Updated August 02, 2011
Cloud-based music services are all the rage right now. These services store your music on the web (in "the cloud") and allow you to stream songs to your computer or mobile device anywhere you have an Internet connection. While Amazon and Google were the first companies to release cloud players, Apple soon followed with its iCloud offering and eMusic is expected to follow suit soon. Add to that the U.S. arrival of a European heavyweight--Spotify--and it's a crowded space.
This chart will help you compare the competing services side by side to help you determine which one you want to use.
Cloud Players Compared
| Amazon Cloud Player | Apple iCloud | Best Buy Music Cloud | BoxyTunes | eMusic | Google Music | Spotify | |
| Storage | 5GB | 5GB | TBD | 2GB | TBD | 100GB | N/A |
| Upgrades | $20- $1,000 a year (free upgrade with MP3 album purchase) |
$20/yr - 10GB $40/yr- 20GB $50/yr - 100GB iTunes Match - $24.99/yr |
$3.99 a mo. for mobile device access | $10/mo. 50GB; $20/mo. 100GB |
TBD | TBD | $4.99- $9.99/ month |
| Music Source |
uploads, Amazon MP3 store | uploads, iTunes, iTunes Match | uploads | uploads | TBD | uploads | streaming |
| File Formats |
MP3, AAC | MP3, AAC (256K AAC with iTunes Match) | TBD | MP3, AAC, WAV, AIFF, AAC |
TBD | MP3, AAC, WMA, FLAC |
MP3 |
| Audio Streaming |
yes | no | yes | yes | TBD | yes | yes |
| Mac & Windows |
yes | yes | yes | yes | TBD | yes | yes |
| iOS | web browser | yes | coming soon | app | TBD | no | yes |
| Android | app | no | app | no | TBD | app | yes |
| Blackberry | no | no | app | no | TBD | TBD | no |
| Palm | no | no | no | no | TBD | TBD | yes |
| Cost | free or upgrade | free (iTunes Match $24.99 a year) |
free or upgrade | $0.99 | TBD | free | free (up to $9.99 a month) |
| Availability | now | beta - now | now | now | reportedly summer 2011 | invite-only beta | now |
