Amazon has spent the much of 2011 making their cloud space more about usability than mere storage, and the August 10, 2011 release of the Kindle Cloud Reader supports that movement. In March, Amazon introduced the Amazon Cloud Player, which allows users to upload music and play purchased Amazon mp3s on the Apple iPad, Android devices, and on Mac and PC. After a July upgrade to the Cloud Player, Amazon has now brought out the Cloud Reader.
What is the Amazon Cloud?
Cloud computing allows users to access data and services that are stored somewhere else. That "somewhere else" is the cloud. When you read email through a web browser (such as Gmail or Yahoo), you are reading messages that are stored on another server. That is the basic idea of cloud computing.
With the Amazon Cloud, you store music, movies, and ebooks on Amazon's servers, but when you access them from your personal device you should be able listen, watch, and read your digital media as quickly as if they were stored on your home computer.
How to Use the Kindle Cloud Reader
I tested the Kindle Cloud Reader with a Chrome browser and on an Aople iPad through the Safari browser. You do not download Cloud Reader like an app; just go to read.amazon.com.
The first screen is a sign in screen, so use that with your Kindle account. The second screen asks if you want to enable offline reading. If you say yes, then you will save a copy of your book so that you can read it without internet access. You will then see all of your books, and it looks just like the Kindle iPhone and iPad app.
When I clicked on a book, it opened immediately. Amazon keeps track of your bookmarks and notes, so when I reopen the ebook on my Kindle (so I can read with e-ink and avoid the backlight), everything will update so it will be like I have been reading on the same device all along. There was a few seconds of watching a spinning circle for a few books, but in general Kindle Cloud Reader worked exactly as promised.
Kindle Cloud Reader Availability
You can use the Kindle Cloud Reader on an iPad and with Safari and Chrome. Amazon says that the Kindle Cloud Reader for Internet Explorer, Firefox, the BlackBerry PlayBook and other mobile browsers "in the coming months." Amazon makes no mention of Android, but you can use Chrome and access the Kindle Cloud Reader on a tablet. Amazon is committed to their Android app store and there are rumors that Kindle 4 will have an Android base, so expect the Kindle Cloud Reader to work beautifully on Android.
Although Apple has changed rules about shopping through apps, Amazon has made it feel like you are shopping through the Kindle app when using the Cloud Reader. You can read more about Kindle for Cloud in Amazon's media release, " Introducing Kindle Cloud Reader," which was posted on August 10, 2011 by Amazon.
Alex Sharp - Alex Sharp is a teacher who has been keeping Suite101 readers up to date with the latest in audio- and e-book gadgetry since 2008.
