At $6.99 for one month, Yahoo!'s Music Unlimited service undercuts other subscription operators Napster and Real Networks, which have priced their services at $9.99 a month. Furthermore, Yahoo! is charging only $4.99 a month for an 12-month subscription.
Yahoo! Music general manager David Goldberg said the offer would last for a trial period of undetermined length.
The service will be rolled out to the UK next, according to a company spokeswoman, but the launch date is being kept under wraps.
The company is also reported to be developing a search engine for finding music downloads on the internet, but would not comment on the story.
The service includes a number of features, including integration with Yahoo! Messenger, meaning users can browse and listen to fellow subscribers' music collections. Yahoo is also offering permanent downloads for 79 cents a song, and ad-free internet radio stations.
It also gives users a fair amount of freedom, allowing them to transfer tracks from computers to portable music players and to access the service from any computer.
Real's Rhapsody service and Napster charge around $15 a month for subscriptions that allow transfers to portable music players.
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