Yahoo! pushed out an upgrade of its Music Engine client late Monday night, as announced in a revealing and
sometimes hilarious post
by lead developer Ian Rogers on the Yahoo! Music Blog. The upgrade is significant; reading the specs I expected a
jump from 1.0 to 1.5, but Ian and his team made a modest leap to 1.1. Among the most important improvements:
- Scratch playlist: The list of stuff playing now replaces the old Now Playing window, and the new list persists as you navigate around. You always have access to what you're hearing. This single improvement would, by itself, be worth an upgrade.
- Media server!: Innovation city. Y!ME now incorporates a software media server that connects with Roku and other home music networking devices, so you can stream Y!ME playlists and in-house stations to your stereo(s) throughout the house. Un-freakin'-believable. Who else is doing this?
- Improvements in the catalog, cosmetic design, resource footprint, and customer service responses. Y! Music Unlimited is bigger; the Music Engine client is smaller; customer service is more helpful.
Overall, the program has become more granular, with an emphasis on direct access. You keep what you've selected on your screen more easily. The program remembers where you left off when you surf to a different panel, and returns you to it. CD burning is a more fluid drag-and-drop affair that no longer requires a built playlist.
The old program does not force an upgrade. Launch it here. Launch it today. Most definitely worth it. Congrats to the Y!ME team.













1. I have been testing the update today and I have to say it's a huge improvement. More thoughts as I test it. Re: Media Server, what do you mean who else is doing this I think you've posted about Rhapsody and must know they have had UPnP for a while. This update definitely solidifies YMU as #2 in my book. About time they leveraged their MusicMatch talent.
Posted at 3:53PM on Feb 7th 2006 by Brad