Best Buy’s Music Cloud has not officially launched yet, but it can be demoed on the retailer’s website
With all the high-rollers in the tech industry introducing cloud-based music players this year, Best Buy has decided to jump on the competitive bandwagon as well with its own service called Music Cloud.
Amazon was the first to roll out its Cloud Drive/Cloud Player in late March, yet ran into some legal problems when record companies complained about updated licensing rights. Then, Google released Google Music in early May, which featured storage of up to 20,000 that can be accessed from any PC or Android device. Apple then introduced the iCloud in early June, which is a $25 annual subscription service for music, photo and document storage that can be accessed and played from any Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and even PC.
With recent troubles, like battling Amazon over its lack of tax collection in most states (which, brick-and-mortar stores like Best Buy say is an unfair advantage), Best Buy is looking for new ways to compete. Now, the Music Cloud represents its most recent efforts to jump into the tech ring and stay relevant.
Best Buy’s Music Cloud is similar to others in that it allows users to stream their music to several devices like phones, computers and tablets. It is powered by Catch Media’s PlayAnywhere technology, and will be compatible with iOS devices, Android-based devices and Blackberry phones.
In addition, users can save songs locally to devices for offline play, but it seems as though users will have to upload their tunes themselves instead of the service scanning their devices for already-uploaded files like iCloud.
One odd feature about the Music Cloud is that a user must have iTunes in order to use the service. Windows Media Player or any folder/directory will not do; iTunes is the only way your music will play with the Music Cloud.
Best Buy’s Music Cloud has not officially launched yet, but it can be demoed on the retailer’s website. There is a free version that only allows users to listen to 30 seconds of every song, but there will also be a “pro” version with more options and storage.
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