Yahoo! has made its first steps into the world of digital music, with its new Yahoo! Music Unlimited service. Songs are "rented" rather than bought by users, in a system that is similar to Napster. Customers have the option to pay an extra fee of 79 cents is charged to own a song and for the ability to burn it to a CD. The service is compatible with most portable devices, although strangely not the iPod.

Taking a different pricing approach than its competitors, the service will cost merely $4.99 a month for an annual subscription (coming to approximately $60 a year), or $6.99 for a monthly subscription.

"We are committed to being at the forefront of the rapidly growing online music segment," said Lloyd Braun, head of Yahoo! Media Group. "Yahoo! Music Unlimited draws on the best of Yahoo! to provide personalization and community features unlike anything else in the marketplace."