Cloud Drive and Cloud Player. These services combine to bring the much-sought-after music streaming to Android.
Cloud Drive gives you 5GB of storage on Amazon's servers, which you can use for any files you want, in a manner similar to existing services like Dropbox. However, the real magic happens when you install the Amazon MP3 application on your Android phone (the Cloud Player functionality is built-in.) With it, you can stream any music you have on your Cloud Drive directly to your Android device.
This new service is great, and it only adds to the feeling that Amazon is working to become the default provider of content on the Android platform.
The Amazon MP3 app is already preinstalled on many Android phones as the default music store. The new Appstore makes Amazon a viable destination for applications. And now, the Cloud Player service has made them the only current option for music streaming. This feature is pretty appealing for Android users, and it feels like it is just the beginning.
What could come next? Personally, I am hoping for integration of Amazon's large video store into Android. The lack of a video store on the platform is one of my bigger complaints about the ecosystem, so Amazon's would be a welcome addition. Others speculate that Amazon is gearing up for a Kindle Color release based on Android and want to have an ecosystem ready.
Whatever their next move does turn out to be, at least we can now enjoy music streaming on our Android phones.
[PCWorld]
