Tips and Tricks: Amazon's Cloud Drive and the Kindle Fire

Continuing our series on getting the most out of your Kindle Fire, which has gotten into topics like setting up Gmail and using a microphone, we're going to get back into the issue of memory and how you can pack more of it into your device. If you remember, we previously discussed portable storage drives, but there is another option: Amazon's Cloud Drive.

As you know, the Fire automatically comes with free cloud storage for all of your Amazon content, which is a big reason why the device's 8GB of space is passable, but a good portion of us may already have a lot of songs  that we'd like to have access to. Fortunately, everyone with an Amazon account gets 5GB of free storage. You can also increase your storage space from 20GB for $20 a year to 1000GB.

Uploading Media to the Cloud Drive
The easiest way to start moving files into the cloud is to visit Amazon's Cloud Drive and click "get started." There you'll see a tab for Upload Files. For music, your best bet is to use the Cloud Player to both access music on iTunes/your computer and then play them. To make this easy, you'll download the Amazon MP3 Uploader [instructions here]. Ok, that should get our media into the cloud. Now how to access it from your Fire, which can be a bit of a chellenge.

Accessing Media in the Cloud
To get items down from the cloud, you have to click on the item and then go to the orange download arrow, and then your browser will present you with a list of download options. This is particularly easy for music, but some people have more trouble with other types of files. One solution involves using an app called ES File Explorer. On your Fire browser, go to the Cloud Drive, tap and hold the file name until a pop-up appears that lets you save the link. Using ES File Explorer, search your download folder for clouddrive.bin. Tap and hold to rename it properly, then run it with ES or find it in the gallery.

So there are a couple methods of accessing files in case one doesn't work. For extra help with uploading and downloading, visit this FAQ. Now let's move on to another option for cloud storage, Dropbox, which you can link to the Fire's office app.

Using Dropbox
Dropbox is another cloud service that gives you 2 GB free and can allow you to move files from your computer to the web to your Fire. It involves opening an account, downloading a client onto your computer, to which you can drag files that will appear online. Since the Amazon Appstore doesn't have the Fire app for this available, you'll need to get it from the their website here and sideload it onto your Fire (if you're having problems installing, use this). Accessing that app will allow you to get to files that you've moved into the cloud and put them on your Fire. All of this should save you the trouble of emailing files to yourself.

All of this can seem really complicated, but the most important thing is finding a system that works for you so that you can store files and access them when you're on the move. I'll end with another quick plug for one of my favorite apps, WiFi File Explorer, which can help you access other nearby devices.

This afternoon we'll be looking at some great RPG and action games for the Kindle Fire!