Amazon just announced a pretty big update to its Cloud Player service. The enhancements include scan and match, increased storage, and the free upgrading of lesser audio tracks to 256 Kbps.
With the new service, gone are the days of 5GB of free storage. You can now store all of your Amazon purchased music, along with 250 songs purchased elsewhere for free. Or, you can pay the $25 fee for 250,000 songs worth of storage per year.
The scan-and-match service will scan your computer's hard drive for music, and then match your music catalog with Amazon's catalog. You can even scan your iTunes and Windows Media Player libraries, including music purchased from iTunes or ripped from CDs, and it will all be matched and available in your Cloud Player account. Also, after your music has been matched and placed into your account, Amazon will then upgrade all music to 256 Kbps.
In order to get your music into your Cloud Player account, you'll need to download and install the Amazon Music Importer app from Amazon. You can get the app by visiting amazon.com/cloudplayer on your Mac or PC. (When you click on the button to import music, you'll be asked to download the app.)
After you get the app installed, you will have to authorize your computer to have access to your Cloud Player account. You can only have 10 authorized devices at one time.
The Music Importer will automatically scan for your music library in its default location. Although, it didn't find my iTunes library, even with it in the default location. If that does happen to you, or you have moved your music library, you can tell the importer where to look by selecting the Browse Manually option.
After the scan is complete, you'll be presented with the total number of songs found. If you've already paid the $25 for the premium service, you can begin importing. If you are sticking with the free service, you will have to manually select up to 250 songs to import.
Once the import has finished, you'll be able to stream your Cloud Player library from any computer with an Internet connection, an Android device or an iPhone using the respective apps.