• by Aaron Baar , March 29, 2011

Amazon.com on Tuesday launched Amazon Cloud Player, which allows consumers to store their music (and other digital documents) on Amazon’s data centers and retrieve it from any computer connected to the web or an Android smartphone.

“Combined these services allow you to store your music worry free in the cloud and enjoy it anywhere, “ wrote the company in a letter to customers on its website. “When you buy any of the 15 million songs in the Amazon MP3 store, you’ll now see a new option to put your purchase directly on the Cloud Drive.”

The news, while potentially good for consumers, was met with some skepticism around the blogosphere and from some music companies. A Sony spokeswoman, for instance, told Reuters, the company "was upset by Amazon's decision to launch the service without new licenses for music streaming” and said the company as “keeping all of our legal options open.”

Amazon’s MP3 Store is a distant competitor to Apple’s iTunes store, and both Apple and Google are said to be working on their own cloud-based applications.