Yahoo tunes up: New service

Yahoo Music Unlimited is being unveiled today, the Wall Street Journal reports. Using the rent-a-tune model, it undercuts pricing at, e.g., MSN, iTunes, and Real, but it offers fewer choices than Real's latest offering (see my 4/29 issue). Songs can be transferred onto select MP3 players but become unplayable once a subscription lapses. The service gives subscribers "unlimited access to over a million music tracks for $6.99 a month, or, alternatively, for $60 a year" (Real's is $179/year). The latest CNET coverage suggests a possible price war. Besides pricing, what will probably be attractive to young music fans about this service: the music-community part. Yahoo "has spent considerable time building links to its other products, such as the company's popular instant-messaging application, with the aim of making community and legal music-sharing among subscribers a core part of the service," CNET reported Tuesday. The Journal adds that the service will also "allow subscribers to see what songs friends have on their computers, and listen to their friends' tracks if the tracks are part of Yahoo's catalog. Rival services let users share music playlists, but individuals can't always hear the songs unless they own them."