It was only last week that Amazon launched two new services namely, Cloud Drive and Cloud Player, and while providing this ‘locker’ service might not be anything new, the combination of streaming music and online storage provided to its customers might just be the next best thing.
While this allows users to stream any music that is stored in the Cloud Drive to any browser or compatible device, there is no doubt that Amazon is encouraging its users to store music, whether purchased or not, to their Cloud Drives in automatically syncing their purchases to the Cloud Drive immediately.
And why these services are considered to be industry-changing is because the music industry has been very fierce about protecting their content by not allowing people to download a song more than once, and yet this is where Amazon changes the entire landscape with its contract due to the fact that they can so easily download songs from the locker with the help of this new service that is being offered. This is where Amazon gets off on a technicality!
Similarly, there was an issue with videos being stored online with another company, and while copyright infringement was pretty vague, the company decided to only allow content that it produces to be stored by means of online storage provided.
And this is where Amazon differs because it only owns a license to distribute another’s products, and even though they clearly explain that these new services are merely to allow users to manage and play their own music, there is no doubt that questions might be raised very soon, and in doing so, legal fireworks might ensue as well.