SEATTLE, WA – Amazon is planning to end backing up its online MP3 locker which means users won’t be able to stream or download tracks after 2019.
Streaming music has been convenient over the years, and it had looked even more convenient in the future than yesterday. MP3 files have become the niche of listening to your favorite music which you have bought or acquired, may it be from a compact disc you own or purchased from a service online or downloaded from sites. They can be saved on your computer and played using various software. They can also be accessed anywhere and from any device, if you have an Internet connection when you upload these files to a cloud service or in an online MP3 locker.
These days, there are already a lot of streaming services that consumers patronize such as YouTube, Apple Music, and Spotify. It doesn’t even need a local device for you to store your favorite music. You can stream it from a massive track library, and only download music if you want to listen to them offline.
That has been the case for years. But that is not how streaming of music happens in the future. Amazon just recently decided to shut down its support to the Amazon Music Storage, its very own online MP3 locker. It is a service that allows users to upload MP3s or music files to the cloud so that they can stream or download the music later.
This latest news of Amazon scraping down the storage subscriptions for the MP3 imports is changing how most users stream music. SlashGear even reported that users are no longer allowed to upload music tracks starting this week. For users who have subscription plans in the service or those who have records in the cloud MP3 locker, music can’t be streamed or downloaded after January 2019.
Before this news, customers have already started noticing some warnings on the subscription page of the Amazon Music Storage that both the paid and free plans will end soon. After this, Amazon then quietly revealed the company’s plans to shut down the product. They have confirmed that the music storage option of Amazon will no longer be available. However, they also said that the same would not be the case for music and tracks that are bought from the company.
Amazon Music Storage features two varieties and options, namely, free plan and paid plan. According to Amazon, they have removed the ability to upload tracks for the free plan since December 18, 2017, but it can still be streamed until January of 2019. Before, it enables users to store about 250 songs in total.
However, this latest news doesn’t mean there is no longer Amazon Music or the Amazon Music Unlimited products. The company only eliminated the free storage plan to give way to other options for uploading a personal music library on the platform.
The purchased tracks will remain stored in the cloud and will still be available to users on their mobile phones and desktop. According to an Amazon spokesperson, the change in the online MP3 locker will not impact music that is purchased from Amazon whether its MP3s or in AutoRip version.
