Amazon.com today is touting new offerings for its Cloud Player music service, including a new service called “scan and match” that allows consumers to easily move their favorite music tracks from their hardrives to the cloud. Here’s how Amazon describes the new service:
Amazon scans customers’ iTunes and Windows Media Player libraries and matches the songs on their computers to Amazon’s 20 million song catalog. All matched songs – even music purchased from iTunes or ripped from CDs – are instantly made available in Cloud Player and are upgraded for free to high-quality 256 Kbps audio. Music that customers have already uploaded to Cloud Player also will be upgraded.
Amazon also announced new pricing for Cloud Player, offering a free and premium tier. Customers will be able to upload up to 250 songs from their PCs or Macs for free. Those who need more storage pay an annual fee of $24.99, allowing them to import and store as many as 250,000 songs. Those tracks purchased through Amazon will be added to Cloud Player for free.
The new offering is the latest attempt by Amazon — which first unveiled Cloud Player last year — to attack Apple’s substantial lead in the online music business. In fact, The Next Web says that the new services from Amazon directly compete with Apple’s iTunes Match.
In addition, Amazon announced licensing agreements with Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and more than 150 independent distributors. It also said that the Cloud Player service will soon be added to Roku and Sonus devices, adding to its lineup of Kindle Fire, iPhone and Android.
Mark Piibe, Executive Vice President of Global Business Development for EMI Music. “Cloud Player makes it easy for users to have their entire music collection at their fingertips wherever they are, so that they’ll get even more value from the music they buy, and will form an even deeper connection with the artists they love.”
“Cloud Player makes it easy for users to have their entire music collection at their fingertips wherever they are, so that they’ll get even more value from the music they buy, and will form an even deeper connection with the artists they love,” said Mark Piibe, Executive Vice President of Global Business Development for EMI Music in a statement.
