mSpot has launched the elusive music in the cloud solution that Apple and Google have hinted around at implementing. Right now, you can sign up for a free mSpot account and upload 2GB of your personal music collection to the cloud. You will be able to play your 2GB of music for free from any internet-connected Mac/PC and your Android mobile device. Sorry, iPhone users, no mSpot for you yet. mSpot doesn’t make you sync your devices or anything when you add music to your cloud, it just works with minimal hassle.
With mSpot, you are actually uploading your collection to the cloud. There is no matching/verification process like Lala had before Apple shut them down. This means that you are listening to your own collection and not a frustrating copy of it. As far as mSpot is concerned, this also means they don’t have to make any deals with the big record companies to stay in operation. They are simply offering a method of storing/playing your audio data in the cloud. We’ll see how far this takes them as similar services have faced lawsuits in the past.
Once your collection uploads, you can access the iTunes-like interface from just about any web browser. Your Windows Media Player, iTunes, or other music and playlists are automatically duplicated using the mSpot desktop client. Once you’ve installed the mobile app, you can access the same data from your phone. mSpot sets aside some local space on the phone (an amount that you can specify) to store a copy of what you’re playing. This is to guard against bad signal and preserve playback quality.
mSpot keeps things simple and has worked flawlessly for me so far. Both the web and the mobile interfaces were responsive, intuitive, and easy to look at. If 2GB of cloud storage is not enough, you can always upgrade:
- Additional 10GB for $2.99/month
- Additional 20GB for $4.99/month
- Additional 50GB for $9.99/month
- Additional 100GB for $13.99/month
While mSpot is now ahead of the curve, Google and Apple may both soon enter the fray as they have each already acquired a related service and seem poised to enter the cloud music space. If mSpot can avoid being crushed by these two competitors while avoiding lawsuits from the big record companies, they should do just fine. Until then, grab a free 2GB account and let us know how you like it in the comments.