Amazon's Elastic Transcoder converts audio files now, too (updated)
Amazon set out to makes our lives a tiny bit easier when it launched its cloud-based video transcoder back in January, and now, it's expanding the service to audio as well. In addition to converting media files into mobile-friendly formats, the platform will also allow users to turn their videos into audio-only streams, which might just come in handy if you plan on turning a video into a podcast. The Elastic Transcoder lets you create output using AAC, MP3 or Vorbis audio codecs, and can attach relevant metadata like track names and album art to your files. In an effort to reel new users in, Amazon is offering a free usage tier capped at 20 hours minutes of converted audio content each month. After that point, you pay for what you use, so each minute of audio will cost the princely sum of $0.0045 to transcode. To see how it all works, check out the video after the break.
Update: The free tier isn't quite that good a bargain: you get 20 minutes per month, not 20 hours.
