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Yahoo Japan counters iTunes, offers free song preview

updated 07:30 am EDT, Mon August 22, 2005

Yahoo Japan vs. iTunes


Yahoo Japan has launched a new online music service that allows customers to listen for free to any of 100,000 songs before buying them as the company tries to counter Apple's iTunes Music Store, according to The Associated Press. The aggressive marketing move by the nearly 5-year old Yahoo Japan service comes a few weeks after Apple's launched iTunes for Japan. "Other Internet music services in Japan offer only 30 seconds from free sampling, making Yahoo's the first to offer free listening to full-length songs.... The free songs will have sound quality comparable to that of FM radio, but listeners will be able to pay to download and save higher quality recordings. While users won't be able to choose the free songs or save them on computers, Yahoo thinks the offering will help generate increased advertising revenue and traffic at its sites." Yahoo will reportedly allow companies such as Toyota and Asahi to advertise on video commercials before the free songs, according to the report.


by MacNN Staff

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 industry, digital music/video

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  1. Horsepoo!!!

    Banned

    Joined: Jun 2003

    0
    08/22, 07:48am | report spam | Reply |

    *sigh*

    Can't people start doing something original instead of elbowing their way into a market that is overcrowded and already dominated by Apple. For the love of God, these companies should try something new so they're not up against fierce competition.

  1. LouZer

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2000

    0
    08/22, 07:57am | report spam | Reply |

    Really!

    Apple has the monopoly. That's the way it should be. Please, all you competitors, go away, because we want Apple to have no competition so can raise prices, offer crappy service, change to more restricive DRM, etc, without fear of people leaving for someone else.

  1. zachs

    Mac Elite

    Joined: May 2002

    0
    08/22, 07:59am | report spam | Reply |

    Huh

    And when people start buying songs there, they'll ask "Why doesn't it work with my iPod?"

  1. boomer0127

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jan 2004

    0
    08/22, 08:36am | report spam | Reply |

    two words-

    Audio Hijack

    Yahoo: Converting music lovers to 48 kbps, one computer user at a time.

  1. tonewheel

    Mac Enthusiast

    Joined: May 1999

    0
    08/22, 08:58am | report spam | Reply |

    It's not the preview...

    I can live with a 30 second song preview, and I think most others can as well. Providing me with a preview of the entire song is not an advantage.

    "An aggressive marketing move"? I'd love to see the substantiating consumer research that drove this program.

  1. Todd Madson

    Mac Elite

    Joined: Apr 2000

    0
    08/22, 10:35am | report spam | Reply |

    Yecch....

    Sure, Audio Hijack would provide a way to fully rip a low-res copy of a piece of music but what's the point?

    Most people will want the higher bandwidth version regardless. I don't see Yahoos' move as being particularly aggressive. Rather, it's more of a desperation move to get in on the gravy train.

  1. ColinT

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Sep 2000

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    08/22, 11:16am | report spam | Reply |

    ITMS should preview full

    It's absolutely necessary for long remixes, there have been so many times that I have been looking for a particular remix and all I hear on ITMS is the 30 second 'intro'. No use at all in most cases!

  1. testudo

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2001

    0
    08/22, 01:28pm | report spam | Reply |

    Re: remixes

    Here here! Its also useful if you don't realize a song is a different mix then what you're looking for. Sometimes artists just redo songs not as a remix, just as a different take, without acutally saying "new take" or "new mix". Or it ends up being a live version of a song (I hate live versions of songs, who really wants "OK, everyone join in and sing along!" c***. If I wanted that, I'd sing it myself). Or is this the "son of a gun" or the "son of a b****" version of "Devil went down to Georgia". Oh, the uncertainty of it all.

  1. diamondsw

    Senior User

    Joined: Apr 2000

    0
    08/22, 01:40pm | report spam | Reply |

    Can't choose the songs?

    " While users won't be able to choose the free songs"

    Um, this doesn't sound like you can just preview any full song, but rather it just streams random stuff at you. Full-length previews would be a good idea, but it's not a major selling point.

  1. klinux

    Senior User

    Joined: Jul 2002

    0
    08/22, 02:56pm | report spam | Reply |

    yeah, right

    "Rather, it's more of a desperation move (for Yahoo) to get in on the gravy train."

    Let's see, Yahoo! is the number one internet brand in Japan and gets billions of dollars in revenue in diverisified streams and you smell desperation. Talk about fanboyism.

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