When Amazon announced their Cloud Drive and Cloud Player music services earlier this week they didn't mention whether or not it would work on the iPhone, or any other iOS device for that matter. While there's no app (yet?) and the full site doesn't seem to want to work on Mobile Safari, single song playback works just fine on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch via Apple's built-in Quicktime X Player. Just hit the jump to find out how it's done!

To get started, first visit www.amazon.com/clouddrive and log in to access your free 5GB of storage. From there you can upload music files in MP3 or AAC format for playback on virtually any device with a web browser.

I've gone ahead and uploaded a few of my favorite tunes to test playback on my iPhone 4. Just follow these simple steps to get the service running on your own iDevice:

1. Open Mobile Safari and navigate to Amazon's Cloud Drive website here, then select the Music folder on the left navigation menu.
2. Choose the song you'd like to play by selecting the checkbox next to the track name.
3. Tap 'Download' above the track selection list.
   
4. Put in your earbuds and enjoy the streaming music!

As I mentioned before, Safari won't actually download and store the MP3 to your iPhone, but will instead launch the built-in Quicktime player for streaming playback. The drawback here is that you can only play one song at a time and must go through the steps for each track you'd like to hear. Additionally, Amazon doesn't have Cloud Drive set up for the iPhone specifically, so navigating the service directly from your iPhone isn't an enjoyable experience to say the least.

But, as demonstrated, playback works perfectly on any iOS device. Let us know if you plan on using Amazon's new service or if you'd rather hold out for a more elegant option from Apple, and as always post any issues you run into in the comments below!

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Apple is reviewing 100 new claims they want added on a 10+ year old patents says Peter Hoddie on Twitter.

Hoddie ran the QuickTime team at Apple after the departure of original lead, Bruce Leak, and is currently co-founder of Kinoma, which develops multimedia solutions for Windows Mobile and Nokia S60. While he didn't elaborate on which patents or what additions were being reviewed, but given his former position, it's not hard to imagine it has to do with Apple's own multimedia framework.

A quick search of the US Patent Office shows Hoddie listed in the following QuickTime-related patents:

• User interface for presenting media information
• Techniques for capturing information during multimedia presentations
• Apparatus and method for storing a movie within a movie
• Methods and apparatuses for transmitting data representing multiple views of an object
• Method and apparatus for identifying user-selectable regions within multiple display frames
• Method and apparatus for synchronization of data retrieval and presentation
• System for data retrieval by scheduling retrieval if number of units scheduled equals or less than predetermined number and retrieving before or at time elapsed
• Method and apparatus for identifying user-selectable regions within multiple display frames

QuickTime has become one of the core display layers of both Mac OS X and iPhone OS X. So is Apple trying to secure against the future or setting up for some more patent pugilism? As Hoddie states, there's clearly a reason...

If you just happened to miss today's video of the "It's only rock and roll, but we like it" keynote or just so happen to be having issues downloading the full 850MB podcast feed like I am, jump on over to Apple's site and instantly view it in it's entirety via Quicktime stream.

Sure good to see Steve back...

While an iTunes Podcast downloadable version will no doubt follow, Apple has just launched their usual Quicktime Streaming Video of the "Spotlight on Notebooks" Keynote.

Go check it out!

A New Version of the iPhone SDK is Now Available. Seventh beta version just posted.

So quoth developer.apple.com/iphone, continuing their breakneck, nigh-unprecedented release pace for the iPhone Software Developer Kit (SDK) and iPhone 2.0 beta firmware.

As always, enterprising developers will likely comb through every string and bit in the new release, looking for new features, and hoping strike gold as they have in the past. I'm still holding my breath for video recording and... cut and paste, but admittedly any new discovery will be welcome.

Meanwhile Apple Software Update is now delivering Quicktime 7.5, one of the core components of the Mac's, and iTunes' graphic layers. If you're not prompted for it, and don't want to trigger it via the utility proper, just surf on over to Apple and grab the direct download. (Note: Mac users will require a reboot -- like we said, it's core level. Windows users, please let us know if you're likewise sent to the restart.).

Speaking of iTunes, iPhone 3G specs indicate iTunes 7.7 will be required to use Apple's new handset, so expect another update sometime between now and the July 11th first release date. Other than iPhone 3G specific support and shifting activation to carrier stores, it's unknown what else the update will bring.

Anyone want to guess? What's hidden in 2.0 Beta 7, and iTunes 7.7? Give us your best shots!

Well, NBC is still boycotting iTunes, but in a surprising move, they're back on the iPhone (and iPod Touch). How? Streaming live through the built-in to MobileSafari QuickTime player -- take that, Flash snobs! -- and without advertising!

Silicon Valley Insider has the Hulu-trumping details:

NBC is streaming full episodes of "The Office" and "30 Rock" to the iPhone in unprotected Quicktime format. Without advertising. Go figure. To get there, go to nbc.com on an iPhone (or presumably, an iPod touch). Scroll past Howie Mandel and Sam Waterston, and NBC invites you to "WATCH FULL EPISODES!" Be warned: the quality is pretty bad and our borrowed iPhone froze twice.

Now, while I do get a snazzy iPhone-optimized web page, I don't get the watch full episodes option (probably because I'm not in the US, and were I to see such US content, the world would explode), so if you get it to work, please let me know, and let me know how well!

We mentioned the release of iTunes and Quicktime in our podcast yesterday, but haven't provided any release notes. There's not a lot in terms of content for anyone deciding to update or not. Ambrosia reports that iToner still works -- though the initial update will wipe out iToner ringtones, you can easily sync them over. The iTunes doesn't touch a user's library file, so there shouldn't be any risk of anything. The QuickTime update includes improvements for converting video for the iPhone. Are you excited about this? Yah, me neither.