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Launchcast
is an online radio station that plays music based on the
voting of the user. With a Yahoo! account, users can gain
access to thousands of songs sorted by both artist and
genre. The service uses the voting feature as a means
to build a play list based on the user's favorite kinds
of music as well as their favorite artists. The website
also features artist profiles with extensive selections
of music videos, photographs and biographical information.
You can visit the official site at music.yahoo.com, launch.music.com,
launch.com, launchcast.com
More
commonly referred to simply as "LAUNCH" (and
rebranded "Yahoo! Music" or simply "Y!
Music" in February 2004, it began as a magazine by
the same title that was issued in both standard print
format and as an interactive cd-rom. Eventually the print
version was eliminated and subscribers were only sent
the cd-rom version. It contained video interviews, live
performances and special video segments by music stars
as well as standard (but interactive) music magazine features.
Eventually the magazine was purchased by Yahoo! and integrated
into their website.
Yahoo
Launch Cast is a streaming music service
allowing you to create your own customized station tailored
to your tastes. Rate artists and albums highly to hear
them often and ban the ones you hate. You can also listen
to our extensive collection of pre-made stations created
by Yahoos editorial staff. Launch Cast gives you the ability
to customize a radio station based on your tastes. This
guide will help you get the best experience on your customized
station. In a nutshell, you tell Launchcast the music
you like and don't like, and the Yahoo
Music system will produce a radio
experience that includes music you like as well as new
music you might like based on your tastes.
You
can listen to 600 songs per month for free without any
special restrictions. After 600 songs in a month, if you
still want to listen to the free service, you'll experience
the following restrictions:
Launch
cast provides a free music listening experience supported
by advertising. It's currently the only free service that
incorporates customized stations along with unlimited
artist, album, and song ratings. Unlike terrestrial radio,
Yahoo pays royalties for every song and bandwidth fees
for every minute of music that is played through LaunchCast
service. In order to have a free service for everyone,
we have some restrictions on heavy use. These restrictions
may be temporary and are subject to change as the dynamics
of YahooMusic business change.
If
your usage exceeds a certain number of song plays (currently
600, but subject to change) within a given month, you
will be given the following choices:
-
Upgrade
to LAUNCHcast Plus* for high audio quality, unlimited
customized radio station play, unlimited song skipping,
no commercials, exclusive stations, and much more.
-
Continue
listening to our preprogrammed editorial stations.
-
If
you don't upgrade to LAUNCHcast Plus, you will not be
able to access your customized station for the remainder
of the calendar month. However, please note that you will
still have access to our preprogrammed editorial station
selections.
At
the beginning of the next month, your free LAUNCHcast
will be restored with an additional 600 songs at medium
bandwidth with skipping until you exceed the heavy usage
threshold again. Note: All songs played count toward the
limit, including those that you skip.
Yahoo
Music believes these options provide a reasonable balance
by giving heavy users the ability to continue listening
for free, without impacting the radio stations ability
to offer a free service for all listeners. LAUNCHcast
video clip radio is not currently compatible with Netscape
Navigator for the PC or the Mac OS X operating system.
LAUNCHcast requires the following in order to properly
stream media content:
PC
- Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000 Professional, XP Home,
or Professional
Pentium II, 233MHz or faster
at least 64MB RAM
Internet Explorer 5.0 and up
Windows Media Player 6.4 or higher
Macromedia Flash 6.0 or higher
56k or broadband Internet connection
Apple
Macintosh - Mac OS 8.5 to 9.2.2
200MHz PowerPC (iMac OK)
at least 64MB RAM
Netscape Navigator 4.5 to 4.7
Windows Media Player 7.01 or higher
Macromedia Flash 6.0 or higher
56k or broadband Internet connection
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