Skip to content
Thoughtful, detailed coverage of everything Apple for 33 years
and the TidBITS Content Network for Apple professionals
2 comments

Amazon Releases Cloud Drive Desktop App

Playing catch-up, but still lagging behind, Amazon has released the Amazon Cloud Drive desktop app for Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and 10.6 Snow Leopard (as well as Windows Vista and 7). The software provides Finder-based uploads to the company’s Cloud Drive service, but doesn’t provide synchronization or true Desktop integration as a folder or drive. Nor can you use the app to download files.

Amazon’s Cloud Drive service is an amalgam of a music-storage locker and file storage, but it has lacked a desktop component until now. Or rather, it still does — the desktop app is a half measure that doesn’t compare to even the worst of the file synchronization and storage services from competitors like Dropbox, Google, and Microsoft (see “Google Drive and SkyDrive Take Aim at Dropbox,” 24 April 2012). Apple is the only company with which there’s no comparison, because after iDisk goes to its watery grave on 30 June 2012, Apple will no longer have any desktop file synchronization at all.

After installing the Cloud Drive desktop app, a generic cloud icon (good choice, guys) appears in the system menu bar. To upload files, you drag an item to the cloud icon until a green plus sign in a circle appears. You can also Control-click any file or folder in the Finder and choose Upload to Cloud Drive from the contextual menu. (You may need to restart your computer to see this menu. It didn’t show up on my Mac initially, and even relaunching the Finder wasn’t sufficient.)

The Cloud Drive app’s page promotes downloads: “Easy download of one or more files and folders from Cloud Drive.” But this isn’t the case. The program’s tour, which you can view after installation or from its Help menu, says you must use the Web to download files. In my book, that’s not “easy.”

Amazon offers 5 GB of storage for free accounts, although storage of Amazon-purchased music doesn’t reduce that amount. Paid storage starts at $20 per year for 20 GB of storage, and paid accounts don’t count any Amazon-purchased or uploaded music files towards storage limits. (For more details about Amazon’s very decent Web-based media access, see “Amazon Beats Apple at Ease of Media Access,” 17 November 2011.)

I was asked a few days ago where Amazon had positioned itself after Google launched Google Drive and Microsoft overhauled SkyDrive. The answer? Well behind the curve.

Subscribe today so you don’t miss any TidBITS articles!

Every week you’ll get tech tips, in-depth reviews, and insightful news analysis for discerning Apple users. For over 33 years, we’ve published professional, member-supported tech journalism that makes you smarter.

Registration confirmation will be emailed to you.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA. The Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Comments About Amazon Releases Cloud Drive Desktop App