Yahoo! unveils its browser-based MP3 player in beta

For those of you who couldn’t get enough of the Yahoo! Media Player, there is plenty of good news to cheer about. Yahoo! has just released the second iteration of its browser-based MP3 player in beta. And from the look of it, it’s clear that Yahoo! has some big music plans up its sleeves. (Actually I should’ve taken Yahoo! Music’s VP of Product Development, Ian Rogers, more seriously last month: “Expect something new and interesting from Yahoo Music in the near future.”)

The working of this player is darn simple:

1. Link your web page to MP3s from any place on the Internet.

2. Add a line of simple Javascript code.

3. Voila! The working Play buttons appear next to those MP3s.

The player searches MP3s on a given web page, and creates a playlist and a neat overlay to play your favorite songs. Look over the bottom left of your page; you’ll find the MP3 player, which can be further expanded to show a playlist of all the files on that page (Yahoo uses the XSPF format to support this feature.)

The earlier avatar of this player enabled playback of 30-second samples and tracks from Yahoo!’s own music subscription service on the Yahoo! Music web site. What’s new is the supporting third party media on third party web pages.

The Flash player that Yahoo! recently released on next.yahoo.net is a sibling with the same roots, code, and features.

There are hints that Yahoo! is thinking about monetization strategies as well. For instance, the file names are linked to Yahoo! search.

For more information, refer to the Yahoo! Media Player public wiki or join the Yahoo! Media Player mailing list.