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Amazon Cloud Player Upgraded with Scan and Match, 256 Kbps Audio

Tuesday July 31, 2012 12:12 pm PDT by Eric Slivka
Amazon today announced a significant upgrade to its Cloud Player music service, bringing iTunes Match-like "scan and match" technology to assist users in making their entire music libraries available in the cloud. The upgraded service also mirrors iTunes Match in delivering all matched tracks at 256 Kbps, even if the user's original material is at a lower quality.

New Cloud Player features include:

- Amazon MP3 purchases — including music that customers purchased in the past — are automatically saved to Cloud Player, which means that customers have a secure backup copy of the music they buy from Amazon, free of charge.

- 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.

- Any customer with a Kindle Fire, Android device, iPhone, iPod touch, or any web browser — and soon, a Roku streaming player or Sonos home entertainment system — can play their music anywhere.
Amazon Cloud Player is available in free and paid tiers, with the free tier limited to 250 tracks, although tracks purchased from Amazon do not count against the total. Amazon's Premium tier costs $24.99 per year and allows users to store up to 250,000 tracks in the cloud, with tracks purchased from Amazon similarly not counting toward that limit. Apple's iTunes Match service is also priced at $24.99 per year, but currently limits users to 25,000 tracks, excluding those purchased through iTunes.


As part of the upgrades, Amazon is separating Cloud Player from its Cloud Drive service, which offers file storage in the cloud. Users with paid Cloud Drive storage plans will keep their current plan and receive free access to Cloud Player Premium for the remainder of their subscription periods. With the split in Cloud Drive and Cloud Player services, Amazon is also reducing pricing on Cloud Drive storage plans. Beyond the free 5 GB plan, users can choose from paid plans starting at $10 per year for 20 GB and moving up to a maximum of 1000 GB for $500 per year.

[ 220 comments ]


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jabingla2810
92 months ago
Another example of how Apple is becoming the developer for the rest of the world.
Rating: 43 Votes
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scottwaugh
92 months ago

Apple had to fight so much to bring this service because of the record labels. How can amazon achieve the same so freely?


Because the record companies want someone, anyone to compete with Apple - they don't like being so dependent on Apple.
Rating: 16 Votes
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Chupa Chupa
92 months ago

Because Apple charges for every little thing that should be offered for free. For example, Mac OS X Mountain Lion.


But ML is free for those who bought a Mac after the WWDC keynote. But why should Apple make ML free to everyone who bought a Mac in the last 4 years? And, really, at $20 bucks it's pretty much free. What Microsoft Windows OS update was ever $20 for the general public?

You can make the case Apple overcharges for some things like the Magsafe to Magsafe2 adapter or Airport base stations or Thunderbolt cables, but ML isn't one of those.
Rating: 15 Votes
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vincebio
92 months ago

hopefully apple can get itunes match to work better than it does now.


Hopefully we can STOP posting news about AMAZON on the FRONT page...

:rolleyes:

lame
Rating: 11 Votes
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OzyOly
92 months ago
Apple had to fight so much to bring this service because of the record labels. How can amazon achieve the same so freely?
Rating: 11 Votes
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motulist
92 months ago

store up to 250,000 tracks in the cloud

Apple's iTunes Match service ... limits users to 25,000 tracks


THIS is a very key difference. Many serious music lovers have more than 25,000 songs, but even the most avid music collectors usually don't have 250,000 songs. So this opens up Amazon's service to a whole segment of potential customers that aren't able to make use of the iTunes Match service.
Rating: 9 Votes
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dethmaShine
92 months ago

Another example of how Apple is becoming the developer for the rest of the world.


You must be kidding. No body copies Apple. Apple did not invent 'Scan and Match' although they were the first ones to do it.

'Scan and Match' have been going on for years. Or simply Google it.

You Apple fanboys think Apple invented the world. Puff!!!

Now let me cite my rhetoric LG Prada B.S., The Story of the Almighty Xerox B.S., and more to come.

/idiotic_android_fanclub_member #666
Rating: 9 Votes
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samcraig
92 months ago

Another example of how Apple is becoming the developer for the rest of the world.


No. This is an example of how Apple opens the door with a sales model for the music industry. This has nothing to do with "developing."
Rating: 8 Votes
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benpatient
92 months ago

Another example of how Apple is becoming the developer for the rest of the world.


Are you freaking kidding? Apple PURCHASED lala.com, which developed the "matching" software and featured it as one of the most important parts of their free streaming service, and then Apple shut down lala and charged everyone $25 a year for a less-effective iteration of the same functionality that pulled from Apple's databases instead of lala's.

They didn't "develop" anything. They bought out a competitor and re-packaged their product with a new logo on it and charged a fee.
Rating: 7 Votes
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ZacNicholson
92 months ago
hopefully apple can get itunes match to work better than it does now.
Rating: 6 Votes

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