Yahoo! to double pricing of it's music rental service soon

October 27, 2005

Looks like
Yahoo! is throwing in the towel as far as luring iTunes customers to their
site with their recent low price promotion. In this press release from AP, we can read that they will doubling the price of its online music subscription service for portable MP3 players.

Effective Nov. 1, Yahoo will charge about $120 annually for access via download to more than 1 million songs that can then be transferred to portable players. The Internet powerhouse has been charging just under $60 annually - a price most industry observers predicted wouldn't last when Yahoo entered the market in early May.
Subscribing to the service on a monthly basis will cost $11.99, up from $6.99 under the initial pricing plan. That's closer to but still below services from Napster Inc. and RealNetworks Inc. which each charge just under $15 per month.

The Yahoo! service is similar to ones offered at Napster and RealNetworks. The concept being try before you buy. You can rent an unlimited amount of tracks for a set fee rather than purchasing the material. Stop paying the rental fee and then eventually, the music stops. Of course if you like the particular track, you may purchase it for 79 cents and then you "own" it. Not bad! Even with the increase in price to 11.99 a month, it's still a cheaper service than it's competition. The question you have to ask is there enough music out there for your player to justify another bill.

Source: AP News My Way