Yahoo Music Jukebox
| Company type | Software |
|---|---|
| Industry | Digital music |
| Predecessor | MusicMatch Jukebox |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Founder | Yahoo! |
| Defunct | 2008 |
| Fate | Sold to RealNetworks' Rhapsody; service discontinued |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Music player software |
| Owner | Yahoo! (until 2008) |
| Parent | Yahoo! |
Yahoo! Music Jukebox, initially known as Yahoo! Music Engine, was a no-cost music player introduced by Yahoo! in 2005 to rival digital music platforms like iTunes and Rhapsody. Created in conjunction with MusicMatch Jukebox, which Yahoo! acquired in 2004, it acted as the main interface for Yahoo's music offerings, primarily supporting Yahoo! Music Unlimited, a subscription-based music streaming service and digital storefront. Additionally, it provided tools for music organization. In early 2008, Yahoo! divested its music division, including Yahoo! Music Jukebox, selling it to RealNetworks' Rhapsody, while transitioning to a browser-based music player.
History
The origin of Yahoo!'s standalone music player traces back to its audio search engine that cataloged both free audio files and licensed tracks from Yahoo!'s service, searchable by artist, album, or song title, with downloads typically costing around one dollar per track. To compete directly with Apple's iTunes, Yahoo! purchased Mediacode—a digital music company founded by ex-Nullsoft engineers Ian Rogers and Robert Lord—in 2004. This strategic acquisition was intended to support the launch of Yahoo!'s subscription platform Yahoo! Music Unlimited and to develop a media player/digital jukebox as its primary client application.
Features
The software offered capabilities such as ripping and burning CDs, integration with LAUNCHcast Internet radio, access to the Yahoo! Music Unlimited subscription library, playlist management, and the ability to transfer audio files to portable MP3 devices and USB drives. Users of Yahoo! Messenger could stream tracks to one another and explore playlists; however, full song additions were restricted to Yahoo! Unlimited subscribers, while those without subscriptions could only listen to 30-second previews.
Audio ripping was supported in formats including .wav, .mp3, and .wmv, but notably excluded .wma—the format used for songs purchased from Yahoo!. The CD burning feature allowed creation of MP3 CDs, although the player itself did not support playback of these discs.
The platform supported user-installable plugins and skins through open APIs, enabling customization of its functionality.
Yahoo! promoted an upgrade path from MusicMatch Jukebox users to Yahoo! Music Jukebox; however, the latter was a more simplified version featuring fewer functionalities than MusicMatch.
System requirements
Running Yahoo! Music Jukebox required Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (32-bit) or Windows Vista (32/64-bit), along with Internet Explorer version 6 or later and Windows Media Player version 9 or above. The minimum hardware specifications included a Pentium III processor at 300 MHz and 128MB of RAM. The application relied on Microsoft's ActiveX components, restricting compatibility exclusively to Windows operating systems without plans for versions on other platforms.
Shutdown
In February 2008, Yahoo! transferred ownership of its music-related properties to Rhapsody. By September 2008, all related servers were decommissioned. With the DRM authorization servers no longer operational, users lost access to DRM-protected tracks but were provided with DRM-free replacements through Rhapsody.
By mid-2008, streaming functionality within the Jukebox was discontinued; while the software could still manage locally stored and purchased music files, it no longer connected to online services. Users interested in streaming Yahoo! Music content were redirected to the "My Station" feature on music.yahoo.com.