Amazon says it doesn't need licenses

DRIVING WITHOUT A LICENSE: Amazon has refuted the contention in numerous media reports that the online giant’s newly launched cloud (or locker) service requires licenses from the labels and publishers. "Cloud Player is an application that lets customers manage and play their own music,” Amazon spokeswoman Cat Griffin asserted to Ars Technica on Tuesday following the launch. “It's like any number of existing media management applications. We do not need a license to make Cloud Player available." Amazon’s plausible reasoning is that because users are uploading and playing back their own music, the original download licenses still apply and no new licenses are necessary. "[W]e do not need a license to store music in Cloud Drive," Griffin added in an email to Ars. "The functionality of saving MP3s to Cloud Drive is the same as if a customer were to save their music to an external hard drive or even iTunes." (3/30a)