Gizmodo: yahoo music

Yahoo! Music Store Will Compensate Customers For DRM-ed Music

Elaine Chow — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:30:00 EDT

Yes, Yahoo! Music Store's shutting down their DRM servers, but Big Purple's said that it'll definitely still be taking care of its customers. According to a Yahoo spokesperson, anyone who bought DRM music from the store “will be compensated for whatever they paid.” No word on timetables or what form the compensation will take, but possible options include cash back or an un-DRMed MP3 version of the same track. [Information Week]

Yahoo Music Shutting Down DRM Servers To Finish Transition to Rhapsody

Jason Chen — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:00:00 EDT

In a continuation of Yahoo Music's move to send their customers over to Rhapsody, YM's shutting down their DRM servers as of September 30. Unlike when MSN's Music servers shut down and then re-opened, it's very unlikely that Yahoo's will do the same, seeing as there's a process to convert your existing Yahoo Music tunes over to Rhapsody. You'll have to transfer the songs before the deadline, or else all you'll be hearing is the sound of yourself weeping over your lost tunes. [LA Times]

SanDisk's Sansa Connect Gets $100 Price Drop

Jason Chen — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:20:30 EDT

The Sansa Connect Wi-Fi-enabled player we saw earlier this year is already getting a $100 price drop down to the pretty awesome price of $149. If you remember, the 4GB player lets you share your music with strangers like the Zune does, but it also lets you download unlimited Yahoo music right from the device as well. This is a pretty darn good deal now. [News.com]

Frankenreview: Ten Takes on the Sandisk Sansa Connect

Mark Wilson — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 15:30:18 EDT

There's a new kid on the MP3 block, and just like the Zune, it's a player sporting Wi-Fi. The $250 4GB Sandisk Sansa Connect not only allows you to share your torrid musical preferences with dirty strangers on the subway, it also enables you to download unlimited Yahoo! music for $15 without the cords.

So what did the reviewers think? For this week's Frankenreview, we hit up a TON of sources (ok...10) and grabbed their best quips. Hit the jump to read what Wired, Gadgetaholic, ComputerWorld, LAPTOP, I4U, Yahoo! Tech, Crunchgear, Late to the Party and PCMag had to say about this quasi-wireless MP3 player.

(Only five of our ten use numerical scores, we weren't just being lazy...this time.)

Wired
If the Zune weren't already DOA, Sansa's Connect would totally stomp its ugly brown mug.

CNET
...tunes sounded warm, clean, and encompassing across all genres... Still, I could've done with a bit more kick on the low end.

Gadgetaholic
... the Sansa Connect can display photos. However, this one kicks it up a notch (Emeril must be proud) by allowing the user to browse the photos from their Flickr account. This works flawlessly.

Computerworld
...the first significant rethinking of portable media players — and how we acquire digital media — since Apple Inc.'s introduction of the iPod and the iTunes online media store several years ago.

LAPTOP
The Wi-Fi radio's range was adequate but not great. Over-the-air downloads of four-minute Yahoo subscription tracks took anywhere from 40 seconds to three minutes, depending on network variables, but Internet-radio playback was dropout-free...

I4U
The Connect can handle wireless networks that use pre-shared keys for security. What the Sansa Connect can't handle is wireless networks that don't broadcast the SSID.

Yahoo! Tech
Don't think about this like an iPod. It's possible, but not easy, to transfer your existing music on your PC to the Sansa. You need to use Yahoo! Jukebox and connect the Sansa to your PC to move music you already own.

Crunchgear
[Yahoo! Music] tracks are offered only through recommendations and popular music. This encourages you to rate your favorite tracks...but I can see it as being a bummer if you have a song in your head and can't get to it.

Late to the Party
Album art is shown in just about every menu, whether it is for local content, or for streaming radio stations, or for Yahoo Music Unlimited content under the "Get More Music" menu

PCMag
...comes with an AC charger/adapter (our battery rundown test yielded 6 hours and 15 minutes of continuous music playback and WiFi usage, so you'll be using this a lot)...

After checking out all the reviews, the Connect looks fantastic. But my two problems with the experience are huge in my book:
1. No iTunes or Mac Support
2. Yahoo's music service cannot be searched by song – Mark Wilson

Specs:
2.2" LCD screen
4GB of internal memory
WMA and MP3 support
Internet radio
MicroSD support for expansion
Internal speaker
View photos via MicroSD card or via Flickr account
Supports Yahoo! Music Unliminted To Go.