Dropbox (News - Alert) may be looking to branch out from cloud storage to incorporate cloud media streaming, based on the company's acquisition of Audiogalaxy. While Dropbox may end up using what it gains from Audiogalaxy in some other form, it's hard to escape the conclusion that at least some form of media streaming is in the future for Dropbox.

A quote posted on Audiogalaxy's blog in regards to the announcement further suggests new Dropbox functionality: "We are excited about the opportunity to join the amazing folks at Dropbox and bring great new experiences to 100M+ Dropbox users.”


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Audiogalaxy actually started life as a peer-to-peer music sharing service, but eventually followed the same path as Napster to become a music streaming service. More specifically, the company's service allows users to stream music from their own digital music stash to any Web browser, iPhone (News - Alert), iPad or Android device completely for free. Audiogalaxy has been praised for its simple no-nonsense setup, but often has limited registration available.

In fact, registration for the service will be closed until the acquisition is complete and Dropbox decides what to do next, while current Audiogalaxy subscribers will have access to their playlists only until December 31.

It's extremely likely that Audiogalaxy was purchased for the obvious reason: bringing this type of audio streaming to Dropbox users because, everything else aside, that's what the competition appears to be doing. First of all, there's Google (News - Alert) Play Music, which lets users upload their home library to the cloud, allowing access to that library from their Android device while on the go, while many have speculated that Microsoft's (News - Alert) SkyDrive may offer similar functionality in the near future.

With so many legitimate competitors encroaching on Dropbox's territory, the company has little choice but to step up its features to stay relevant.

In other recent Dropbox news, the company recently decided to establish an office in Dublin, Ireland, which will serve as the center of its international operations.

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