Audio services moving into the cloud

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

In the past, the only problem with owning a comprehensive music collection was the physical space it occupied. Records were large and unwieldy, so eventually tapes and then CDs were invented to solve this space issue. With the invention of the portable MP3 player, listeners could carry around entire libraries in their pockets, but the issue of space still remained. Only a certain amount of music could be stored before there was simply no more virtual space. Cloud services offer a solution in the form of remote access service.

Recent features in mobile products like iCloud have allowed users to upload contact data, pictures and music into private clouds, but there is a data limit just as with a hard drive. However, major streaming services are beginning to offer unlimited storage on a public cloud. Audiobooks.com just launched a monthly subscription service that allows smartphone and mobile device users to access its entire catalogue of audio content if connected to the internet. There are no download times and no overdue fees, and the application is being credited as the first of its kind.

Cloud services are difficult to incorporate into the music industry due to copyright laws, but with Audiobooks.com setting the example, secure mobile audio and video streaming is soon to follow.