Changes Arrive To Yahoo Sites Sooner Than Expected

Only last week Yahoo executives told journalists that we should expect significant changes on a number of Yahoo properties to make various Yahoo sites more open and give place to third-party content via widgets. Changes were promised to be in place until the end of the year but we are already seeing the first changes arriving this week.

The most important news yesterday was the limited beta testing of the revamped Yahoo homepage where users will be offered customization options and ability to use a number of predefined applications to preview content from other websites, including different email providers. And while this one is the move that will be sure to impact many internet users eventually (Yahoo homepage is the most visited website in the world), right now it is limited to less than 1% of randomly selected users from US, Britain, France, and India.

But there is also another interesting announcement today that we are able to experience right now, without having to wait to be selected as one of the lucky beta testers or until any public roll-out of new features. This other announcement is about two Yahoo properties - Yahoo Music and Yahoo Search. Today Yahoo announces a partnership with Rhapsody music service that is intended to make music instantly available to anyone right on Yahoo Search.

So when you search for an artist on Yahoo, you will be offered a selection of songs by this artist available on Yahoo with a play button near every song. And by clicking this button a user will open Yahoo’ FoxyTunes player and listen to the full-length song right there. Until today all the songs were offered as 30-second samples only.

In this manner 5 million tracks on Rhapsody will become available for playback on Yahoo. Unfortunately, if you think you will be able to consume all your music via Yahoo search, there is one limitation that will destroy this clever plan: you will only be able to listen up to 25 full-length songs every 30 days. Once you are done with your 25 songs you will either have to wait until your next 30 days begin or subscribe to Rhapsody unlimited streaming service for $13 or $15 per month depending on the plan you choose.

There is another limitation in place - and that is the fact that Rhapsody is only available to users from the US while the rest of the world is as discriminated as always. I am pretty much uncomfortable when internet giants choose to partner with services that do not work for international users and we outside of the US are not even allowed to access such services for a fee. But that’s the usual thing the majority of people described by online advertising companies as “international traffic” have already grown more or less accustomed to. But if you are reading this in the US, enjoy your free music right on Yahoo search!