Yahoo switches music service to Rhapsody

LOS ANGELES -- Yahoo Inc. will cease operating its online music subscription service and switch its customers to Rhapsody music service as part of a new deal with Seattle's RealNetworks that calls for Yahoo to promote Rhapsody on its site.

Terms of the deal, to be formally announced Monday, were not disclosed.

"People want to have music and consume it in lots of different forms and across different devices and platforms, and we want to have a play in as many of those as we can," said Scott Moore, Yahoo's head of media.

Moore said the partnership would allow Yahoo to focus its energies more on free, ad-supported music and other media offerings.

Yahoo Music Unlimited lets users download an unlimited number of tracks playable as long as their plan is active.

Under the Yahoo-RealNetworks partnership, subscribers to Yahoo Music Unlimited will be shifted to the Rhapsody service sometime in the first half of this year. Yahoo subscribers' music library and payment plans will remain the same for a limited time after the switch, but those wishing to remain on Rhapsody eventually will be required to sign up at Rhapsody's rates.

Yahoo's subscription rates range from $5.99 a month, if users pay for a full year in advance, or $8.99 a month. Rhapsody memberships start at $12.99 a month.

The Internet pioneer also planned to announce Monday that it had acquired FoxyTunes, a browser plug-in that offers -- among other features -- online searches for music, lyrics and other content tied to media playing on a computer. It also launched a Web-based media player.