Online Music Service Review: Yahoo LaunchCast Vs Live365

"Listen, Look and Burn" Vs "Listen, Create and Learn"

Yona Williams
Yona Williams, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Aug 8, 2006 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
In the mood to listen to your favorite hits, while discovering a few tracks yet to hit the scene? There are plenty of opportunities to explore the world of Internet radio, but in my book, there are two that stick out: Yahoo LaunchCast and Live365. Both offer free, as well as paid subscription services.

What They Offer:

Yahoo
Yahoo offers free Internet radio, music news and music videos. Yahoo! ID required, which is also free. For a small monthly fee, subscribers can enjoy unlimited access to more than a million full-length songs under the Yahoo! Music Unlimited plan. The plan allows you to save and play your songs for only $5 per month. Commercial-free radio stations are also offered through the LaunchCast Plus subscription.

Live365
Attracting more than 4 million worldwide listeners per month, Live365 is considered one of the largest Internet radio networks. This website also allows you to harness the power of music by giving you the chance to create and broadcast your own Internet radio station.

The Music:

Yahoo
There are about 200 genres of music to choose from, including Americana, Classic Soul, Indie Rock, Funk, Tejano and Doo Wop. Keep in mind that some of these stations, such as Punk Rock and Disco are only available to LaunchCast Plus subscribers.

Live365
There are more than 260 genres to choose from, including Pop-Reggae, World Fusion, the 30s, Dirty South, Latin Rap, Halloween and Rap Metal. Keep in mind that some of your favorite radio stations may be added to the VIP Subscribers list at any time and without warning.

The Website:

Yahoo
The website is inviting with occasional color scheme changes depending on particular sponsors. For example, when Saturn included an interactive advertisement on the LaunchCast homepage, the rest of the site utilized a corresponding black and red color scheme. Overall, the site is fresh and fun, offering a variety of easily navigable music-related content.

Live365
The website is a disappointing arrangement of green and white that does nothing for the imagination. Occasional musician banner ads may greet you at the start of your musical journey, but the blandness is mind-boggling. Thank God, you come for the music selection.

The Music Players:

Yahoo
After you have clicked on a particular music station, the media player will appear. A commercial will run before you hear the first song. If you like, listen, but if you don't, you can choose another station or press the fast-forward button that will take you to the next song.

The free player includes:
1) Fast Forward Button (limited uses)
2) Pause Button (operational after 30 seconds)
3) Length of Song with Time Lapse
4) Artist Name, Song Title, Album Title and Date of Release
5) Volume Control

Live365
When you have chosen a music station to listen to, click on the title and its homepage will load. The name of the DJ, location of the radio station and additional details are available. If you are still interested, an easily identifiable "Play" button should be clicked. The media player pops up. Your station plays after a sponsor ad has run.

The free player includes:
1) Artist Name, Song Title, Album Title, Length of Song
2) The last two items played, as well as the current musical selection.
3) Play, Stop and Mute Button
4) Volume Control
5) Link to purchase the music.
6) An option to add a particular station to your "favorites" list.

Positive Points:

Yahoo
With LaunchCast, not only do you get to listen to new music, but you also get to view your favorite music videos. Although you have to sit through a commercial ranging 7 to 60 seconds, you will ultimately get to stare into the eyes of your favorite singer or band in no time. The good part about this is you can watch the same video as many times as you wish. The site also provides a convenient top 100 videos list to check out, as well as an opportunity to create your own personal favorites list, as well as most recently viewed selections. Although limited, the fast forward button is a nice addition to the media player for those songs you can't bear to sit through.

Live365
For non-paying listeners, the stations usually play a lengthy stretch of music before inserting a commercial. The selection of music stations is really impressive, accommodating any craving for the new and old stuff. Unlike Yahoo!, Live365 also reveals the last couple of songs and current song on the main page of each radio station. There is also easy navigation between your favorite stations. In a matter of seconds, you can find out what is playing on all of your favorite stations without the hassle of tedious connection and loading.

Negative Points:

Yahoo
Sometimes, the frequency of commercials can appear at an irritating rate when listening to a radio station. The music streaming also stops after listening to a station for a long period of time. You have to click on a link to resume, which can happen several times in one sitting. As for the videos, sometimes after choosing your selection and sitting through a commercial, the video of your choice does not play, which can be a bit annoying.

Live365
Find a station you like, add it to your presets and if you play it often enough, you will one day find yourself quite disappointed when they place a "VIP Members Only" tag on it. This has happened more than once to me, but I refuse to be forced into paying for a subscription.

Price for Paid Membership:

Yahoo
LaunchCast Plus (commercial free):
$2.99 per month (billed 34.99 annually)
$3.99 per month (billed monthly)
Yahoo! Music Unlimited (*downloading music):
$4.99 per month (billed in one payment of $59.88)
$6.99 per month (billed month-to-month)
*To keep the music you load onto your computer for as long as you wish, subscribers are charged 79ยข per song.

Live365
$3.65 per month (billed $87.60 every 24 months)
$3.95 per month (billed $47.40 every 12 months)
$4.45 per month (billed $26.70 every 6 months)
$4.95 per month (billed $14.85 every 3 months
$5.95 per month (billed $5.95 every month)

Free Trial Offer for Paid Subscriptions:

Yahoo
LaunchCast Plus (commercial free): 7 days
Yahoo! Music Unlimited: 7 days

Live365
Preferred Membership Packages: 5 days

Overall Assessment: As far as these music services are concerned, you have to ask yourself: am I more interested in the "listen, create and learn" Live365 site or the "listen, look and burn" Yahoo! music service? Live365's strongest suit is the impressive selection of available radio stations, representing a wide-range of musical tastes. Yahoo! offers great multimedia entertainment options with their radio stations and music videos.

Published by Yona Williams

Yona Williams, a native of Upstate New York and co-owner of Priceless Writers - eats, drinks, sleeps and dreams of writing.  View profile

  • Live365 allows users to create and broadcast their own radio station.
  • Vote for new videos on Yahoo! Launchcast's Dig It or Dis It.
  • 5-7-day free trials are offered for both of these services.
Live365 attracts more than 4 million woldwide listerners per month.

7 Comments

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  • sjadam8/18/2006

    Actually, to be Frank (har), most broadcasters aren't allowed to play ads because of licensing. However, broadcaster's can opt for an individual license or license their station themselves and can then play all the ads they like.

  • Frank Holloway8/13/2006

    Live365 is a piece of crap broadcasters pay to play there stations and see no rewards from it. Live365 gets all ad revenue and does not allow the broadcasters to make any money via ads for fear it will cut into all the ad revenue they make.

  • Bobby @ WBPM NetRADIO8/11/2006

    I started listening to Live365 when the work schedule put me on nights and I had tired of lugging in a stack of CDs to work . I "found" it after finding the other sites like Launchcast. It was like I had hit the motherload. The selection is beyond compare. I spent days cruising through stations and after a few days of the free trial I set up a VIP Listener account. I heard a lot of music I'd not heard before or in a very long time. The the bug bit. I'd actually stepped inside a few radio stations in the past so it was not hard to imagine setting up shop on Live365.com. When I finally made the plunge, it was because even with the variety, there were songs that I wanted to hear at work. After a while I started paying real attention to the listener statistics for my station and realized there were others listening to the station besides me. Yeah, I had a real "We are not alone" moment that day. (grinning) From what I've seen, most Live365.com broadcasters truly play to a global aud

  • Gregg8/9/2006

    This is a good article, although the comparison is apples/oranges. Live365 is not a directory of music strung together in the hopes that you'll buy the download. Instead, it's a community of independent broadcasters legally sharing their private music collections with the world. The variety on Live365 is due to the fact that broadcasters are airing everything from current recordings to out-of-print material. The main reason a station becomes "VIP Only" is because of royalty and licensing arrangements Live365 has negotiated with the music industry. These are typically based on how many listeners you have for a particular song at a particular time. A "free" station that suddenly goes "VIP Only" does so because it has reached the limit of its license. New listeners then must be a paying VIP to compensate Live365 for the extra royalties it will incur and pay. Considering that a VIP membership is incredibly cheap, it's worth it to listen to whatever you want to listen to without re

  • Tony8/9/2006

    Actually, Clarence is correct. Live365 doesn't own the rights to the music being broadcast by the station, the broadcasters do. However, Live365 owns the exclusive right to use the streams of "personal" as they chose, and only it is allowed to make money off the stream. If you want to get tecnical, broadcasters have the right to USE the music under the DMCA but OWNERSHIP remains with the copyright holders.

  • Ben8/9/2006

    You are wrong Clarence. Under Live365's terms of service, they own the music once you upload it to them and they can do what they want with it.

  • Clarence Jones8/8/2006

    Very nice article. As a Live365 Webcaster, there's 2 points I'd like to make clearer. The reason stations suddenly become VIP Only: Live365 has caps on the total number of free listeners per station- when/if a station hits it's cap, it goes VIP only until the total number of free listeners drops below their cap (there's the same caps for most stations but webcasters can get higher caps for a pro/semi-pro account).
    The other thing is that some stations using Live365 are simply streaming of terrestrial (AM or FM) stations, but most of us are real life People. We love what we play & want to share our enjoyment with listeners. So the majority of stations on Live365 (& Live365 doesn't Own the music, the webcasters do - And, like LaunchCast, Live365 pays qall royalties to songwriters & musicians, so both services are 100% legal) are run by individuals, not Corporations.
    The main thing is to enjoy the music/talk/whatever.
    Love & Peace, Clarence Jones
    CJ's Radio Olio

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