22 Comments »

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

1. What does this mean for users of the Sansa Connect?

   Comment by Gunderstorm — February 4, 2008 #

2. How does this affect LAUNCHCast Radio?

   I use the premium LAUNCHCast almost everyday and have many moods & rated songs, artists, etc.

   Comment by IMaReallyBigFish — February 4, 2008 #

3. Ian,

   I’ll second the above question and add one more, both I think rather important to clear up:

   1. What happens to our zillions of ratings and playlists? We put an awful lot of man hours into compiling all that data, and I’m certain neither Yahoo, Rhapsody, nor we would like to see that data lost.

   2. What’s the plan with regard to our Unlimited accounts? I’m paid up for the next like year and a half or so. Can we be expected to keep our memberships at the rate we paid up until those memberships expire?

   Comment by tonybgoode — February 4, 2008 #

4. I am glad about this.

   I have about a year left and I hope the transition is smooth.

   Rhapsody has great editorial content, the MTV link and now content for Yahoo.

   I hope this allows Yahoo to focus on its unique music offering in 2008.

   Like Yahoo Radio on mobile…

   Comment by resource — February 4, 2008 #

5. ok so the sansa connects apparently just become sansas. Anybody else pissed? http://hackingym.blogspot.com

   Comment by FredFredrickson — February 4, 2008 #

6. Ian,
   I would like to get in touch with you about music in games. Please send me an email at: jenny@eatrax.net
   Thanks!

   Comment by jennyjo — February 4, 2008 #

7. Ian,

   This all looks very promising, and as Mac user it’s great to integrate with a service that will be available for that platform.

   As a Londoner, is there any prospect for the service being available outside the US anytime soon?

   Cheers, David

   Comment by davidjennings — February 4, 2008 #

8. I’m very disappointed. I evaluated Yahoo! Music Unlimited, Rhapsody, and Napster a year ago, and found YMU to be the best of the three, by a wide margin.

   Rhapsody was plagued with technical problems affecting multiple users, that weren’t solved for months. (parts of the Rhapsody window failing to appear; certain tracks that would not download) I gave Rhapsody every chance to fix the problems, even taking an extra month on the free trial to give them extra time. But after many e-mails and phone calls, they couldn’t fix the problems.

   The interface was inferior, lacking such simple features as the ability to select multiple songs for download at the same time. Their insistence on using the oddball RAX format is annoying.

   YMU is not perfect either, but it’s the best around. Thanks for the great service, Yahoo! I’ll be sorry to see YMU go.

   Comment by balazer — February 4, 2008 #

9. What about us loyal Canadians?

   Must we use Napster — the only subscription service left as Rhapsody isn’t available in Canada?

   What about a migration for us? I hate feeling second class even when the loonie is at 1.00533 USD right now …

   Comment by Louis — February 5, 2008 #

10. How disappointing. I looked at Rhapsody when I first decided to sign up with one of the music subscription services, but elected to go with Yahoo for multiple reasons, not the least of which was price. Curious to see how many YMU subscribers elect to stick with Rhapsody once they have to pay their rates instead of what they pay now.

    It would have been nice if an email had gone out to subscribers announcing the changes. I hate finding out things like this while reading the daily news. A press release is not how you should communicate with your customers.

    Oh well, once MS acquires Yahoo, it’ll probably change again anyway.

    Comment by Ladewig — February 5, 2008 #

11. I read in the FAQ that this will not affect LAUNCHcast, but will current Yahoo Unlimited subscribers still be able to access LAUNCHcast plus for at least the time remaining on their contract?

    Comment by bryan — February 5, 2008 #

12. Sandisk *should* provide a firmware update for the Sansa Connect which allows it to connect to Rhapsody music services. Otherwise, Sandisk is going to lose a lot of loyal customers.

    Comment by Moby Grape — February 5, 2008 #

13. Sandisk *should* provide a firmware update for the Sansa Connect which allows it to connect to Rhapsody music services. Otherwise, Sandisk is going to lose a lot of loyal customers.
    Well, why shouldn’t I still be able to use my Connect to access my Flickr and listen to my subscription music? Furthermore, LAUNCHcast isn’t getting axed. Shouldn’t I be able to get my Y! station too?

    Comment by Gunderstorm — February 5, 2008 #

14. I’m not sure if I’m happy about the news. I’ve always felt that Yahoo! Music was the future for online music purchasing and subscription. Although, I seem to be a minority that believes subscription to music and movies (Netflix) is the future not purchasing. Rhapsody is about twice the cost. I’ve always thought that Yahoo!’s pricing was good. 79 cents a song and however much a month. The other services were too high. I’ve also never been a fan of RealNetworks. Their software is always riddled with spyware and tends to be inefficient.

    And BTW, Yahoo! Music is far superior to still behind the times iTunes.

    Hopefully this will all work out for the best.

    Comment by Zathri — February 9, 2008 #

15. I have been noticing that Yahoo! is losing the rights to albums and the albums I remember are on Rhapsody Unlimited. So that’s good news at least.

    I get the impression that Yahoo! and Rhapsody joined up a long time ago and this is the first time that it has been announced. At a glance, the two seem to have the same features.

    Comment by Zathri — February 9, 2008 #

16. What about those of us that purchased lifetime upgrades to YMJ Plus?

    Comment by timjcasey — February 23, 2008 #

17. I have to admit to being really, really puzzled and frustrated.

    I’ve enjoyed YMU for quite some time and I’m sorry to see it go. But I’d sure like to know a bit more about what I’m in for!

    1) Why is YMU still taking subscriptions?! In fact, there’s no sign at all on the site that the service is closing down.

    2) Why is there no statement on the Rhapsody site? As in, “Welcome Yahoo Music Unlimited Folks! Here’s what’s in store for you…

    

    Comment by ThatAdamGuy — March 4, 2008 #

18. Will my 20,000+ song ratings be transferred to Rhapsody? I’ve asked customer service this question three times and they were not able to answer it. Can one of you please settle this question that is in the minds of thousands of frantic YMJ users? What’s going to happen to our ratings?!

    Comment by trx0x — March 6, 2008 #

19. When I first thought about Yahoo Music Unlimited I found all of the negatives as I am usually a pessimistic person. I figured it was another cumbersome internet music service that just would not compare to iTunes in any shape or form. But I am inclined to agree with your biased opinion (no offense). This service is totally awesome. It allows you to find new music, while connecting with the music you already love in ways that traditional services do not allow. By far the most amazing feature is Foxy Tunes. One of the most aggrevating parts of iTunes to me is having to switch back to it everytime I want to change my music selection. Having the ability to do at the top of your browser tool bar is genius. However, my cynical side must not take a backseat to this and comment on something that I pay tribute to daily, and that is Occum’s Razor. We are a people that is growing more and more in favor of simplicity and the idea that our tools for music will become integrated with so many features might almost become overwhelming. When I visited the Yahoo Music page one of the worst thoughts (for me when visiting a web page) came to mind, “where do I even begin?” One of the reasons I personally believe Apple is so successful with all of their investitures be it the iPod, notebooks, desktops, or iTunes is the simplicity and sleekness of the operation. Everything runs flawlessly and easily with little knowledge needed. I find that few people want to go through much hassle to listen to their music, they usually just want it when they want it and immediately. Web services tend to have a lot of errors and problems and linking it to yet another service, Rhapsody, seems excessive. I really am beginning to wonder, is there really a point to tackle iTunes, or should we accept that it is not only the standard, but the one music service?

    Comment by del — April 14, 2008 #

20. I really enjoy the idea of being able to listen to music on my Tivo.

    Comment by mbv — July 23, 2009 #

21. If you subcribe to FozyTunes, can you transfer your songs that you downloaded from to a portable music player, including the iPod? If so, does it cost anything to transfer the songs onto it?

    Comment by Jonathan M. — September 12, 2009 #

22. Thanks for this useful post! This blog is very useful to me and I usually browse around without commenting but wanted to say thanks!

    Comment by Free PSN Cards — February 9, 2010 #

Leave a comment

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

XHTML: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>