I am a huge advocate for deals on Amazon. Last year Amazon began a program for students, called Amazon Students. You sign up for the program for free with your University e-mail account (HINT: Works for faculty as well!!). The perks: one free year of Amazon Prime, discounts and announcements on student-oriented products (like Textbook Trade-In), and special promotions like what I am shamelessly plugging today:
Today, Amazon Student e-mailed me about a special offer on the new Lady Gaga album, Born This Way, for $0.99! (FYI: this deal is for 5/23/2011 only). This deal is open to all, and I’m certain that this deal is aimed to slam iTunes pricing. It is also important to point out that buying this album will yield another perk.
Currently, if you buy any full album from the Amazon MP3 Store, you are able to get a free upgrade from 5GB (free) to 20GB (normally $20/yr) on your Amazon Cloud Drive. If you are unfamiliar with the Cloud Drive, it allows you to store your music, video, document and photo files over the web on a secure server. Amazon’s Cloud drive offers (in contrast to the oft document-centric DropBox) the ability to stream your music content over the cloud, such as over 3G connected device or on a laptop/computer where you don’t store your music. (FYI: Purchases from the Amazon MP3 Store do not count toward your cloud storage space, which I see as an additional AIM at the yet-to-be-announced/revealed Apple iCloud). The fundamentally lacking service on the Amazon Cloud that I currently notice is an inability to stream video uploads, which would be invaluable for me when I teach my film courses.
None the less, I have found that Amazon Student has offered numerous perks that are certainly worth the simple sign-up. The only caveat is a few e-mail announcements about the current Student Program specials or deals – which I obviously enjoyed today when Gaga’s album was offered for a steal of a price. Be sure to check it out if you are eligible as a student (which merely requires that you be able to access your university e-mail).
Mentioned:
Amazon ; Amazon Students ; Amazon Prime ; Amazon MP3 Store ; Amazon Cloud Drive ; DropBox
