Yahoo Close to Launching iTunes-like Music Service
TMO Reports - Yahoo Close to Launching iTunes-like Music Service
by , 10:00 AM EST, March 8th, 2005
Yahoo! is about to launch an online digital music store, and an iTunes-like player, according to various news reports.
Sources told Silicon.com and Cnet News that Yahoo has been working with digital-music wholesaler MusicNet for some time after its buyout of Musicmatch last September for $160 million.
The Mac Observer was also privey to similar reports from analysts who had been briefed by Yahoo last week. Analysts familiar with the service were shown software they described as very similar in style, design and layout to Apple's iTunes Music Store. Those same sources said Yahoo's service would match Apple's online pricing, offering a subscription service similar to that of Napster and launch by the end of March.
Yahoo is developing its own music player software, backed by MusicNet-provided downloads and subscriptions, that it plans to run alongside the recently purchased Musicmatch.
The buyout of Musicmatch by Yahoo brought the Web giant a well-regarded piece of jukebox software, a music download store similar to Apple's iTunes, a premium Net radio service with more than 160,000 subscribers, and a recently launched subscription service similar to RealNetworks' Rhapsody.
David Goldberg, who runs Yahoo's Launch digital music subsidiary, hinted in September of last year at large ambitions for the company's music service."We're making a big investment," he said at that time. "We want to be the major player in digital music."
Observer Comments
Tue Mar 08, 2005 11:57 am Subject: Re: Bad News
We've heard this before.
MSN, though smaller than Yahoo, was supposed do the same, but we've not heard much since it's official launch in Oct.
AOL, the other portal, still uses iTunes for downloads and Musicnet for subscription.
So will Yahoo kill off the Real, Napster, and the rest of the WMA stores?
Tue Mar 08, 2005 12:42 pm Subject: Apple's Closed iTunes-iPod System Will Fail
Tue Mar 08, 2005 12:47 pm Subject: Re: Apple's Closed iTunes-iPod System Will Fail
QuoteRealityCheck wrote:
As the choices increase, buying an iPod will be limited to Mac idolotors.
Assuming the iPod goes through no changes in the future...yes.
I could see how someone might think all development of this product line will come to a abrubt halt. I mean, it's the only logical choice, right?
Tue Mar 08, 2005 1:06 pm Subject: Sniff, sniff??
in about 10 million years. and all the music services will be DOOMED!!!! mark words
maybe then, ONE of your thousand of reason why apple is DOOMED will come true.
right now your really just a sad thingy on the web.
i have a prediction too!!
Tell your family and "friends" how you spend your day by pointing them to your posts here, and they will shake their heads in and sigh in saddness for you.
"consumers don't want to be locked into a single online music store and music player combination."
Then why did consumers make iTMS the dominant digital music store? Why did consumers make iPod the best selling brand of MP3 player? There are other music stores and other MP3 players they could have chosen, but the majority chose Apple because the majority wants Apple. Check reality, RealityCheck.
"Yahoo subscription service like Napster will be a hit"
Music subscription services already had their debuted quite awhile ago. They weren't a hit. It's alittle late to predict them a success.
"Paying for each song you listen to is lemming-like behavior."
Saying subscription services will beat the iTMS when there's no factual basis in doing so is lemming like behavior. Paying for each song you listen to is called "the winning business model".
By the way, here's an interesting fact; You're calling most of Napster's subscribers lemmings, as most of Napster's subscribers pay for each song they listen to. You're great at thinking things through, huh?
Also
"unlimited songs for about the price of one CD"
Songs that have a strict limitation on their lifespan for the cost of one CD every month, forever, or they'll delete themselves. Versus songs from iTMS with an infinite lifespan and one-time payment. You can talk about the greatness of music subscriptions all you like, but the buying public already made their choice.
Yahoo! Launch has diminshed in my usage, both at work and at home. iTunes just works, both on Windows & on Mac.
On Windows, Launch only works on the wholy unsafe I.E., I perfer FireFox. On the Mac OS, Launch only works with an ancient Netscape4.7 for OS9. I can't get this speacial combination to work on my new Mini-Mac w/OS10.3 nor on my PowerTower G3 OS9.1.
Unless Yahoo! can bring me at least a duplicate in functionality, I don't care how much they inovate, I won't renew my subscription to Launch!
QuoteBiff wrote:
Yahoo is the king of Internet searching and now they will be the king of digital music.
I highly doubt it. iTunes has momentum, marketshare and name recognition, while Yahoo still has everything to prove in this space.
Likely, Yahoo will be 'yet another music store', like Wal-Mart, Napster, etc.
Tue Mar 08, 2005 8:58 pm Subject: Re: yes, and the sun will super nova too
QuoteGuest wrote:
in about 10 million years. and all the music services will be DOOMED!!!!
Well, it will be a lot more than 10 million years, more like 5 billion years, and it won't be a supernova. Only stars much larger than the Sun will supernova. They also live a lot less time. Stars like the Sun will end by becoming red giants for a while, then collapse into a white dwarf.
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