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Failures

by Mike Masnick

Tue, Feb 5th 2008 2:18am




Filed Under:
drm, music, subscriptions

Companies:
realnetworks, yahoo


Yahoo Finally Dumps The Music Service It Never Really Liked

from the why-do-it-in-the-first-place dept

A few years back when Yahoo launched its music service, it was pretty clearly designed to fail. Yet, Yahoo kept it going for a while, despite the fact that the executives who ran the program clearly were not fans of the company's own offerings. Thus, it should come as no surprise that Yahoo has simply moved all of its subscribers over to RealNetworks' Rhapsody service, which is having its own problems adjusting to a changing music market place. One could hope that Yahoo's ditching of the music service is a sign that it's actually going to do something more interesting, but given this little merger the company may be involved in, it may be difficult to do very much that's unique or innovative.

13 Comments | Leave a Comment

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  1.  
    identicon
    tired..., Feb 5th, 2008 @ 3:35am

    terrible!

    Absolutely terrible! I used to use MusicMatch. Now THAT was a player/service. Unfortunately it got bought out by Yahoo. Now I have to go to Rhapsody? I think it's time to drop it....

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    identicon
    dragonmantank, Feb 5th, 2008 @ 4:26am

    Already dropped

    I dropped Yahoo! Music Unlimited as soon as I read this. I wasn't particularly happy to be paying $9/month when there were some artists I couldn't listen to due to restrictions (I fail to see how a service can be called unlimited but restrict what you are allowed to listen to) or artists they just didn't plain have songs for, and I definately won't be paying $13/month for the same service.

    Back to Pandora.com and Last.fm for me.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    Anonymous jerk, Feb 5th, 2008 @ 4:48am

    This is why I stick with CDs and downloads

    such as iTunes and/or Frostwire/Limewire :-D

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    identicon
    Overcast, Feb 5th, 2008 @ 5:23am

    From Yahoo to RealNetworks..

    Moving down in the world, huh?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    identicon
    Vincent Clement, Feb 5th, 2008 @ 5:43am

    I'll second the comment about MusicMatch. I subscribed to the radio service way back, but eventually I was cut-off because I was in Canada and MusicMatch didn't have agreements with the Canadian version of the US record companies. When Yahoo! bought it and butchered MusicMatch, it ditched it. Some companies and industry associations just don't get it and will never get it.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
    identicon
    Kris, Feb 5th, 2008 @ 7:38am

    I use thesixtyone.com now. Its free to listen, can buy drm-free mp3's from amazon, or download them free (if the artists allows it)..

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    identicon
    todd, Feb 5th, 2008 @ 7:44am

    Musicmatch

    I paid for the lifetime upgrades with Musicmatch only to have it sold to Yahoo and not have it honored. No way I am go to Rhapsody. Their pricing is way out of line.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Feb 5th, 2008 @ 8:06am

    That is why I have never bought a 'lifetime' subscription to anything, you will be disappointed in the long run.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  
    identicon
    Old Guy, Feb 5th, 2008 @ 8:38am

    Music service

    Yep ditched Musicmatch too. They were great but I wasn't gonna switch to Yahoo...ahem Rhapsody, whatever.

    Don't pay anything now. Even though I can't get anywhere near the selection, I'm gonna stick to streaming music as opposed to download. While it lasts (in other words until it too is sued out of existence) I'll listen to my music via Pandora.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  10.  
    icon
    JS Beckerist (profile), Feb 5th, 2008 @ 8:47am

    Shenanigans!

    I call shenanigans: "Given this little merger the company may be involved in, it may be difficult to do very much that's unique or innovative."

    Microsoft IS unique and innovative... You can't become a monopolistic powerhouse without at least SOME of both. Granted, a lot of it is business/bureaucracy anymore but slamming M$ to sound cool seems beneath you, Mike...

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  11.  
    icon
    Mike (profile), Feb 5th, 2008 @ 8:59am

    Re: Shenanigans!

    Microsoft IS unique and innovative... You can't become a monopolistic powerhouse without at least SOME of both. Granted, a lot of it is business/bureaucracy anymore but slamming M$ to sound cool seems beneath you, Mike...

    Ah, sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear. I wasn't saying that either company was not unique or innovative. I was saying that it's very, very difficult to launch a unique or innovative product *while going through a merger process* -- and I was focused a lot more on Yahoo, not Microsoft. Who at Yahoo is going to launch a really innovative product right now, while many people are getting laid off, and the fear that Microsoft will come in and layoff more people and kill off any products it doesn't like. If you're sitting in a to-be-acquired company, waiting for all the legal shenanigans to go through, it's pretty difficult to get anything innovative done.

    Sorry if that wasn't clear. It wasn't meant as a slam of Microsoft at all.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  12.  
    identicon
    Syn-Ack, Feb 5th, 2008 @ 9:02am

    Dropped just in time

    Their player is chock full of vulnerabilities that are showing up in the wild.
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/05/yahoo_jukebox_vuln/

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  13.  
    identicon
    manny, Feb 6th, 2008 @ 1:57pm

    Re: Re: Shenanigans!

    Resistance is Futile BillGatus of Borg the the secret was out when suddenly MSN messenger and Yahoo messenger started playing nice to each other... this is just another aspect of a larger picture

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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