LAUNCHcast
From Free net encyclopedia
- For other uses of the word launch, see launch. This page is specifically for the Yahoo! Music service.
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.