Publishers of technology books, eBooks, and videos for creative people

Home > Articles > Gadgets and Digital Lifestyle

This chapter is from the book

This chapter is from the book

Adding Music to Your Fire

You can add music to your Fire in three ways: upload it from your computer to your Amazon Cloud Drive by using the Amazon Cloud Player, transfer it to your Fire using the Fire’s USB mode, or buy it from the MP3 store on the Fire.

This section discusses each method.

Cloud Drive

I mentioned Amazon’s Cloud Drive and Cloud Player in the first chapter of this book because they are both important to the Fire. Here’s a refresher: Amazon gives anyone with an Amazon account (that’s you) 5GB of free storage space on its servers. You can store whatever you like using this storage: documents, music, or videos. Once you’ve uploaded your files to your Cloud Drive, you’re able to access them with a web interface. In addition, Amazon will store any music you buy from the Amazon MP3 store in your Cloud Drive for free. This music doesn’t take up any of the storage space, so you will still have 5GB of storage even if you purchase 8GB of music from Amazon. For more information about Cloud Drive, check out https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/learnmore.

Amazon Cloud Player allows you to play all those songs stored on your Cloud Drive on a variety of devices through your web browser (www.amazon.com/cloudplayer), on an Android-powered smartphone, and on the Kindle Fire. This is where all the music in the Cloud library on your Fire comes from.

To automatically add any music you buy from Amazon (on either your Kindle or Amazon.com’s MP3 store) to your Music library, tap the menu icon in the options bar and select Settings. There is a whole section called Amazon Cloud Drive Settings (Figure 4.15). Tap “Delivery preference” to set either “Save purchases to your Cloud Drive” or “Save purchases to this device.” I suggest making use of the free Amazon Cloud Drive storage to save the storage space on your Fire.

Figure 4.15

Figure 4.15 Amazon Cloud Drive settings allow you to save all your Amazon MP3 purchases to the cloud.

If you want to have your cake and eat it too, tap “Automatic downloads” to have the music saved to your Cloud Drive automatically downloaded to your Fire.

Uploading Your Own Music to Your Cloud Drive

Now that your Amazon purchases are saved to your Cloud Drive, why not upload all the music on your computer to your Cloud Drive? This way, you can access all your music from your Kindle Fire without taking up any space on the device (assuming you have an active Wi-Fi connection).

Music files (only non-DRMed MP3s and AACs can be uploaded to your Cloud Drive) from sources other than Amazon do count toward your storage limit, so you can upload only 5GB for free. However, for $20 a year Amazon allows you to upload an unlimited number of music files and adds 20GB to your Cloud Drive, bringing your total available storage for other files to 25GB.

No matter which plan you decide to go with, uploading your music to your Cloud Drive works the same way. On the computer with the music you want to upload, point a browser to Amazon.com and then click MP3s & Cloud Player (Figure 4.16). Click Cloud Player for the Web, and a new window will open (Figure 4.17).

Figure 4.16

Figure 4.16 Click MP3s & Cloud Player to launch your Cloud Player from Amazon.com.

Figure 4.17

Figure 4.17 Amazon Cloud Player for the Web

You’ll find a yellow Upload button with the amount of space you have left on your Cloud Drive for music storage (Figure 4.18). Click it, and you’ll be prompted to install the Amazon MP3 Uploader. Follow the directions to install the application on your computer (PCs and Macs are both supported).

Figure 4.18

Figure 4.18 Click the “Upload your music” button to launch, or download, the Amazon MP3 Uploader.

Once it is installed, it will launch automatically and start searching your computer for music (Figure 4.19). It searches only well-known locations (the default location for your iTunes library and the Music folder on your Windows computer). If you store your music in a custom location, the Uploader won’t be able to find it, but it will allow you to manually select a folder. Select the folder you store your music in and click Scan, and the Uploader will merrily scan that folder for supported music files.

Figure 4.19

Figure 4.19 The Amazon MP3 Uploader scanning a computer for music

When the scan is completed, a window appears telling you how many files you can upload to Amazon and how many you’ve previously uploaded (the Uploader is smart enough to upload only those files that weren’t there when it last ran) (Figure 4.20).

Figure 4.20

Figure 4.20 Success. The Uploader has found 27 new songs to upload.

Click OK, and now you’re ready to upload these files. All the files that you can upload to your Cloud Drive will be displayed. You can uncheck any files, playlists, or folders you don’t want to upload. Once you’re happy with your selections, click the “Start upload” button, and the upload commences (Figure 4.21). Depending on how many files you’re uploading and the speed of your Internet connection, this process can take quite a long time. An estimated time is displayed, as is a progress bar for each upload.

Figure 4.21

Figure 4.21 The Uploader lists all the music it has found along with a link to view the songs that it cannot upload.

Chances are your Music library will have some songs that the Uploader won’t upload. In Figure 4.21, you can see a yellow alert at the bottom of the screen that says “524 songs not included.” Click the link to see the full list of incompatible files and why they couldn’t be uploaded (Figure 4.22). You can copy the list to the clipboard so you can paste it into a text document for future reference.

Figure 4.22

Figure 4.22 Music that can’t be uploaded for one reason or another. Click the Copy to Clipboard button if you want to save this list.

As the files upload, they will be added to the Latest Uploads playlist on your Kindle Fire (and in the Cloud Player for the Web) so you can listen to them right away.

Transfer Your Own Music

If you’re more of a do-it-yourselfer, you can load your Kindle Fire with music directly. Keep in mind that any music added to your Fire via this method will use up space on the device.

You’ll need a micro-USB cable to do this. Plug your Fire into a USB port on the computer with the music files on it using a micro-USB cable. The Fire will go into USB drive mode and show up either on the Desktop of your Mac or in the Windows File Explorer as a drive called Kindle (Figure 4.24).

Figure 4.24

Figure 4.24 When you connect your Fire to your computer, it becomes a USB drive called KINDLE.

Double-click the drive, and you’ll see all the directories on your Kindle (Figure 4.25 on the next page). Notice there is a Music folder; that’s where you’re going to add your music. The Fire will play back MP3s and AACs; no other audio files are supported, though. If you move other types of files into the Music folder, they will take up space; they just won’t be playable.

Figure 4.25

Figure 4.25 These are all the directories on your Kindle Fire.

Drag and drop files, or whole directories, of music onto the Fire’s Music directory. When you’re finished transferring songs, tap the Disconnect button on the Fire’s screen, and your songs will appear in the Device Music library.

Buying Music on the Fire

Tap the Store button to shop in the Amazon MP3 store right from your Fire (Figure 4.26). This store is much like the other stores on the Kindle. At the top you’ll find Featured albums you can swipe through. Below that are some other sections of the store: Bestsellers, New Releases, and Genres. Tap any of those buttons to be taken to that section of the store.

Figure 4.26

Figure 4.26 The Kindle MP3 store

Rounding out the storefront are some recommendations for you based on your Amazon purchase history. Both Albums and Songs are listed; toggle between the two lists by tapping the appropriate button. Each album or song has a button with the price displayed next to it.

Tap an album to see a list of all the songs on the album, along with individual prices for each track (Figure 4.27). Tapping one of the tracks starts a 30- or 60-second sample so you can get a taste for what you’re about to buy.

Figure 4.27

Figure 4.27 Tap the play icon to preview a song for 30 seconds, and tap the orange button to buy it.

If you like what you hear, tap the button with the price. It turns into a green Buy button. Tap again, and depending on your settings, the songs are added to your Cloud Drive, downloaded to your Fire, or both (Figure 4.28).

Figure 4.28

Figure 4.28 When you purchase a song or album, it can be added to your Cloud Drive, your Fire, or both.

You can listen to the songs as soon as the process is complete.

If you aren’t sure what exactly you want from the MP3 store, you can always search. The search results include Albums and Songs buttons, so you can switch between the two (Figure 4.29). Tapping an album from the search results gives you more details about it, and tapping a song plays the preview.

Figure 4.29

Figure 4.29 Searching for music in the store is very easy.

Peachpit Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from Peachpit and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about Peachpit products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites; develop new products and services; conduct educational research; and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email ask@peachpit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by Adobe Press. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.peachpit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020