Amazon Launches Cloud Drive and Cloud Player

Amazon today announced the launch of three new services, Amazon Cloud Drive, Amazon Cloud Player for Web and Amazon Cloud Player for Android. The services allow users to store music on the cloud and play it from anywhere with a web connection (provided it’s not an iOS device -- those aren’t supported yet). Cloud Drive supports all formats of songs, images, videos and documents, while Cloud Player and Cloud Player forAndroid only support MP3 and ACC files. Amazon customers will automatically start with 5GB of Cloud Drive storage while those who purchase an Amazon MP3 album will be upgraded to 20GB of Cloud Drive space. This 20GB will be free for one year after which users can upgrade to a storage plan (options start at $20 per year). New Amazon MP3 purchases will be saved directly to your Cloud Drive and are stored for free in that they don’t subtract from your total storage.

Currently supported by Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari for Mac, and Chrome, Cloud Player for Web offers download and streaming options, allowing users to access their music from anywhere. Those with Android handsets will also be able to access their stored music via Cloud Player for Android. Cloud Player for Android will be bundled into the new version of the Amazon MP3 App and includes the full Amazon MP3 Store and the mobile version of Cloud Player.

Both Google and Apple are said to be prepping similar, cloud-based storage services. In fact, the cloud is expected to feature heavily in iOS 5.