The first thing would be to examine what is Cloud?
(Feel free to skip this bit if you already know.)
If you don't It's obviously a lot more complicated than this, but in terms of what Amazon are doing. The Cloud is a method of computing in which rather than data being held on an individual computer it is held online, in the cloud which means it can be accessed on any computer at any time without the need for memory sticks/ portable hard drives etc.
Basically all Amazon Cloud Drive is, is a digital hard drive for music. You can use Amazon's new services to store all your music tracks 'in the cloud' so that you can access them not only from any of your computers but also any of your android devices and then you can play them using Cloud player (which does what it says on the tin.)
Here's Amazon's explanation “Our customers have told us they don’t want to download music to their work computers or phones because they find it hard to move music around to different devices,” said the Amazon vice-president of music and movies, Bill Carr. “Now, whether at work, home, or on the go, customers can buy music from Amazon MP3, store it in the cloud and play it anywhere.”
What can you do?
Upload most of your existing music library including tracks you've ripped from physical albums, tracks bought through Apple’s iTunes and Amazon. You start with 5G of storage (1,000 songs) and if you're a music maniac you can purchase more storage (up to 20G.)
How much will it cost?
For now it's free for Amazon users.
Is it legal, will bands lose out?
Craig Pape, said: “We don’t need a licence to store music. The functionality is the same as an external hard drive.”
So there you have it. The future of music, on the cloud.