Amazon launches cloud music player

Amazon.com Inc has launched an online service that would enable its customers to securely store music in the cloud and play it on any Android phone, Android tablet, Mac or PC, wherever they are.

The online retailer's latest offerings comes ahead of rivals Apple and Google, which are reportedly working on developing similar systems.

Amazon's latest services - Amazon Cloud Drive and Amazon Cloud Player - enable customers to securely store music on the company's web servers instead of local hard drives.

The launch of Cloud Drive, Cloud Player for Web and Cloud Player for Android eliminates the need for constant software updates as well as the use of thumb drives and cables to move and manage music, said Bill Carr, vice president of Movies and Music at Amazon.

Files are securely stored on Amazon servers and each file is uploaded to Cloud Drive in its original bit rate, the internet retailer said.

Customers can buy music anywhere and know that their MP3s are safely stored in Cloud Drive and accessible from any device. The Cloud Player allows users to play the songs they have uploaded, on a computer or smartphones with Google's Android operating software.

The company said users would initially be provided with 5 GB of storage space, which can eventually be upgraded to 20 GB with the purchase of an Amazon MP3 album. Additional storage space can be purchased in plans beginning at $20 per 20GB per year.