Yahoo axes music service, strikes deal with Rhapsody

It's been a tumultuous few days for Yahoo--you know, with that takeover bid from Microsoft--but the company continues to shake things up internally, too.

On Monday, the company announced that it will discontinue its Yahoo Music Unlimited subscription service and will transfer its customers to RealNetworks' Rhapsody service.

In mid-2008, Yahoo Music Unlimited subscribers will be guided through an in-browser process to convert their music libraries to Rhapsody's service. For a limited time (length unknown), they'll be able to keep paying Yahoo's subscription fees, which cap out at $8.99 per month, before being required to start paying Rhapsody's $12.99 monthly fee.

Additionally, Yahoo announced in conjunction that it has acquired FoxyTunes, a browser plug-in that is compatible with multiple desktop and Web-based music players.

RealNetworks, which acquired Rhapsody when it purchased parent Listen.com for $36 million in 2003, has been partnering with both hardware manufacturers like TiVo and media companies like Viacom's MTV Networks. It's the company's best strategy for staying afloat in a digital music landscape that's not only dominated by Apple's iTunes but also seems to be gravitating toward "free," not subscription-based models.

But the announcement with Yahoo is shrouded in uncertainty, for obvious reasons. Just about anything could happen to Yahoo if Microsoft's proposed $44.6 billion acquisition goes through.

RealNetworks, ironically, has a hostile history with Microsoft, too, dating back to an antitrust scuffle several years ago that led to a partnership in which RealNetworks ultimately claimed it was shortchanged.

[mitrich]

Yahoo Music Match

YMM was D.O.A. when they took MM10 and stripped it of every great feature. They are now just burying the corpse.

[mattumanu]

and their subscribers

This is one subscriber who, once the price goes up, will walk. I was on musicmatch for years when Yahoo bought them less than a year ago. Yahoo has been nothing but a pain, DRM music from musicmatch didn't always work, whole albums disappeared off the servers...

I might not even make the transition. If I'd wanted to be on Rhapsody, I'd have signed up for them.

[dascha1]

As a Man Thinketh, So He Creates

Just as long as the deal has a music twist in it.

[streamOG]

So Now Yahoo is using DRM

After all that smack from Goldberg over the years...he couldn't get it done... he's out and now Real takes over Yahoo's subs and will be delivering DRM-managed music to them. Was just a matter of time.

[eldernorm]

More blood on iTunes

OH the horror of it all!! Has iTunes no shame?? :-)

OK, beyond the humor of it all, one after the other, these subscription music services keep dying, yet the pundits keep saying that iTunes needs to become one. WHY?

iTunes sells you your music, others let you rent it. I that is a fair arrangement. Get which ever service you want. :-) I am a firm believer in that.

However, when a subscription service says iTunes has it all wrong, I have to wonder which company goes under, and which one takes your pre-paid plans with it.

Just a thought.

[Squibly]

Canadians Out In the Cold

Must be nice to have an option at least. Rhapsody isn't available in Canada (I have my suspicions as to why - music publishers). Yahoo service is going south and we are to be left out in the cold. It's buggy but it was the best thing I could access here for the last 3 years. There are no other subscription services here.

So brilliant, all that inventory that I would never buy but would subscribe to for an occasional listen is back collecting digital dust. I'm not going to buy CDs ever again. Tracks I'll pick up once in a blue moon from our very limited services. My grudging $1000 a year habit had gone to around a very willing $250 (subscription, a few tracks and the odd CD). It's unlikely to break $50 a year now. Well done (Canadian) music industry. You'll get what you deserve. Tick, tick, tick.

[jonahemery]

There's more then just Yahoo Music Canada

There are two more Canadian subscription services out there that I know of: Napster.ca and the Sympatico MSN Music Store.

I've used Napster before and I'm not that impressed with it. They don't seem to put a lot of work into it and the music selection is dodgy.

However I'm impressed with the Sympatico one. They have an all you can download service for like $14 a month. The selection is AMAZING and so is the quality of the files. The only downside is that their download system is kind of weird.

[Squibly]

Thanks for the tip

I'm in the process of looking at Napster. The Sympatico/MSN service is the old Puretracks service which was always hit and miss when I used it before. Disconnecting in the middle of downloads and such, but I'll give it another shot on your recommendation. The advantage to Yahoo! was that it was instant streaming so it was very easy to craft playlists on a whim. And I liked the way you could customize a "radio" channel based upon preferences and ratings that you made over time.

Thanks.

[Cyberqat]

SOmething noone is reporting.....

Is that REAL has a very user hostile system for canceling your subscription.

I had Rhapsody and switched to YMU. Although you cna sign up for Real services online, there was no way to cancel online. In order to cancel my Rhapsody account I had to call their offices between 9am and 5pm their time (which happened to be my work hours) and argue with a live person who tried to tlka me out of canceling.

If you intend to cancel, take my advice and do it *before* the change over happens.