Skip to main content

Best Buy soft launches Music Cloud service

best-buy-cloud-music
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Have you ever heard the expression: when it rains, it pours? Well, things are getting pretty cloudy. Best Buy hasn’t officially launched its Music Cloud service, but you can already give it a try if you head to the site. The service is Best Buy’s attempt to compete with Amazon’s Cloud Player, Google Music, and Apple’s iCloud, among others. The new service lets users stream their music to multiple device including computers, phones, and tablets. Not to be outdone, Music Cloud allows users to save songs locally to devices for offline play, which may be more common with data prices beginning to skyrocket out of control. Unlike Apple’s iCloud, however, it looks like users will have to upload their music.

The heart of the music uploading service is powered by Catch Media’s PlayAnywhere technology, and it works with iOS devices, BlackBerry phones, and Android-based products. It looks like there will be a free “lite” version and a subscription “pro” version with more features and storage.

Unfortunately, the service is currently limited and will only allow you to use it if you connect it to your iTunes library. Yes, there is no way to use the new service if you don’t have iTunes installed. It will not upload from Windows Media Player or a folder/directory on your desktop. We’re hoping Best Buy fixes this, and streamlines the entire setup process, by the time the product officially launches. For those who use iTunes, this Best Buy blog post will help you install the software. We were not able to find any Best Buy Music Cloud software on the Android Market yet as of this writing. If you’re able to check the BlackBerry AppWorld or iTunes, please let us know if it’s available on those platforms.

Oddly, it sounds like users of the free version will only be allowed to listen to 30 seconds of every song they own, which makes us wonder why Best Buy is offering a free version at all. Unless, of course, you’re a fan of Girl Talk, in which case, you may be okay. We’ll have more on Best Buy’s service as it rolls out.

Editors' Recommendations

Jeffrey Van Camp
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…
4 CPUs you should buy instead of the Ryzen 7 7800X3D
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D sitting on a motherboard.

The Ryzen 7 7800X3D is one of the best gaming processors you can buy, and it's easy to see why. It's easily the fastest gaming CPU on the market, it's reasonably priced, and it's available on a platform that AMD says it will support for several years. But it's not the right chip for everyone.

Although the Ryzen 7 7800X3D ticks all the right boxes, there are several alternatives available. Some are cheaper while still offering great performance, while others are more powerful in applications outside of gaming. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D is a great CPU, but if you want to do a little more shopping, these are the other processors you should consider.
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D

Read more
Even the new mid-tier Snapdragon X Plus beats Apple’s M3
A photo of the Snapdragon X Plus CPU in the die

You might have already heard of the Snapdragon X Elite, the upcoming chips from Qualcomm that everyone's excited about. They're not out yet, but Qualcomm is already announcing another configuration to live alongside it: the Snapdragon X Plus.

The Snapdragon X Plus is pretty similar to the flagship Snapdragon X Elite in terms of everyday performance but, as a new chip tier, aims to bring AI capabilities to a wider portfolio of ARM-powered laptops. To be clear, though, this one is a step down from the flagship Snapdragon X Elite, in the same way that an Intel Core Ultra 7 is a step down from Core Ultra 9.

Read more
Gigabyte just confirmed AMD’s Ryzen 9000 CPUs
Pads on the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D.

Gigabyte spoiled AMD's surprise a bit by confirming the company's next-gen CPUs. In a press release announcing a new BIOS for X670, B650, and A620 motherboards, Gigabyte not only confirmed that support has been added for next-gen AMD CPUs, but specifically referred to them as "AMD Ryzen 9000 series processors."

We've already seen MSI and Asus add support for next-gen AMD CPUs through BIOS updates, but neither of them called the CPUs Ryzen 9000. They didn't put out a dedicated press release for the updates, either. It should go without saying, but we don't often see a press release for new BIOS versions, suggesting Gigabyte wanted to make a splash with its support.

Read more