Amazon released the Cloud Drive in late March with the adjoining Cloud Player, which will give users a new way to hear their favorite music or access documents on-the-go.
The Cloud Drive allows Amazon account holders to store five gigabytes of media on their server, excluding music purchased from Amazon. By storing the media on the Amazon server, users are able to access their library from any Internet-enabled device, no matter where they are located.
Part of the Cloud Drive is the Cloud Player, where users can stream music and sort their library in many different ways. The Cloud Player also allows the account holders to stream their music from anywhere they can access their account.
“It would make life easier to be able to stream my music from anywhere as long as it is compatible with my iPod and is easy to sync back and forth,” Lindsay Raften, junior Equine Business major, said.
Many question if the Cloud Drive will be able to compete with the popular Apple iTunes and Google.
“I think I would pick it over iTunes, unless there’s a cost factor that makes it not worth the money, because iTunes is free and you just buy the songs,” Morgan Ayers, junior Environmental Science major, said. “But [with] the idea of the Cloud Drive, I would pick it over iTunes.”
Consumers like Ayers have caused iTunes and Google to look for ways to compete with the new program.
The program already allowed listeners to authorize five computers to access their libraries, but now they may be forced to allow libraries to be accessed from any location as long as the user can sign in.
While iTunes holds a slight portability advantage through the manufacturing of the iPod, the Cloud Drive also allows people to access their music on smart phones.
However, the issue of security with the Amazon program may have some users hesitating when it comes to downloading and accessing media from their Amazon accounts.
“I wonder how easy it would be for someone to hack [the account] or if it makes it more accessible for someone after I sign off a computer.” Ayers said.
While the Cloud Drive is new and innovative, it leaves many consumers wondering what is next when it comes to the world of streaming music.
