The release of Apple’s iCloud  has had every music lover captivated since June. The very thought of   being able to sync up your iPod and iTunes to a cloud in which you would   have access to a countless number of songs had many quickly signing   up.
Apple has always done well  to create  extreme brand loyalists, and those who were overly excited  about iCloud  were just as eager to get their hands on the latest iPhone,  iPad, and  iPod. However, what many are forgetting is that there are  two other 
cloud  hosting companies  that are offering equally 
competitive cloud services: Amazon and Google.
Before you are quick to sign  up for iCloud, review the following pros and cons of each 
cloud server. You may be surprised to find that  Apple is not the right option for you:
Apple’s iCloud
The neatest thing about iCloud,  is that  you don’t have to wait around for all your music to download  into the  cloud. Apple quickly scans through your iTunes, makes sure  that you own  the songs, and then voila! your songs are in the cloud  and ready to  use. Apple is also entering into contracts with big time  record  companies to provide users with a better iTunes and music experience.
The iCloud does have one big  flaw,  however. But this flaw is indicative of most Apple products: iCloud   will only play iTunes either from iTunes or off an iOS device. You can’t   play anything from a web browser. So if you like the idea of the  iCloud,  but aren’t an Apple enthusiast, you will have some syncing  issues.
Amazon’s Cloud Player
Cloud Player is ideal for those  who  want to do one thing and one thing only with their music collection:   store their files elsewhere. Storing multiple music files on your  computer  can really slow it down and quickly deplete memory, and with  Cloud Player,  you can free up computer space by storing all your music  files elsewhere.  Amazon does have an outstanding collection of music  though – only  a little behind iTunes – and your songs can be played  from any browser  or device. It’s also free which is nice when  considering iCloud’s $24.99  annual fee.
The biggest downside to Amazon’s  cloud  is that you literally have to wait for all your music to upload.  If you  have a larger music collection, this could take many hours, if  not  days.
Google’s Music Beta
Out of the three clouds, Music  Beta  offers the least to its customers. While the service is free and  allows  users to store up to 20,000 songs, it doesn’t offer much else.  Users  can’t purchase any music through Music Beta. Unlike Amazon and  Apple,  Google’s product also won’t let users store anything other than  music.
The big decision really comes  down  between Amazon and Apple. Although Google gave a valiant effort,  its  cloud services are better served for other spectrums such as GoogleDocs,   not music. The big deciding factor for anyone interested in a cloud   music service will truly come down to your interest in Android or Apple.   If you find yourself gravitating towards Android, then go for Amazon.   But if you own nothing but Apple, then by all means purchase the  iCloud.