HOW TO: Use Amazon Cloud Player With iOS Devices


Want to access Amazons new Cloud Player from your iOS device? Weve found a serviceable, if hackneyed, solution.

Amazon launched its Cloud Player and Cloud Drive services Tuesday, offering users a way to access their music files from a web browser anywhere. Amazon also released an official Android app for Cloud Player that lets Android fans listen to their tunes on the go. What about iOS users? Well, it would appear at first blush as if owners of the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad are out of luck the Cloud Player website simply doesnt want to work with Mobile Safari.

After! assessi ng the situation a bit, its clear that this is a limitation not born out of technical necessity (read: This isnt because of Flash) and is either a simple oversight or an intentional decision to block iOS devices.

Users who attempt to access amazon.com/cloudplayer in iOS are greeted with a message that the browser is not supported and they should try Internet Explorer. Ignoring the message will serve users the standard Cloud Player interface, but pressing the play button on any track will lead, well, nowhere.

Reports from Android owners indicate that they can access the website without a problem, so the issue must be with the user agent string that the website is detecting from the web browser. As far as we can tell, it appears as if Amazon either doesnt support or is blocking Mobile Safari from direct player control.

The Workaround: Mobile Safari Method

First off, well warn you, while this method certainly works, it isnt the most streamlined solution. The workaround is to click on a song name and then select Download from the drop-down menu. This will force Mobile Safari to open the file. If you have apps like GoodReader, Filer, or iUnarchive installed, you may be able to choose to open the file in those apps.

More recent tests indicate that what will likely happen is that the music file will play back in its own browser window. The file will play like any other QuickTime file, meaning you can pause, scrub forward or backward and adjust the volume. This also means you can listen to the song while in other apps.

This method works pretty we! ll, howe ver, the reality is that you need to do this for every song you want to hear. That makes listening to multiple tracks or shorter songs problematic.

Alternative Two: iCab to the Rescue

The Mobile Safari workaround works now, however, its possible that Amazon could change the way it serves files and downloads to iOS devices. If that happens, another option exists.

The fantastic alternative browser iCab Mobile [iTunes link] offers a ton of additional features that make the typical iPhone or iPad browsing experience even better. These features include saving websites to Dropbox, adding bookmarks to Pinboard, Readability or Instapaper and saving sites or portions of text to Evernote. For $4.99, the app is value packed.

One of the standout features of iCab Mobile is the ability to change the browser User Agent. In other words, this lets the website think that you are visiting from a browser other than Mobile Safari.

Changing the Browser ID to Safari 5 (Mac) will allow users to download music using the Mobile Safari method, even if Amazon does change how it serves downloaded files.

This Is Not a Technical Problem

The lack of iOS support for the Amazon Cloud Player website is not a technical problem. Music downloaded from the site works just fine in Mobile Safari on the iPhone and iPad. There is no conceivable reason that streaming HTML5 audio tags could not be used to provide playback in the browser or in a web app.

The rationale behind the decision not to support iOS is unclear, and were not going to make assumptions as to Amazon or Apples intentions in the matter. Understanding that the lack of support is not technical, however, may open up some additional solutions for enterprising web developers.

In! the int erim, at least iOS users can play a song here or there in a jam.

More About: amazon, Amazon Cloud Player, apple, icab mobile, iOS, ipad, iphone

For more Mobile coverage:



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

12 startup founders discuss working on Christmas Day

Image
Well, it would seem a trifle rude to not begin proceedings with a warm Merry Christmas. But I must askwhat the hell are you doing reading this when you should be playing your new Nintendo 3DS, or guzzling that tenth mince pie of the day? But then, you will probably ask what the hell am I doing here writing this piece on the holiest of holy-days. My excuse? I love what I do, so its not like Im really working per seplus, I actually prepped much of it yesterday. And your excuse is likely along the lines of I love all things tech, why would I switch off just because my calendar says December 25? Fair point. Confucius once said: Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. Nice sentiments for sure, but theres still the issue of a healthy work/life balance to contend with even for startup founders. So I asked a handful of founders and CEOs whether they would be working on Christmas Day this year, or whether theyd treat themselves to a day off. I mean, it is a...
Keep reading

Flipboard needs to branch its content out from US/UK, heres why

Image
Earlier this month, an eagerly anticipated iPhone app was finally launched as Flipboard took its highly acclaimed iPad app to the phone. The app has been out for a few weeks and, with the deafening chorus of cheers fading, Ive found myself shunning its beautiful and innovative design for the simple fact that its content isnt relevant enough for me. Compared to Zite , which may not be as aesthetically pleasing, Flipboard comes up wanting on content. Zite is, among others , an app which aggregates content from my social web Twitter, Google Reader and others giving it to me in a magazine style layout. Though it lacks the page flipping ingenuity of Flipboard, the reading is more varied, which is ultimately what Im looking for from a social magazine. There is credit to be given to Flipboard however, as it is addressing the issue by building an editorial team, as its founder told Robert Scoble recently . The company has also started curating content publicly too, with @flipboardtech cura...
Keep reading

Digitimes: Apples iPhone 5 to include smaller screen and metal chassis

Contray to previous reports that suggested Apples next-generation iPhone would include a 4.2-inch touch screen panel, Asian technology publication Digitimes reports that the device will feature a smaller 4-inch panel, adapting the rear of the device to ship with a metal chassis instead of reinforced glass. Digitimes points out that the many of the rumoured specifications expected to be featured in the iPhone 5 are the markets expectations, with sources indicating that the device will possibly adopt a significantly smaller screen than first imagined: The sources pointed out that the upcoming iPhone will not have many differences compared to iPhone 4 in terms of components and the panel will still be less than 4-inch. The iPhone 5 will adopt a 3.5- to 3.7-inch panel with a design to allow the bezel of the panel to become thinner and make the screen look larger. The inclusion of a metal back will divide opinion, given suggestions that Apple had intentionally utilised glass designs to boo...
Keep reading