Comparing Yahoo’s service with buying CDs is apples and oranges. Buying CDs cannot be replaced entirely. But there are plenty of things about Yahoo that make it more attractive than collecting plastic disks. Primarily, people will love having an enormous collection of music for a small monthly fee that would have cost thousands of dollars on CDs. Yahoo’s extra features are just bonuses. CDs provide a space-consuming backup, but so long as you keep Yahoo’s service you don’t need any backup. The true advantage of CDs (and the reason why it cannot be really compared to Yahoo) is that buying them is more expensive and gives you rights to the music as long as the media lasts, whereas Yahoo’s licensing lasts as long as your subscription does. Then again, how long will it last? CDs have been around for quite a while; it seems almost time for CD players to go the way of vinyl and betamax players.
However, instead of record stores, Yahoo’s truly established competitors will probably be competing heavily with another medium of music: radio. Yahoo’s subscription service is easily a better alternative to satellite radio and internet radio. When signing up for XM Radio or SIRIUS, you’ll have to buy yourself a satellite radio device to pick up the signal. The devices start at $100, but somebody could easily spend $300, $1500, or more for a really cool one. Then you’ll have to subscribe for $12.95 a month, and dish out $6.99 for every additional radio on your plan. As soon as you stop paying, you get no more music and the devices are useless.
Enter Yahoo. You need nothing but your computer and broadband connection. If you want your music to go, buy yourself a nice compatible mp3 player, which won’t cost any more than the satellite radios and also won’t be converted into a paperweight if you stop subscribing. It will still be useful for carrying around other songs you’ve bought elsewhere. If you like the shows and news on radio services, buy an mp3 player with an FM tuner (iRivers are known to have very good ones) or else sign up for Audiofeast for free. Yahoo's subscription fee is also a relief, less than half the monthly cost of satellite radios. Even if the price goes up as some people speculate, it’s still a deal. And you have control over the music.
But there is much greater potential for Yahoo! Music Unlimited. News of mp3 players being integrated into cell phones is already spreading. Nokia plans to be a leading mp3 player manufacturer simply by sticking memory chips and mp3 software in their phones. The phones should hopefully support Yahoo’s protected WMA format by the time they are released. Not only will people be able to browse and listen to music in their all-purpose device, they may be able to download songs they want to hear over their cell phone. Given that yahoo continues developing mobile technology, as they have been with mobile search features, we could see mobile players that download songs on demand. Or mobile users could transfer songs directly from one phone to another. There’s hardly any need to say how cool the idea is.
Yahoo’s competitors, Napster and Rhapsody, have been offering similar services for a while now with some success. However, their prices were even more than satellite radio. Yahoo releasing music for less than half their costs with more features makes music services more of a practical option for people. It will be interesting to see how these other companies respond in their product lines.
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