Yahoo! Says, “I Got The Music In Me.”
Napster and iPod beware. Yahoo! has just rolled out Yahoo Music Unlimited with pricing that undercuts the market by one-third. While Napster charges $14.95 per month for unlimited access to it’s music catalog, Yahoo Music Unlimited is charges just $4.99 per month. This price includes access to over 1,000,000 song titles delivered from the four major record labels plus many independents as well.
When users sign up for service, they will download the free Yahoo Music Engine. According to Yahoo, this music search engine will let users play, manage, discover, rip, burn and create playlists. Users can also transfer music to compatible players made by Rio, Sony, Phillips and Zen.
Now here’s the rub. Yahoo Music Unlimited is based on Microsoft’s Janus technology. Janus-compatible players have not penetrated the market yet, so there will be some growing pains is this regard. But, when users realize that they are continuing to pay 3 times the price for iTunes on their iPods, there may just be a bit of a mutiny to get to the new Janus-compatible players.
Yahoo! has decided to roll out its new Yahoo Music Unlimited in a big way. Now make way for the hottest new method for music downloads since Napster began in 1999. Sometimes it comes full circle, doesn’t it?
