Home > Geekboy > Archives > 2006 > February > 13
Monday, February 13, 2006
Part 2: Yahoo! owes me a mouse
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last week, we got the pay for play MP3 party started by finding an online service that sells “music downloads.”
This week I detail exactly why Yahoo owes me a mouse.
During the install, which took a long time due to what I surmised were server issues, Yahoo tries to make itself your browser’s default search engine and home page.
And to throw salt on the wounds, Yahoo also tries to become your default media player, which for most users means it supplants Windows Media Player, not something I advise.
YAHOO MUSIC ENGINE 1.1 is installed and I feel like I’ve just finished the terrible first tome of a trilogy, but must keep reading or won’t get paid.
The Yahoo Music Machine interface did not impress me, and I’d never heard of the featured artists, but it’s not like I was expecting Bill Monroe.
At this point it occurs to me that Yahoo marketing must be schizophrenic – thus far I’ve run across Yahoo Music Unlimited (the music club?), Yahoo Music Machine (the interface?), Yahoo Music Engine (the program?), and something called Launchcast, which is apparently Yahoo’s online radio service. I’m going to keep calling this thing Yahoo Music Machine.
There’s a lot going on here. What to do first?
I rated the styles of music I prefer. This allegedly tells Yahoo what sort of music to shove down my throat.
Then I searched for music. I decided to give Yahoo a real test.
I typed Bluebells in the search bar and only got one song. But that was a toughie.
I tried a few other less-than-popular artists:
Nick Drake: 44 songs
Gram Parsons: 20 (someone should be Launchcast into orbit!)
Pretty impressive.
I tried some popular artists for comparison.
Coldplay: 69
U2: 171
The Beatles: 157, but all are karaoke and interviews, not real songs. Few realize it, but karaoke means ‘empty orchestra” in Japanese and “get off the stage you talentless stooge” in English.
Search for the Musical Grail:
For years, Geekboy has been looking for a mythical album, one he wore out in college that was tragically lost in a girlfriend shuffle.
I type in Rain Parade.
Sweet Filo and Yang! 15 songs, including every track from the vaunted “Explosions in the Glass Palace� EP!
As soon as the pleasing sounds of “You are my Friend� fill Geekboy’s computer cavern, a smile fills my face.
I decided to give Yahoo another chance. This could be fun!
I added a few more Rain Parade songs to my playlist and kicked back. The sound quality is not very good – there is no indicator of sound file bit rate, but I assume it is somewhere in the 64-96 kbps range because it sounds brittle and overcompressed.
You can rate each song, which I assume alters your musical taste preferences for Launchcast radio.
Music is a powerful thing. I was starting to like this. I felt ashamed. Like somehow I had betrayed geeks everywhere.
I decided to let Yahoo search for other music files on my computer and it found 3500 files on my dual 200 gig drives!
Strangely, it listed music and other audio snippets from video games as songs. And some of the song titles were mislabeled “OLD HARD DRIVE� which told me something was very screwy with the Ye Olde Search Function.
At this point I notice Yahoo suggests The Smiths, Steve Earle and Johnny Cash, which I have a lot of MP3s of.
The Smiths’ song “Cemetery Gates� is misspelled. Tsk, tsk!
Did Yahoo extrapolate my musical preferences from my MP3 collection? I think so. This seems a bit invasive. I wonder what else they are searching for?
Paranoia sets in.
I tried the Launchcast radio station based on my personal preferences and Barry White’s “Just the way you are� fired up.
Paranoia subsides.
Though you are given the option of buying single tracks, I decide to buy the whole Rain Parade album — $8.48 for 11 songs, about 79 cents each.
I had to re-enter my credit card info. The songs began downloading, you can see their progress at the bottom of your browser. Whatever you do, leave things alone while they download. If you navigate away, you will have to redownload the songs again, I learned. I was not charged twice to do this, but why take the chance. Patience grasshopper!
You will have no idea where the music is being saved. You are not given the option of choosing a location.
I found the files in My Documents/My Music/My Yahoo Music Folder. By playing the files in WinAmp I learned they are not MP3s, but WMAs, a file type created by Microsoft that almost all portable devices support. The bit rate is 192kbps, which is good enough for all but the most snobbish of ears.
A “related artistâ€? for Rain Parade was Echo and the Bunnymen. I clicked the greatest hits collection “Songs to Learn and Singâ€? and bought it too — $7.87 for 15 songs, which is cheaper, 52 cents per track.
I have no idea why the price was different, Yahoo advertises “80 cents a song.�
Echo and the Bunnymen had 147 songs on Yahoo, which is more than Coldplay. That seemed odd but made me happy.
You can sort by date, title, popularity. That is handy. You can also sort by album, which is useful.
You can also read artist and album reviews, but some are what you might call terse. The Rain Parade review was one sentence – “A pleasant slab of psychedelic pop.�
The “burn CD� button on Yahoo Music Machine glared balefully.
I clicked it, hoping it would burn my playlist, which included only songs I had purchased.
It didn’t work. The program rudely informed my I did not have enough “rights� to burn the music I had paid for.
I fire up Nero Burning Rom, a popular CD burning program. I always liked the joke – Rome burned while Nero fiddled, thus the program is called Nero Burning Rome. Ah … the sweet pleasures of nerddom.
I load up the Rain Parade tracks in Nero and click “burn.�
I get the same message! Despite paying Yahoo $20 I can’t burn a single track to CD.
The wireless optical mouse goes flying. I should have stuck with the corded model.
Final thoughts:
It was fun to search for obscure artists and hear their songs again. Artists like Rain Parade deserved better than they got, and I am glad online services remember them.
Is it worth $6 a month? You would think so, but … the terms and conditions you must agree to are too restrictive.
The Yahoo user agreement says you cannot put music you have download and paid for onto a portable device like an iPod.
Geekboy doesn’t like that.
The music you have paid for, it seems, can’t even be moved to another computer!
But my real beef with Yahoo, and I assume all download sites will be the same, is that I feel I should be able to burn songs I have paid for down to a CD for use in my car.
Why pay $9 for an album you can only listen to on your computer? Why not scour Amazon.com for a used CD? Why not trek down to a used record shop and help out a local businessman?
Is convenience worth getting rooked?
Until things change, Geekboy won’t be using pay for play sites.
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
