LAUNCHcast
Yahoo!
LAUNCHcast
A 1999 issue (#35) of the LAUNCH
disk
magazine, a precursor of LAUNCHcast.LAUNCHcast is an online
radio station that plays music based on user ratings. With a
Yahoo! account,
users can gain access to thousands of songs sorted by both
artist and genre. The service uses the voting feature as a means to build a play list based on the user's favorite
kinds of music as well as their favorite artists, albums, and even songs. The
website also features artist profiles with extensive selections of music videos,
photographs and biographical information.
Free accounts are limited to playing 800 songs per month. Unlimited access
and additional features are available to subscribers of LAUNCHcast Plus, a
premium service. LAUNCHcast Plus is available in the United States and Canada.
LAUNCHcast Plus is also available in the United Kingdom, but only to BT Yahoo!
Internet customers.
Commonly referred to simply as "LAUNCH" (and rebranded "Yahoo! Music" or
simply "Y! Music" in February 2005), it began as a magazine by the
same title that was issued in both standard print format and as an interactive
CD-ROM. Eventually the print version was eliminated and subscribers were only sent the
CD-ROM version. It contained video interviews, live performances and special
video segments by music stars as well as standard (but interactive) music
magazine features. Eventually, the company started offering music videos over
the Internet and started LAUNCHcast in 1999. LAUNCH was purchased by Yahoo! for
US$12 million in 2001 and integrated into their website.
At the present time, Yahoo! LAUNCHcast radio only works in Microsoft's
Internet Explorer browser, Netscape 7.1 and in Yahoo!'s Messenger and Music
Engine programs. There is a petition to Yahoo! asking it to allow LAUNCHcast
compatiblity for other browsers such as Firefox and Opera, but Yahoo! hasn't shown any particular concern in porting to any of
these browsers and systems.
On September 14, 2004, Yahoo! purchased Musicmatch, Inc., makers of the
Musicmatch Jukebox software. As of Musicmatch 10.1, Yahoo! has rebranded
Musicmatch Jukebox as Y! Music Musicmatch Jukebox, and integrated it with the
Yahoo! Music Engine store. The main difference is the branding and physical
program now.
In 2005, Yahoo! Music became the first major online music service to provide
a $5 per month unlimited download service similar to the Open Music Model,
albeit with digital rights management, called Yahoo! Music Unlimited.
External links
Home | Up | AlltheWeb | AltaVista | Broadcast | Del.icio.us | eGroups | Flickr | GeoCities | Inktomi | Kelkoo | LAUNCHcast | Oddpost | Rocketmail | Upcoming | Yahoo! Assistant | Yahoo! Search Marketing
Yahoo!, made by MultiMedia | Free content and software
This guide is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
| 
Our Services
Members
Site News
Tools
Manual's
And our Forums with