Amazon’s Cloud Player for PC is moving closer than ever to a full-fledged iTunes competitor on Wednesday; the app now features an integrated Amazon MP3 storefront where users can buy songs and albums directly without visiting Amazon.com. Until now, transactions had to be conducted over the web, though it has never taken long for freshly purchased content to instantly pop up in Cloud Player. Like Amazon MP3’s web store, the Cloud Player PC app curates music into categories like “Editor’s Picks”, “Album of the Week” and so on. Any content you buy will instantly be made available on Amazon’s Cloud Player apps available on Kindle Fire, Android, iOS, Samsung smart TVs, Roku, Sonos, and the web. While iTunes still dominates the digital music realm, Amazon has slowly chipped away at Apple’s enormous lead. At last check, NPD said Amazon enjoys 22 percent share of the digital market.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with AI strategy, implementation and governance, as well as technology, media and marketing. Named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Technology, he is a bestselling author, covers tech and business for Fox 5’s Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN, and writes the popular daily business blog Think About This. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.