A couple months ago, after I figured we’d start doing podcasts on the Hackz sites, I started on a mad hunt for content delivery services.  With the way that these things have been growing, I figured it was better to be safe than sorry!

As you have probably seen, we have been using Amazon’s S3 to deliver a lot of our larger files to save on bandwidth that the server has to come up with…

But anyway – the cost of content delivery is absolutely crazy!  $1000 buy-in to Limelight.  $500 minimum at Brightcove.  It’s out of control.  We are testing out Voxel’s services right now and like them quite a bit.  But that’s not what this story is about.  This story is about Amazon.

S3 is a great service for bloggers and website owners because it lets them offload a lot of their bigger files so that they don’t choke up the pipe.  But what happens when 2000 people decide to download a podcast?  How does that work?  Enter Amazon Cloudfront.

Amazon Cloudfront just came out today – and I’m excited.  Cloudfront offers a direct tie in with S3 so that your content is ALWAYS sitting on cache, ready to be served!  And the best part, the prices are amazing!

No upfront.  No buy-in.  No monthly.  Pay for what you use!

Check these out…

So if you are looking for a bandwidth/media delivery solution – check out Cloudfront!  Over the coming months, we are going to be testing it.

Here is the official launch email:

So let us know what you think!  Is Amazon right in launching web services?  Or do you think they should just stick to books :0)  I am biased, what can I say?