Amazon's Cloud Player service just scored some major upgrades, including quality and import enhancements. Perhaps most notable is a new 256 Kbps option for matched files, including songs you imported before today. That bitrate, in MP3 format, is available for new tracks and albums added to the cloud -- a process that's been streamlined as well, with Cloud Player scanning your library and automatically offering up matched tracks, rather than requiring manual imports. In addition, music you buy in the Amazon MP3 Store will show up in your Player automatically, including past purchases (in cases where the site has the necessary rights). There's also an option to edit metadata directly, such as artist and album info, along with album art, or you can use the label information already in Amazon's catalog. Cloud Drive will also be less integrated with Player -- previous uploads will be moved to an "Archived Music" folder and won't count against storage caps, but will still be accessible and downloadable, while new imports will be stored in Player directly. You can upload up to 250 songs to Cloud Player for free, or pay a $25 annual fee to bump that cap to 250,000. Full details are at the source link below.

Update: Amazon also mentioned that it has secured new licensing agreements with Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, adding that Cloud Player will be available on Roku and Sonos devices soon as well.

Continue reading Amazon updates Cloud Player with 256 Kbps matched files, faster import, direct delivery (update: Roku, Sonos coming soon)

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Amazon updates Cloud Player with 256 Kbps matched files, faster import, direct delivery (update: Roku, Sonos coming soon) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 13:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.