This is clearly just a first step in whatever Yahoo’s grand plans are around the future of their music service, but today they released some code to embed a very simple Javascript based MP3 player on any website.
The player finds MP3s on a given web page, creates a playlist and a very simple overlay to play the songs. A small play icon is placed next to every MP3 link, and the player itself hovers over the bottom left of the page. It can be expanded to show a playlist of all files on the page (Yahoo is using the XSPF format).
This is clearly just a first step in whatever they’re doing over the long term. There are hints at monetization strategies - file names are linked to Yahoo search, for example.
I spoke to Yahoo Director of Product Management Lucas Gonze, who won’t say how Yahoo plans to expand the product over time. I can imagine they’ll soon be adding other file formats, including video.
Most people have installed browser plugins that automatically play files linked from web pages. And many sites also have flash players embedded into the site (Yahoo has a Flash player too, built on the same code base). Both, though, require software downloads, even if it’s just Flash. So while this is a very simple solution offered by Yahoo, it does not require any software on the PC beyond a browser. That’s a good thing.
To see it in action, check out Ian Rogers’ blog.
that is so web 1.0… btw… first comment
It’s great!
I have both players installed… v1. and now v2.
http://www.swedelife.com/
Keep it up Y! music.
-beach
Somebody at Yahoo has already spilled the beans. Looks like they want to have a web subscription service like Rhapsody and Napster:
http://ymusicblog.com/blog/200.....-playback/
Does Michael Arrington really like Deerhoof?
One question…. Why?
Took less than a minute to add this to http://ourmedia.org. Nice!
Agree with #5. So visitors will come to your site and then play music that you like???
Nice! Lots of new music, no new toolbars to install.
I could have sworn Yahoo released this app at least a few months ago.
Yawn…
I guess it’s mildly convenient.
show me a video player, then I’ll take notice
Neato. What does the RIAA think?
The display suck! Very ugly!
Looks like another widget with little purpose. If it’s customizable and brandable, then I might be interested.
@3: You’re an idiot. You do realize that Yahoo! Music Unlimited is a big player in that space, right? Oh, no, wait, you don’t - because you’re an idiot.
Best,
The Fake Angela Hayden
SMACKDOWN GODDESS
bout Time Yahoo got with the program*
beyond all belief*
Flickr has needed Tunez for Years!!
+ they just sit while Web2.0 passes them by + all these lameass Clowns like
MySpace + Facebook get valued fer Billions for Crap Social Networks*
Bloody Joke*
;))
C’mon folks, it’s not about bringing people to your site to play music (that Yahoo! is after), it’s about providing a single site for you to visit to consume your music that you got elsewhere. You can consume it from anywhere (remember Yahoo! Pipes?)
If you don’t need a flash plugin, can play music stored on S3, Flickr, Facebook, etc, you’re set… No need for a music player.
Quite a product for mobile music consumption… Assuming this runs in Safari on iPhone, a browser on Android, and other coming mobile browsers running on always-on net connections…
I don’t want to sound like a total idiot, but I’m pretty sure that even though the Yahoo Widget is invoked by JavaScript it is still calling on a Flash Player to actually do the playing, and hence requires Flash to be installed. Also music stored on S3, or Facebook (Flickr can only have sheet music) still needs a player of some sort to actualy produce audio. Facebook is mokly likly going to use Flash for that one (though technically Java Applets are an option) while S3 (being just a simple storage service) will need you to have some local player like QuickTime to do the playing.
And a quick check with Firebug confirms it. It is loading a SWF file called FlashSound from a Yahoo server to handle the playing of the MP3 file. This is kind of a salvaging of WebJay (which I think always bothered web masters because of how it stole bandwidth from web sites that linked to MP3s without directing any traffic). Of course here you would need the webmaster’s permission (they need to include the embed code) and it also couldn’t work with any site that required authentication (as the Flash file cannot see the same container page that the user sees because it cannot see your cookies)
Yahoo lost the game years ago…Answers was their only real winner in the last decade…
Yes, it’s a Flash player — cannot imagine what if it was a Java Applet!
Deerhoof. Good choice.
I don’t see any player on the webpages on which it’s supposed to be installed … is it me or this release is buggy ?
All right “Linux browser support next rev.” says http://yahoomediaplayer.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page … I guess I’ll have to wait …
I can’t see any player in this website and how to i download this player into my pc
What ???? No MC Hammer in your playlist?
I use XSPF player from http://musicplayer.sourceforge.net/ its simple and clean. But the UI of Y is eye candy.
guys: how is this anything more than a skin for the already free and easy to use XSPF player?
Actually if this is anything it’s like delicious tag player (also owned + run by yahoo… I hope they don’t sink it as I love the non-intrusive, small foot print) w/ a bigger footprint and more buttons.
If your site runs wordpress there are also tons of plugins that do the same thing.
nice tools. need not to install a mp3 player anymore.
boring in my opinion. To see something much more exciting with regards to music on the web check out the future iTunes sharing products like mojo. Unless yahoo can somehow aggregate all this music without catching the attention or ire of the riaa this won’t be used much.
Jason Sperske : You are correct. The player uses Flash for mp3 playback if it is available. If not, it silently falls back to other technologies, like Windows Media Player or Quick Time, depending on the platform. So Flash is not really required, but it is utilized if available.
Hehe, Nice one Lucas, I got a cult following brewing up with myplaylist…
http://mmadrigal.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!1989B873A580CA12!48622.entry?
cool ha..
I have to try this. If it works as I think it does it will allow me to create a music/advertising system that I have had on the back burner for almost a year.
I can’t believe some people are so thick as to not realize that if this works it removes the required connection between player and mp3 file names or lists. Users can enter in files, or make selections, or even specify local files if they want to.
Sure, it’s not exactly rocket science, but for me at least it provides some answers on a platter that I was looking for, and for free. Uh, it is free right…?