Yahoo Teams with Rhapsody for Subscription Service
Wed Feb 6, 5:06 PM GMT
The Associated Press reports that Yahoo will be discontinuing its own subscription music service in order to team with RealNetwork’s Rhapsody service.
Yahoo Music Unlimited is a subscription-based service that allows unlimited downloads while the user maintains an active subscription for as little as $5.99 a month. Once the switch to Rhapsody is in effect, whenever the Yahoo customers’ subscription expire, they will need to subscribe directly to Rhapsody. The trick will be whether or not the Yahoo customer can retain his or her existing music database once they are fully transferred to Rhapsody’s service. In the months preceding the switch, Rhapsody and Yahoo will no doubt be addressing this question.
Yahoo will continue to operate its music site, which includes ad-supported streaming audio, music videos, and Web radio.
Yahoo’s head of media, Scott Moore told the AP that “people want to have music and consume it in lots of different forms and across different devices and platforms and we want to have a play in as many of those as we can.”
At the moment, Yahoo Music Unlimited only enables music to be played on a computer; by contrast, Rhapsody subscribers can upload their music to a Rhapsody mp3 device— Apple’s iPod is not compatible with the service. Moore also hinted that Yahoo is interested in downloads and “exploring our opportunities” in that arena.
Yahoo Music Unlimited is a subscription-based service that allows unlimited downloads while the user maintains an active subscription for as little as $5.99 a month. Once the switch to Rhapsody is in effect, whenever the Yahoo customers’ subscription expire, they will need to subscribe directly to Rhapsody. The trick will be whether or not the Yahoo customer can retain his or her existing music database once they are fully transferred to Rhapsody’s service. In the months preceding the switch, Rhapsody and Yahoo will no doubt be addressing this question.
Yahoo will continue to operate its music site, which includes ad-supported streaming audio, music videos, and Web radio.
Yahoo’s head of media, Scott Moore told the AP that “people want to have music and consume it in lots of different forms and across different devices and platforms and we want to have a play in as many of those as we can.”
At the moment, Yahoo Music Unlimited only enables music to be played on a computer; by contrast, Rhapsody subscribers can upload their music to a Rhapsody mp3 device— Apple’s iPod is not compatible with the service. Moore also hinted that Yahoo is interested in downloads and “exploring our opportunities” in that arena.