Amazon is today launching Cloud Player for PC, a desktop app that lets users natively play any music they've purchased from or stored with the online retailer — no web browser required. Any songs, albums, and playlists that have been added to your account are fully accessible from the standalone app, and offline support is also baked in; Amazon says Cloud Player for PC can be configured to automatically download MP3s or transfer any new tracks in your library to the cloud, much like its existing Music Importer tool for PC. Like before, users can import a maximum of 250 songs to Cloud Player before they'll need to upgrade to a more spacious tier. (Songs purchased from Amazon MP3 and digital copies of AutoRip albums don't count against that threshold.)

Cloud Player for PC is "all about the music" and tuned for performance and speed, according to the company, a fairly obvious gibe directed at Apple's iTunes and other "bloated" media players. One factor contributing to that speed is a new "instant search" mode that Amazon says quickly plays songs directly from search results. The 31.9MB download is available from Amazon now, and an OS X version is also in the works.