• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, August 5, 2005

Adding again to its entertainment offerings, Yahoo! on Thursday launched a free audio search engine capable of sorting through a hodgepodge of some 50 million songs, interviews, speeches, and podcasts. At the new Yahoo! Audio Search site, users can also search for photos and random information related to their musician or group of choice.

Yahoo! threw the digital downloading space for a loop in May when it gave individuals unlimited access to a catalog of more than a million songs for bargain basement prices.

The new audio search service, which can be found at audio.search.yahoo.com, has been integrated with Yahoo!'s video search, both of which encourage independent publishers to submit videos and music through Media RSS.

Also integrated in the service are tools from Yahoo!'s comparison shopping search engine, so users can more easily find CD prices and make purchases from a variety of retailers.

Sites with links to Yahoo! Audio Search include Apple's iTunes Music Store, Napster, Yahoo! Musicmatch, MSN Music, Rhapsody, RealPlayer Music Store, GarageBand, eMusic, and others.

Users will still have to pay to access content from these sites. The other music sites are sending Yahoo! lists of their songs, and the companies will share revenue on each song they sell together.

Yahoo! also locates podcasts in which artists are mentioned or their music is included. Users can then click on the XML icon at the corner of the window to hear the podcast or subscribe to the feed. Companies such as GoFish and Blinkx already offer audio search. Yahoo! acquired early audio search providers AltaVista and AllTheWeb through its purchase of Overture Services in October 2003. Yahoo! also spent $160 million last year for MusicMatch Inc., which offers downloads and a non-portable subscription service.

The cost of Yahoo!'s Music Unlimited service--$6.99 per month, or $60 per year--is much cheaper than the cost of rivals' services. RealNetworks Inc. charges $179 a year for a similar subscription service; Napster charges $14.95 per month for a subscription service that works with a portable player, and $9.95 per month without the portability option.