Yahoo Search rocks
p2pnet.net News:- Yahoo has introduced a new audio search that might help to finally put one or two corporate music services on the map.
The beta offers not only podcasts, newscasts, speeches and interviews, but also downloads. Or as PC Pro puts it, punters can use it to also tap “some of the biggest music downloads services which offer tracks for sale” and among the providers listed are iTunes, Napster, Garageband and its own Yahoo! Music Unlimited service”.
The record label cartel been trying to convince the world that corporate download ‘services’ are viable and its IFPI (International Federation of Phonographic Industry) has just released a ‘report’ claiming there are some 300 online music services doing great things.
Only the cartel knows if there really are 300. Not that it matters because the only ones in the public eye to any extent are Napster, still in financial trouble, and RealNetworks, which seems to have the world supply of critical security holes. And the last word on Yahoo’s own music service was that it could be exploited and mp3s downloaded for free.
In reality, Apple’s iTunes, the only one that’s actually doing anything – and its efforts amount to zip stacked against what’s happening on the p2p networks.
But only 18 different music providers are included on the Yaho audio search, says PC Pro, going on, “Even so, some of what the spiders pull up is copyright material. As with Yahoo! Images, the Yahoo! frame at the top of page clearly indicates that this might be copyright material. However, if Yahoo! audio turns out to be a convenient way to find music files, the company might expect a visit from the RIAA.”
And, “While the service is fine for finding music and other clearly marked audio files, like streamed speeches, some is quite well hidden. Because Yahoo! audio doesn’t link directly to the file but to the page it is on, sometimes it is hard to actually locate it. For example, while the Yahoo crawlers might find and index a .wav sound sample on a page, it doesn’t mean it is necessarily clearly signposted on the page.”
Anyhow, we accepted Yahoo’s invitation to “Try it Now” and by way of demos, it suggests:
Music – from “Coldplay” to “Bloc Party
Interviews, speeches and newscasts – “Colin Powell interview”
Podcasts – “NPR”
Sound effects – “horror scream”
But Mariah Carey’s We Belong Together has been rocking along on p2pnet’s Music File Share Top Ten for some time now, so what better to search for?
We got 15 hits starting with:
Bluespidershi Inc – we belong together – mariah carey
1 download location for this audio file
and ending with:
818ers – We Belong Together
1 download location for this audio file
Album: Mariah Carey (Unsigned, 2005)
You’ll notice SoundClick in on both. In fact, it’s on all of the Carey results, which it also lists both as ‘Free’. SoundClick seems to be both some kind of download service and artist promo site al la MP3.com-that-was. When you hit ‘download’ you end up on the site and when you hit download there, it takes you to a registration area.
A look at the FAQ reveals, “all our services are totally free. We offer several optional add-ons that are fee-based. We highly recommend using those options, as they work wonders for your promotion. But if you’re satisfied with the basic services, you don’t pay a dime.”
We’ll stick to the p2p networks, thanks..
Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
See:-
PC Pro – Yahoo! gets wired for sound, August 5, 2005
report – UMG record label supreme, p2pnet, August 4, 2005
financial trouble – Napster posts $19.9m loss, p2pnet, August 4, 2995
critical security holes – RealNetworks danger warning, p2pnet, June 24, 2005
downloaded for free – Yahoo Music Unlimited, p2pnet, June 2, 2005
August 7th, 2005 at 6:24 pm
Unless you like to fill out every forms, read agreements, comply with companies various policies and restriction and possibly waste bucks being charged to try out the service to just get a song out of it.
Just seem that there too many of the music service companies out there with limited volume of songs and half-baked services, all they’re doing best at it is hyping their service with the help of Yahoo.