Yahoo! Music Unlimited
Encyclopedia
Yahoo! Music Unlimited was an on-demand online music service launched on May 11, 2005 and provided by Yahoo! Music
.
The service was discontinued on September 30, 2008.
'd WMA
files and played from a computer in near CD quality sound. Subscribers could also download songs at a discounted rate of $0.79 per song for transfer to CD or supported portable devices. Yahoo! Music Engine was the original client for the service. Subsequently, the client changed to the Yahoo! Music Jukebox. The service required an active Internet
connection to play Yahoo! Music Unlimited tracks added to Yahoo! Music Jukebox's My Music.
or Canada
and require a credit card (no other billing method being accepted).
Before November 1, 2005, the To Go feature was included at no extra charge. However, experts believe that this was done in order for Yahoo! to promote their service.
(digital rights management) technology prevents these tracks from being accessed once a user's subscription is discontinued or expires. Thus, if a user wishes to download and own a music track, they must pay an additional fee. The digital rights management employed by Yahoo prevents a user from freely distributing these tracks.
Users living outside the USA or Canada could still download the player and enjoy the features of the Yahoo! Music Engine, a software product that basically functions as a music collection organizer in a similar fashion to that of iTunes
.
Yahoo! tech support has reported that Windows Media Audio
codec
, similar to MP3
, is used at 192 kbit/s for all songs. This is a high-quality encoding and without high-end playback equipment, nearly indistinguishable from CD.
, provided by Napster
and RealNetworks
respectively, are both similar to Yahoo! Music Unlimited. Subscription fees to these services are slightly higher. Yahoo also offers Musicmatch On Demand, a streaming music subscription service available through the Musicmatch Jukebox
client. On August 31, 2007, Musicmatch Jukebox shut down. Musicmatch is offering a temporarily free migration to Yahoo Music Unlimited.
Yahoo! Music
Yahoo! Music, owned by Yahoo!, is the provider of a variety of music services, including Internet radio, music videos, news, artist information, and original programming...
.
The service was discontinued on September 30, 2008.
Service
Users paid a subscription fee to access a library of over two million songs which could be either streamed or downloaded as DRMDigital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
'd WMA
WMA
WMA may refer to:- Organizations :*Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association, a nonprofit trade association for owners of manufactured home communities in California*Western Marble Arch, a synagogue in central London...
files and played from a computer in near CD quality sound. Subscribers could also download songs at a discounted rate of $0.79 per song for transfer to CD or supported portable devices. Yahoo! Music Engine was the original client for the service. Subsequently, the client changed to the Yahoo! Music Jukebox. The service required an active Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
connection to play Yahoo! Music Unlimited tracks added to Yahoo! Music Jukebox's My Music.
Billing
Yahoo! offered two billing options: $8.99 monthly, or $71.88 billed annually (calculated to $5.99 per month). To transfer downloaded music to a compatible portable music player, an additional $6 per month is added to both plans. The subscription services are only available for users living in the U.S.United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
or Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and require a credit card (no other billing method being accepted).
Before November 1, 2005, the To Go feature was included at no extra charge. However, experts believe that this was done in order for Yahoo! to promote their service.
Features
Users who subscribed to Yahoo! Music Unlimited were able to stream and download an unlimited number of music tracks, but Janus DRMJanus (DRM)
Janus is the codename for portable version of Windows Media DRM for portable devices, whose marketing name is Windows Media DRM for Portable Devices introduced by Microsoft in 2004 for use on portable media devices which store and access content offline. Napster To Go was the first online music...
(digital rights management) technology prevents these tracks from being accessed once a user's subscription is discontinued or expires. Thus, if a user wishes to download and own a music track, they must pay an additional fee. The digital rights management employed by Yahoo prevents a user from freely distributing these tracks.
Users living outside the USA or Canada could still download the player and enjoy the features of the Yahoo! Music Engine, a software product that basically functions as a music collection organizer in a similar fashion to that of iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
.
Yahoo! tech support has reported that Windows Media Audio
Windows Media Audio
Windows Media Audio is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs...
codec
Codec
A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream or signal. The word codec is a portmanteau of "compressor-decompressor" or, more commonly, "coder-decoder"...
, similar to MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
, is used at 192 kbit/s for all songs. This is a high-quality encoding and without high-end playback equipment, nearly indistinguishable from CD.
Similar services
Napster To Go and Rhapsody UnlimitedRhapsody (online music service)
Rhapsody is an online music store subscription service, launched in December 2001, and available in the United States only. On April 6, 2010, Rhapsody officially declared its independence from RealNetworks. Downloaded files come with restrictions on their use, enforced by Helix, Rhapsody's version...
, provided by Napster
Napster
Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
and RealNetworks
RealNetworks
RealNetworks, Inc. is a provider of Internet media delivery software and services based in Downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. The company is the creator of RealAudio, a compressed audio format; RealVideo, a compressed video format; RealPlayer, a media player; RealDownloader, a download...
respectively, are both similar to Yahoo! Music Unlimited. Subscription fees to these services are slightly higher. Yahoo also offers Musicmatch On Demand, a streaming music subscription service available through the Musicmatch Jukebox
Musicmatch Jukebox
Y!Music Musicmatch Jukebox, a remake of the original Musicmatch Jukebox made by Musicmatch, Inc., is an audio player that manages a digital audio library...
client. On August 31, 2007, Musicmatch Jukebox shut down. Musicmatch is offering a temporarily free migration to Yahoo Music Unlimited.