Everyone knows Launchcast is the source for internet radio. On the surface, it would appear that the point of Launchcast is to provide the music that the listener wants to hear, at no cost. But in reality, Yahoo is a for-profit corporation and the true point of Launchcast is to make money.
However, this poses some difficulty for Yahoo since the cost of having all that music available to users undoubtedly far outweighs the revenue brought in by the occasional 30-second ad. So Launchcast Plus was created, allowing Yahoo extract $3.00 a month from customers in exchange for "commercial-free music," "customized mood stations," and "unlimited song skipping."
Only a fool would pay anything, let alone three dollars a month, for these useless upgrades. After all, the ads on free Launch are unobtrusive, with one 30-second commercial between every three or four songs— far less frequently than on the radio. As for the "customized mood stations," anyone can create multiple free stations, circumventing any appeal there might have been to this dubious benefit in the first place.
Presumably "unlimited song skipping" would be a useful feature, since it implies that song skipping is limited in regular Launch. This, however, is not the case. The song-skipping limit in free Launch is almost impossible to reach, especially since once you've rated enough songs it rarely plays anything you dislike enough to skip. Even if you do run into the barrier, you can easily reset the counter by closing and then reopening Launch, which Yahoo would probably prefer you didn't know.
Since Yahoo can't possibly get any intelligent people to give up their money voluntarily for Launchcast Plus, they try instead to bully us into submission. Their most overt method of doing this is the commercials interspersed at ten-minute intervals on free Launch stations explaining that there aren't any commercials on Launchcast Plus. Of course, no one bothers to mention that there are almost no commercials on regular Launchcast either except for the Launchcast Plus ones. Go figure.
It's easy enough to live with this minor inconvenience. After all, the length and frequency of these ads is nothing compared to the radio. But Yahoo has one more trick up its sleeve, the dirtiest one of all, and Yahoo makes sure you're properly hooked on internet radio before it springs the trap. You see, Launchcast has a monthly usage limit.
This may not sound so menacing, but the limit is easier to reach than you would think, especially if you listen to Launch at work. When you reach it, you are presented with a choice: continue listening to "your station" at reduced quality and without being able to skip songs, or upgrade to Launchcast Plus. This is even worse than it sounds, since once you can no longer skip songs, the music you normally enjoy is replaced with utter dreck bearing close resemblance to the material you rated "never play again," and your only choices are listening to it or giving in to the greedy demands of Yahoo.
Or we can stand up for ourselves. Let's show Yahoo that their bullying tactics won't force us to cave to their every whim. If you choose the easy path, the "it's only three dollars a month" path, you're letting the Yahoo money-grubbers push you around. Besides, if everyone in the United States thought that, Yahoo would be making well over ten billion dollars a year from Launchcast alone. So don't give in to greedy corporate giants. Boycott Launchcast Plus.
And while I'm ranting about Yahoo, take a look at their new search page. You’ll see what I mean when you get there.
# posted by Ben @ 7:56 PM
