Cloud computing is said to be the newest trend in information technology that most companies such as Apple, Amazon and Google had been incorporating into their services.

Storing and streaming music is one of the many features of the cloud and became the newest online service many had been crazy about. Using your PC, tablet or smartphone, the cloud will allow you to listen to any music that you fathom.

The cloud serves as the virtual storage device where you can save your files and access it anywhere possible. Using the cloud, you can access your music library online. This is ideal for mobile devices with limited storage space. To access your music collection internet is required either through your data plan or Wi-Fi connection.

For your listening pleasure, you can choose a lot of online services using the cloud, some are free access while others charge. Apple provides the service for a fee of $24.99.

Amazon Cloud

The Amazon Cloud provides a free service for a storage space of 5GB or 1000 songs. If you want an upgrade, $20 to $1,000 per year will provide you with 20GB to 1,000GB storage space.

This service requires Cloud Drive to store the files and Cloud Player to stream the music. You can upload files through Cloud Drive using your browser, or download the upload utility through Cloud Player (Mac and PC only). To retain a copy of your music library to your PC, a simple tweak to your Cloud Player setting can do the trick. After that, purchases from the MP3 Store will be automatically stored to your computer.

As of the moment, only the iPad is Cloud Player supported, although some reports said it could also work with the iPhone.

Google Music Beta

Google provides a free cloud service, but it is expected to become a paid service some time soon. This service can store up to 20,000 songs for free and can add free music from Magnifier - a blog which informs Google Music Beta members about new, interesting bands with free, exclusive tracks. For offline listening, Google Music Beta can save up tracks for your Android device.

This service is compatible with any device Windows XP or higher, Mac OS X 10.5 or higher, Linux, Android 2.2 or higher, iOS 4.0 or higher. Although may also work on RIM and Windows 7 devices, no official support for such has been released.

As it name implies, Google Music Beta, it is in its Beta stage or in the test phase. Eventually when all things are up and running, the service will no longer be free. As to how much Google will charge for the service, is still unknown.

This service requires upload of music files using the desktop application Music Manager. This application may take up a lot of bandwidth so you might want to adjust the upload rate.

The iTunes Match

The iTunes Match is best described by 3 words- Match, Upload and Play. Match meaning it allows you to match all the music contained in your iTunes library to the version available in the iCloud. If a match has identified, Apple will automatically stream the music to your authorized device. If a match has not found, iTunes Match will upload your music to iCloud. The iTunes Match will enable you play matched or uploaded music to your authorized devices such as a Windows PC, Macs and iOS devices such as iPhones, Ipads and iPod Touch.

A subscription fee of $24.99 a year is required to use the iTunes Match. Once subscribed and done with the matching and uploading of music, users will be able to access music in iCloud directly from the iTunes Library or the music application of your device.

iTunes Match is limited to 25, 000 songs. Music that will be matched with iTunes Match will be at 256kbps AAC DRM-Free quality regardless if the match or upload is of higher or lower quality. However, song files over 200 MB, as well as songs encoded as AAC or MP3 with bitrates lower than 96 kbps, will not be uploaded to the iCloud. Songs encoded in ALAX, WAV, or AIFF will be transcoded to a separate temporary AAC 256 kbps file locally, prior to uploading to iCloud. Original files will be retained. Also, songs containing DRM (Digital Rights Management) will not be matched or uploaded to iCloud unless the computer is authorized for playback of the content. Songs purchased outside the United States iTunes Store containing DRM, will not be matched or uploaded in the iCloud as well.

Music on iTunes match will not take up your iOS device storage space unless you play and download the songs to your device. Some items that are in the iCloud will also be visible to the device, but doesn't take space because it not downloaded to your device.

MP3 Tunes

MP3 Tunes is a service that is similar to Amazon Cloud and Google Music Beta though had been in the business for several years already. Its cloud services is free for 2GB storage but costs $40-$140 per year for 50GB - 200GB storage upgrade.

Unlike other cloud service providers, MP3 Tunes will let you upload your own music as it has encountered legal issues with some recording companies. Although they have won the battle with EMI record label, MP3 Tunes has not given any license from music companies to offer its services to users. Free music can be searched online through Sideload.com and can be saved directly to your MP3 Tunes music locker.

This service works with Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, Chumby, iOS, PlayStation 3, Roku, TiVo, Wii, Windows Phone 7, and Xbox 360, to name a few.

Murfie

Said to be the most difficult to understand among the cloud service providers, Murfie serves as a storage area for your CD collections, both digital and physical. It also serves as an online market where buying, selling and trading of music collection is possible. As a remote storage it lets you store your music compilations up to 1000 CDs for $12 per year.

The process is pretty laborious here. To start off your own online store with Murfie, you send the CDs you want to be included in your music library. Murfie provides shipping kit for free. In less than couple of weeks, Murfie processes your shipment and sets up your own account with Murfie.com. From there you can sell or trade your old CDs at any price you want, though Murfie takes a 30% cut from the sales of each CD.

Murfie can also provide a digital version of your CD collection chich you can download from your account. CD's will be ripped and converted into the file format of your choice. When the ripped CD is ready for download, Murfie will send you a notification.

Murfie prohibits the sale or trade of CDs until 30 days after you downloaded the digital copy of your CD. Murfie's terms also requires you to delete any digital copies of you CD after selling it to someone else, although the means on how Murfie will verify is still unclear.