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Amazon Launches Cloud-Based Storage Service and Music Player

Littleodie914 said:
Dang... I feel like $80 a month is a LOT of money for 1TB of space. Especially when you can pay $70 ONCE and get your own 1TB drive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822324041&cm_re=1tb-_-22-324-041-_-Product

Of course there are many benefits of having your data "in the cloud," but I think their prices are way too high.
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The price is actually amazing. MobileMe is $100/year for 20GB. Amazon is $20/year for the same storage plus Amazon is running a promotion through the end of the year where if you buy a digital album from Amazon, you get 1 free year of 20GB of storage.

Dropbox is $100/year for 50GB or $200/year for 100GB. Amazon is now offering storage for half those prices. This is going to be devastating for Dropbox since they actually run their entire system off of Amazon Web Services.

Cloud storage isn't comparable to buying a hard drive. Cloud storage includes redundancy, bandwidth, and syncing tools that add a lot of value. Plus of course the electricity and servers processing power necessary to access the hard drives.

I hope that Amazon either copies Dropbox's syncing technology or otherwise buys them out and integrates it. Dropbox is already amazing. At half the price its even better.
 
Amazon is a very smart company. They are setting themselves up to be the defacto content provider for Android which every other company seemed adverse to doing.

I'm sure Apple will respond with an iOS solution but syncing has not been a strong point for Apple at all. Hopefully we'll see the improved MobileMe Mr Jobs had spoke of last year.

All that being said, there is heavy pressure from the ISPs to throttle data and start placing data caps on end users. Opinions on why they are doing it vary (IMHO they are protecting their outdated content distribution models) but we are soon going to see a manufactured bandwidth crisis esp with all the cloud storage and streaming options that are becoming commonplace
 
i can see the value of having a backup on the cloud. but if you really listen to a lot of music through the cloud your 2GB data plan is used up in no time. as well as your battery on your phone. assuming you have good reception.

maybe I'm oldfashioned but since it's no problem to buy a 16GB iPhone or an Android phone with SD card you can have most of your music with you anyway.
 
wheezy said:
Also, why would I only want my music accessible when I have internet? Any road trips from where I live (Utah) generally put me in EDGE territory which won't be consistently fast enough to stream the audio at enough quality, let alone the fact that there are several dead spots along the way. I'll stick to having my music on my iPhone. No buffer, no stutter, no data usage. Oh, yeah. That. Data usage. With carriers bottlenecking you now, you think they'll favor Amazon cloud delivery for people who want to stream their music all day long? They (Amazon) will probably also do some more compression on the files so it'll sound like listening to your music in a tin can.
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I have similar concerns. I'm betting (and I may not be saying anything new here) that Apple will roll out (1) free storage for all iTunes-purchased content, (2) an additional free 10 gigs, (3) tier pricing for additional storage as opposed to Amazon's dollar-per-gig, and (4) it only works - at least initially - when you are on wifi, similar to Facetime. I know that last part will be a deal breaker for a lot of people, but I believe they will be giving this storage/streaming away free for purchased items plus 10 gigs of other stuff at least and, therefore, it will have at least some value since it is free. And I do believe it will be a free method for wireless synching somehow.

Anyway, jus' speculatin'.
 
Wow you are either unintentionally or intentionally sounding very ignorant and naive. The cloud is the future and even Apple knows that as I'm sure they'll announce something similar soon. There are many advantages. For me the main is mobility and convenience.

Last night I uploaded 15GB of music to Amazon Cloud while I slept. This morning I have the Android app on my phone my Xoom and the web player anywhere else. I now have a single repository that is always in sync across all my devices and I can stream music from anytime. Best of all you can download your music again to any devices too. So it also serves as a great backup tool for your music or your favorite tracks.

Also whenever I buy an MP3 from Amazon (on phone or computer) it saves to the Cloud and is automatically available on all my devices. If I want I can have it download automatically to my computer and sync with iTunes as well - transparent.

Finally, the Amazon app for android doubles as a legit music player that can also play music from your local storage as well so it's a one stop shop (with widget of course).

Just because Apple didn't do it first doesn't mean it's not a game changer.
 
tuna said:
The price is actually amazing. MobileMe is $100/year for 20GB. Amazon is $20/year for the same storage plus Amazon is running a promotion through the end of the year where if you buy a digital album from Amazon, you get 1 free year of 20GB of storage.

Dropbox is $100/year for 50GB or $200/year for 100GB. Amazon is now offering storage for half those prices. This is going to be devastating for Dropbox since they actually run their entire system off of Amazon Web Services.

Cloud storage isn't comparable to buying a hard drive. Cloud storage includes redundancy, bandwidth, and syncing tools that add a lot of value. Plus of course the electricity and servers processing power necessary to access the hard drives.

I hope that Amazon either copies Dropbox's syncing technology or otherwise buys them out and integrates it. Dropbox is already amazing. At half the price its even better.
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I use dropbox's free storage, I don't need more then that...
 
Consultant said:
And Amazon thinks crippling ioS compatibility will be good business? FAIL.
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I dont think so, Amazon cannot get the app needed for the streaming/storing of content on your phone or tablet approved in the appstore since. It violates apples terms, if you or anyone else has an issue with it, contact apple.

Amazon Cloud storage app on android scans you sd/local storage for music then allows you to upload it into the cloud. Apple for one wont let another mp3 store on its phones and for 2, apple wont let that service scan for music.
 
tuna said:
The price is actually amazing. MobileMe is $100/year for 20GB. Amazon is $20/year for the same storage plus Amazon is running a promotion through the end of the year where if you buy a digital album from Amazon, you get 1 free year of 20GB of storage.
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You can't even begin to compare this service to MobileMe's current offerings. This is just space. (And a music player.) MobileMe offers address book, calendar, photo browsing, and other features.

tuna said:
Dropbox is $100/year for 50GB or $200/year for 100GB. Amazon is now offering storage for half those prices. This is going to be devastating for Dropbox since they actually run their entire system off of Amazon Web Services.
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I do agree here - compared to Dropbox the prices are nice.

tuna said:
...Cloud storage includes redundancy, bandwidth, and syncing tools that add a lot of value. Plus of course the electricity and servers processing power necessary to access the hard drives.
Click to expand...
Huh? :confused: I think redundancy is the only valid argument here. What do you mean by bandwidth? Transfer speeds uploading to the cloud are hideous compared to USB 2.0. Syncing tools are also readily available for any external drive. External drives barely use any power, 20W during access. Processing power? You're not compressing or analyzing data. Just transferring and storing it. :confused:
 
dgree03 said:
I dont think so, Amazon cannot get the app needed for the streaming/storing of content on your phone or tablet approved in the appstore since. It violates apples terms, if you or anyone else has an issue with it, contact apple.

Amazon Cloud storage app on android scans you sd/local storage for music then allows you to upload it into the cloud. Apple for one wont let another mp3 store on its phones and for 2, apple wont let that service scan for music.
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There are several streaming and file store apps in app store...
 
dgree03 said:
I dont think so, Amazon cannot get the app needed for the streaming/storing of content on your phone or tablet approved in the appstore since. It violates apples terms, if you or anyone else has an issue with it, contact apple.

Amazon Cloud storage app on android scans you sd/local storage for music then allows you to upload it into the cloud. Apple for one wont let another mp3 store on its phones and for 2, apple wont let that service scan for music.
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So why is the website blocking access?

That being said, I hope Apple's preview of the future of iOS gets done with all the restrictions after all. Fighting with companies who want to build on your platform is not gonna lead them anywhere.
 
wheezy said:
It's yet another Dropbox offering that's a long ways behind awesome-integration with other products (Lots of apps sync data between devices via Dropbox). And, if I put a music file into dropbox I can play it, mobile device independent.

Also, why would I only want my music accessible when I have internet? Any road trips from where I live (Utah) generally put me in EDGE territory which won't be consistently fast enough to stream the audio at enough quality, let alone the fact that there are several dead spots along the way. I'll stick to having my music on my iPhone. No buffer, no stutter, no data usage. Oh, yeah. That. Data usage. With carriers bottlenecking you now, you think they'll favor Amazon cloud delivery for people who want to stream their music all day long? They (Amazon) will probably also do some more compression on the files so it'll sound like listening to your music in a tin can.

At first glance, being very pessimistic, I'm not really interested in this product.
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you might have missed apple's product release strategy in the last 15 years. release a product with a limited set of features that work well and add on later.

same strategy here. if amazon waits until every possible listening scenario is taken care of they will never release a product. look at the kindle, all it does is let you read books and cheaply. and people love it
 
As much as I enjoy Apple products and services, it's nice seeing someone beat them to the punch. This can only be a good thing for all of us.

I see cloud services as an exciting technology. I'm rockin a Macbook Air and the only files I keep on the 64 GB SSD are documents. All music, pictures, video and movies are on a 500 GB external HD. Obviously it requires little or no effort to plug said external HD into the Air but it would be nice to shed it. It would also be nice not having to sync music over to the iPhone.

I say bring it on!
 
spazzcat said:
There are several streaming and file store apps in app store...
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Yup...This is just a business decision by Amazon. Most likely because they did not want to delay rollout developing an iOS app, when they expect Apple to offer a competitor really soon anyways.

The real question is how long before Amazon starts manufacturing dirt cheap Android phones themselves.
 
Consultant said:
Hilarious that companies are copying Apple rumors now.

Arn, we need an article that Apple is developing a space ship!
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Yes, it is totally unfair that Amazon copies the inventions of Apple, even before Apple invents it :D

Seriously though, Amazon is a major player in cloud services and has been for years.
 
Consultant said:
And Amazon thinks crippling ioS compatibility will be good business? FAIL.
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Since iOS is increasingly becoming a smaller market share in mobile phones over Android based phones; I'd say there isn't much point catering for iOS. You may as well say that the fact that there is no Atari version that it's a fail.

No doubt that an iOS app will be on the way, or a third party dev will make one that works. Either way, iOS isn't a priority.
 
The more things that are in the cloud, the closer I get to hitting AT&T's 150GB home DSL (non-uverse) data limit.
 
definitive said:
isn't dropbox the same thing?
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Yes, Dropbox has customizable storage amounts besides their Free and Pro plans, and when you buy an MP3 (or album) from Dropbox, you can store it in your Dropbox and have it not count against your total storage limit.

Further, Cloud Drive clearly includes automatic synchronization from and to your computer and other devices.

No, did you even read any of the article or the page on Amazon? Dropbox still sounds much better (local and cloud copies, with automatic integration and synchronization with the local file system), but besides their clouded-ness, the only thing they seem to have in common is that Dropbox uses Amazon S3 for storage. However, I think Cloud Drive has a lot of potential, especially for music, and if they ever offer a native client for better OS integration (like Dropbox), I think it might take off.
 
mjaco002 said:
I think Apple will probably have the same deal as Amazon.

Amazon just beat them to the punch with this launch.

The deal from Apple will be that you will get 5GB when you open a account in Mobile Me and you will pay $20 for 20GB of space.

This might be the revamp that everyone is talking about with Mobile Me.

What do you guys think?
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I think you're right.
 
Consultant said:
And Amazon thinks crippling ioS compatibility will be good business? FAIL.
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It's Apple crippling it with their, we get 30% of everything no matter what it is.

Amazon would love to get this on iOS devices, it helps with their sales. That is why Kindle is available.

Talk to Apple, they are the bad guy here.
 
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