Online retail giant Amazon has launched a new cloud-based storage system for users to put all their music and other media content on remote servers, negating some need for local storage.
The move comes as rumours suggest Apple is testing a cloud-based product of its own, which will allow iTunes users to store some of their music on external servers.
Amazon said yesterday it will provide users with 5GB of free storage, or 20GB for an annual fee of $US20, that will let them store music files purchased on the site and other media. A further 1GB of storage costs $US1.
“Our customers have told us they don’t want to download music to their work computer or phones because they find it hard to move music around to different devices,” Bill Carr, vice president of movies and music, said in a statement.
Amazon also launched the Cloud Player software, available on web browsers and the Android operating system, which lets users play files that are stored in their cloud locker – but no app has been developed for the iOS platform.
Analysts have suggested the move may be an attempt to draw users away from the iTunes platform, and focus on Amazon’s own music offerings.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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