Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

(Not affiliated, blah, blah, blah...just looking to pass along what I consider a good deal)

http://music.yahoo.com/unlimited/

Holy crap this is cool. I signed up last night and have been going on musical overload ever since. Basically the deal is for $60 a year you get unlimited access to their entire catalog (you can stream the music, download the tracks to your computer for offline playback, transfer to a compatible portable device, etc).

The program is advertised as still being in beta, but from what I've seen that's more of a marketing gimmick than anything else. The software is a little strange at first (sort of like what would happen if iTunes mated with a web browser), but once you get the hang of it things fall together nicely.

The musical catalog is pretty diverse. I've found pretty much everything I've been looking for so far (and I have some semi-obscure tastes), although occasionally there are limited offerings for a particular artist. One of the cool things I've started using is the "Create a playlist of similar artists" button (listed on each artist's page). It's a great way for me to generate a quick playlist to listen to while I'm playing poker and it's helping me to discover some new artists already.

Anyways, check it out.

J

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

Now is there any way to get this music to my ipod??

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

RealNetworks Rhapsody offers all that and more.

Plus with Rhapsody, they have what they call Rhapsody 25, for non-subscribers, you get 25 songs free every month.

With Rhapsody To Go, you can transfer the songs to portable devices (not iPod), without having to purchase the songs. It's part of your monthly subscription.

Also, the RealNetworks music store is the only non-iTunes music store that supports the iPod.

-- Kevin

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

There is, pay an extra $.80 for each song... wait that sounds similar to another service Ive seen.

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

[ QUOTE ]
With Rhapsody To Go, you can transfer the songs to portable devices (not iPod), without having to purchase the songs. It's part of your monthly subscription.

[/ QUOTE ]

What does this cost? I cannot find the cost on their web site.... Or is this just part of Rhapsody Unlimited?

Thanks.

Acme

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

[ QUOTE ]
RealNetworks Rhapsody offers all that and more.

Plus with Rhapsody, they have what they call Rhapsody 25, for non-subscribers, you get 25 songs free every month.

With Rhapsody To Go, you can transfer the songs to portable devices (not iPod), without having to purchase the songs. It's part of your monthly subscription.

Also, the RealNetworks music store is the only non-iTunes music store that supports the iPod.

-- Kevin

[/ QUOTE ]


Do you need to use their software to playback, or can you just use iTunes for all this (question is for both raphsody and yahoo)?

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

for the commercial free radio stations that you get w/this package - is this the same as Yahoo's Launchcast Plus (unlimited song skips, higher quality music than normal Launchcast, etc), which is normally $2.99/month?

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

Cool.

It looks very much based on Musicmatch On Demand which I've energetically enjoyed for many months & which has been flourishing for maybe a year before that.

I bet Musicmatch will remain the best product in this space at least for the next year because they've done a great job of building a diverse (even obscure) catalog.

I'll keep an eye on Y's new one though.

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

Now I've done the research & am up to speed:

Y bought Musicmatch six months ago. Y said when they debuted their separate Unlimited last month:

[ QUOTE ]
. Yahoo! Music intends to eventually combine Musicmatch's offerings with Yahoo! Music Unlimited to create the industry's best end-to-end suite of music services."

[/ QUOTE ]

Also, Musicmatch On Demand is really just for U.S. broadband listeners who are happy to stream everything through computers.

Also, there was a short & none-too-informativeWired announcement.

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

[ QUOTE ]

Do you need to use their software to playback, or can you just use iTunes for all this (question is for both raphsody and yahoo)?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes for yahoo.

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

[ QUOTE ]
for the commercial free radio stations that you get w/this package - is this the same as Yahoo's Launchcast Plus (unlimited song skips, higher quality music than normal Launchcast, etc), which is normally $2.99/month?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes (I think), I'm wasn't familiar with launchcast before I signed up, but I've never heard a commercial and you can skip as much as you like (so it certainly sounds like it).

They also have a custom radio station where you rate the songs as you go (you can rate by song, artist, and/or album) and it tailors the songs played to your individual tastes. It was really cool to see it "evolve" (for lack of a better word) for maybe the first 20-30 songs I was getting a lot of crap (so I'd just rate it poorly and then skip ahead) after maybe a half hour or so it's playing close to 100% songs that I enjoy (and the bonus - at least for me - is that alot of the music is from new artists I'm unfamiliar with or "old stuff" that I haven't thought about in a long time).

J

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

[ QUOTE ]
(Not affiliated, blah, blah, blah...just looking to pass along what I consider a good deal)

http://music.yahoo.com/unlimited/

Holy crap this is cool. I signed up last night and have been going on musical overload ever since. Basically the deal is for $60 a year you get unlimited access to their entire catalog (you can stream the music, download the tracks to your computer for offline playback, transfer to a compatible portable device, etc).

The program is advertised as still being in beta, but from what I've seen that's more of a marketing gimmick than anything else. The software is a little strange at first (sort of like what would happen if iTunes mated with a web browser), but once you get the hang of it things fall together nicely.

The musical catalog is pretty diverse. I've found pretty much everything I've been looking for so far (and I have some semi-obscure tastes), although occasionally there are limited offerings for a particular artist. One of the cool things I've started using is the "Create a playlist of similar artists" button (listed on each artist's page). It's a great way for me to generate a quick playlist to listen to while I'm playing poker and it's helping me to discover some new artists already.

Anyways, check it out.

J

[/ QUOTE ]

do they have most songs?

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

[ QUOTE ]
do they have most songs?

[/ QUOTE ]


They have most everything other than the Beatles...with over 1 million songs, they'll have most of the stuff you would ever want.

Acme

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

Are these files .mp3s?

Or is like Napster?

I want to know....
 

Is there a program where for the regular monthly fee you can transfer music to a portable device (IE my Dell DJ) without paying by the song? Because that's what I thought I was getting with Musicmatch ON Demand. Although I will admit that even without that capability it's a great service for the price.

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

$60 a year and unlimited music is a good deal. I signed up on day 2 of this deal, and filled my 5GB Nomad Micro that night.

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

So can I put songs on my portable device without paying an additional per song fee on top of the $60 annual??

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

[ QUOTE ]

So can I put songs on my portable device without paying an additional per song fee on top of the $60 annual??

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, as long as it's a subscription compatible device

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Are these files .mp3s?

Or is like Napster?

[/ QUOTE ]

They're a special form of windows media (they sound better than typical mp3's...at least IMO).

J

Re: I want to know....
 

[ QUOTE ]
Is there a program where for the regular monthly fee you can transfer music to a portable device (IE my Dell DJ) without paying by the song? Because that's what I thought I was getting with Musicmatch ON Demand. Although I will admit that even without that capability it's a great service for the price.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yahoo, Napster, and Rhapsody all offer this service. You pay a monthly or annual fee for access to the entire database...which can be placed on your portable device and as long as you maintain your subscription to the service, you can listen to the music on your device.

I believe all 3 of these services are compatible with your Dell DJ...and Yahoo owns MusicMatch (as mentioned previously in this thread), so you might be able to transfer your service to get exactly what you want.

Acme

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Do you need to use their software to playback, or can you just use iTunes for all this (question is for both raphsody and yahoo)?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes for yahoo.

[/ QUOTE ]

yes you can use iTunes? or
yes you have to use Yahoo's software?

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

Thanks for info everybody, this is definitely on-topic as I have yet to perfect the music component of my on-line poker play. One's background music needs to be energy-supplying, anti-boredom and take no time or effort to operate while playing and minimal setup time, IMHO.

On music selection, does anybody know which if any sites would have the best selection of heavy metal, hard core rap and rock/rap fusion?

Also, has anybody figured any tricks to get play sounds *pleasantly* while listening to loud music? I'm thinking about trying to get clips of various tone gentle-buzzers that would be noticeable but not obnoxious and assigning them to the two sound events I care about (your turn, hurry-the-[censored]-up-time-is-expiring).

Re: Yahoo Music Unlimited (perhaps semi-OT)
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

So can I put songs on my portable device without paying an additional per song fee on top of the $60 annual??

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, as long as it's a subscription compatible device

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, but burning to a CD costs extra.