Amazon Cloud Drive is a new online file storage and backup service from Amazon. It offers 5 GB of free online storage for anyone with an Amazon account. Just log into Amazon.com with your Amazon user ID and password, then go to the Amazon Cloud Drive page, and your free 5 GB of storage space will be instantly available to you.

The Amazon Cloud Drive is available free to customers located anywhere in the world for file backup, but US customers can enjoy some added benefits.

For US customers, the Amazon Cloud Drive is linked to the Amazon MP3 Store, so that MP3 songs and albums purchased from the Amazon MP3 Store do not count toward your storage limit. Using the Amazon Cloud Player, US customers can listen to these MP3 purchases anytime, within a web browser or on an Android phone using the Amazon MP3 for Android app.

Amazon customers in the US are also eligible to receive a free upgrade to 20 GB of storage in their Amazon Cloud Drive. Full details below.

Amazon Cloud Drive Details

Here are the Amazon Cloud Drive details, for all customers:

The Amazon Cloud Drive is located at www.amazon.com/clouddrive.
5 GB of free online storage for anyone with an Amazon account.
Securely access files from anywhere, from any computer with a web browser.
Store any type of file including music, photos, videos, documents, and more.
File upload size is limited to 2 GB per file.
New Amazon MP3 Store purchases can be stored in your Amazon Cloud Drive at the time of purchase, and will not take up any storage space. These purchases can be seen on your Amazon Cloud Drive management page, under “Your Amazon MP3 Purchases”. Download purchased songs and albums anytime.
Earlier Amazon MP3 Store purchases can be upload to your Amazon Cloud Drive anytime, and these will take up storage space.

Here are the Amazon Cloud Drive details, for US customers only:

Stream Amazon MP3 Store purchases using the Amazon Cloud Player. Listen to purchased MP3 songs or albums anytime.
Upgrade your Amazon Cloud Drive storage to 20 GB for free with any album purchase from the Amazon MP3 Store. This offer will upgrade your storage to 20 GB for one year from the date of your purchase. (Get Amazon MP3 Store albums for less than $1.)
Use Amazon MP3 for Android to listen to your MP3 purchases on your Android phone. Only available for Android OS 1.6 and higher.

Amazon Cloud Drive does not offer a file synchronization feature. For file sync, see alternative file backup services such as SugarSync, Mozy, and Dropbox.

When upgrading your storage plan, your new and larger storage space will be immediately available to you. When downgrading your storage plan, your current storage space will remain in effect until the last day of your billing cycle, when your storage space will be downgraded to your new and smaller storage space. If your stored data surpasses your storage limit after downgrading, then you can still access your files for a limited time, to download or delete data.

Free Promotion: Upgrade To A 20 GB Amazon Cloud Drive

When you purchase an MP3 album from the Amazon MP3 Store, you will be eligible to have your Amazon Cloud Drive storage space upgraded to 20 GB from the original 5 GB. This free upgrade will last for one year.

The regular price for upgrading to 20 GB storage is $20/year. If you are just interested in the 20 GB storage upgrade, and not interested in MP3 albums, then you can just get the cheapest MP3 album you can find. There are over 150,000 choices for MP3 albums cheaper than $1, that will qualify you for the 20 GB storage upgrade of your Amazon Cloud Drive.

This offer is only for US customers and is valid until 11:59PM PST on December 31, 2011. From Amazon:

Purchase an MP3 album from the Amazon MP3 Store by 11:59 PM PST on December 31, 2011.

If you qualify for this offer and either have not signed up for Amazon Cloud Drive or have the 5GB Amazon Cloud Drive plan, you will be automatically eligible for the 20 GB plan for one year from the date of your MP3 album purchase. Unless you set your account to auto-renew to a paid plan, the 20 GB plan will revert to a free plan one year from the date of your MP3 album purchase.

If your Amazon Cloud Drive account is already at 20 GB or higher when you qualify for this offer, the offer will be saved to your account as a $20 credit toward any future Amazon Cloud Drive plan fees you may incur at the time your plan renews or at the time you upgrade your plan. If you elect to downgrade your plan to a free plan at the time of renewal, your upgrade offer will be applied towards the 20 GB plan at that time.

Note: Once we process your order, which could take up to 3 hours, your promotion will be applied and you will receive email notification that your Cloud Drive storage plan has been updated..