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The Cloud
Storing data in the cloud is like renting a self-storage unit: Someone else owns the facility, but you own the stuff in
your unit. Unlike most self-storage facilities, you can access your stuff at any time and from any location so long as
you have an Internet connection.
Cloud computing is the remote storage of digital data in data centers often shared by many users. Users can retrieve
their data over a network—usually the Internet—at any time using a computer, tablet, smartphone or other network-
enabled mobile device loaded with the necessary access application. Just because many people store their data in the
same place doesn't mean one user can access another user's data. Instead, each user is given his oer her own partition
of storage space that has security protocols to protect that space.
Amazon played a key role in the fruition of personal cloud computing, being one of the first in the industry to offer
cloud storage service—"your personal hard drive in the cloud—to its retail customers. In 2006 the online retailer
launched Amazon Web Services, and when it launched its Kindle Fire tablets, it began offering Amazon Cloud
storage.
When you purchase digital content from Amazon.com, a copy is stored in your storage space in the Amazon Cloud.
This service is free, and your storage space for your Amazon digital purchases is unlimited. You can manage your
Amazon Cloud content by using the options under the Your Account tab on Amazon.com and, in the case of digital
music you've purchased from the online retailer, by using the Amazon Cloud Player software.
Do not confuse the Amazon Cloud with Amazon Cloud Drive, which is the company's service that allows you to save
your own personal digital files—not digital content you have purchased from Amazon—to the cloud. You cannot
manage your Amazon.com digital purchases using the Amazon Cloud Drive software or mobile device app.
The list below explains the differences among the various Amazon Cloud consumer products and services.
Amazon Cloud Products and Services
Manage Your Kindle
This option under the Your Account tab on Amazon.com
allows you to manage the digital books, newspapers,
magazines, apps, Prime Instant Videos, Audible
audiobooks and Active Content items you have
purchased from Amazon.com that are stored on the
Amazon Cloud.
Amazon Cloud Player
This computer-based software allows you to listen to
and manage digital music you have purchased from