Yahoo!, Rhapsody Team to Make Searching for and Playing Music Online Easier

Yahoo! and Rhapsody have teamed up to put “play” buttons directly into Yahoo! search results. This means that someone who searches for an artist with available content on Yahoo!, he or she can click “play” in the Yahoo! shortcut at the top of the search results. Also, the user can instantly stream full-length songs by that artist through the FoxyTunes Player, which is powered by Rhapsody.

 

Within Yahoo! Search and throughout Yahoo! Music, Yahoo!'s (News - Alert) FoxyTunes Player enables the on-demand, Web-based playback of music. The FoxyTunes Player will launch near the bottom of the browser window whenever a user clicks a play button in the search results. Featuring an expandable playlist option, the player is easy to use and offers full functionality for song playback. As search results will continue to scroll while the player stays in place near the bottom of the browser window, users can continue to browse their results page while the player is in use.

 

Offering full-song playback for more than 5 millions tracks, the Yahoo! Search music playback experience is now powered by Rhapsody, a digital music service from RealNetworks and MTV Networks (News - Alert). Yahoo! recently partnered with Rhapsody and provided the users access to Rhapsody's acclaimed subscription music service. The company also extended that relationship to include music playback within Yahoo! Search. As a result of this partnership, users can listen to 25 free full-length tracks every 30 days. They can subscribe to the Rhapsody Unlimited streaming service or continue to listen to an unlimited number of 30-second samples until the next month begins, once 25 songs have been played.

 

“The launch of full-song playback in Yahoo! Search brings us closer to realizing Yahoo! Music's vision of making the web playable and removing the barriers that prevent people from clicking play and hearing music,” said Michael Spiegelman, head of Yahoo! Music. “The powerful combination of Rhapsody and Yahoo!'s FoxyTunes Player will greatly enhance the discovery and consumption of music on the Web by giving online music fans what they want — an easy way to hear music.”