Amazon has revealed its ambitious music streaming service, Sky Player which allows users to play the songs across a range of computers and Android smartphones.
Music lovers will be able to transfer most of their existing music library – including numbers purchased through Apple's iTunes to Amazon, as well as buy new songs for digital playback.
Online retailer has stolen a March on rivals Apple and Google to the service, known as Amazon Cloud Player, with internet both giants are planning their own forays in music streaming. The move represents also Amazon's repositioning as an entertainment destination, rather than just an online market place.
Another element of the service, the Amazon Cloud drive, serves as a "digital music locker" where users can transfer thousands of songs and listen to them via the Cloud Player on any computer or Android smartphone.
"Our customers have told us they do not want to download music to their work computers or phones, because they have difficulty to move music around to different devices," said Amazon Vice-President, music and movies, Bill Carr. "Now, at work, at home, or on the go, customers can purchase music from Amazon MP3, save it in the cloud and play it anywhere."
As an introductory offer is Cloud player free for Amazon account holders, although users can pay to increase the amount of music could be stored on the Cloud drive. Customers start with 5 GB of storage space – equivalent to a little over 1000 songs – and those who buy an MP3 album from Amazon warehouse will be upgraded to service larger 20 GB.
Apple and Google are said to be planning similar ventures, while Sony's music unlimited also offers a digital music locker but charges up to £ 4 a month. Agreements with all four major record companies believed to be a stumbling block to Apple's and Google's streaming services, with rights owners apparently unhappy with the idea of a one-off payment each time a track is played on any device.
Beyond Oblivion proposes an online music site partially owned by Rupert Murdoch News Corporation, woo right-holders by paying them a royalty each time their music was played. The service, which secured $ 77 m £ 47 m on investment earlier this month, yet is to launch and negotiations with the music labels are said to be on a "very advanced stage of".
Amazon said it has circumvented the legal uncertainty to allow users to upload music from your computer-some of which have been downloaded illegally – by being equivalent to any other storage device, such as an external hard disk.
Amazon Director of music, Craig Pape, said: "we need a licence to store music. The functionality is the same as an external hard disk. "
• Amazon's online retail rival eBay yesterday stepped up its attempts to become the primary destination for internet shopping buys GSI Commerce, an online services company, $ 2.4bn. acquisition will allow eBay to expand beyond its network of small retailers with larger retail market.
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