Q.      How will radio on Yahoo! Music change as a result of the CBS RADIO partnership?
A.      As of February 16, 2009, CBS RADIO powers radio on Yahoo! Music.  All LAUNCHcast stations as well as a wide variety of local music, news, talk, and sports stations from CBS RADIO are available to Yahoo! Music users.
 
Q.    How can a user access the CBS RADIO player?
A.    Radio is available on the front page of Yahoo! Music and also at http://new.music.yahoo.com/launchcast.  For the first time, radio on Yahoo! Music is available on Firefox and Mac.  Individual Sports and News players will be available on the front page of those respective Yahoo! sites later this year.

Q.    Is radio on Yahoo! Music free?
A.    Yes, all Yahoo! LAUNCHcast and CBS stations are free with no restrictions on how long you can listen.

Q.    Are all the same Yahoo! programmed LAUNCHcast radio stations still available?
A.    Yes, all of the Yahoo! pre-programmed radio stations are still available and can be easily found in the player.  However, the station line up is subject to change.

Q.    What happened to the personalized 'my station'?
A.    The customized “my stations” in LAUNCHcast have been discontinued.  

Q.    What happened to Fan stations?
A.    Yahoo! is working with CBS to provide a similar “Artist-based” radio experience that plays the artist you select and similar artists.  This feature may be released during a later phase of the partnership.

Q.    What happened to Mood stations?
A.    The customized “Moods” in LAUNCHcast have been discontinued.

Q.    Can you skip songs?
A.    Yes, you can skip 6 songs per hour.  However, skipping is not available on all local broadcast stations.

Q.    What happened to LAUNCHcast Plus?
A.    We have discontinued the LAUNCHcast Plus service. All of the exclusive stations only available with a Plus subscription are now available to users for free. Additionally, a high bandwidth sound quality option is available for free users as well. There is longer be an option to listen to radio without advertising.

For an ad free music experience, we encourage users to check out our partner, Rhapsody. Rhapsody is a digital music service that lets you listen to whatever you want, wherever you are (even on Yahoo! Music) — without paying per track. And Rhapsody membership plans start at less than the cost of a CD a month, so you can listen to as much music as you want without limits.

Q.    What should I do now if I am a LAUNCHcast Plus subscriber?
A.    You do not need to do anything if you were a LAUNCHcast Plus subscriber.  Your access to LAUNCHcast Plus was terminated on February 12, 2009.  If you had time left on your LAUNCHcast Plus subscription when the service was closed, you should have received a pro rated refund for the balance remaining.  The refund would have been credited to the credit card account you used to sign up for LAUNCHcast Plus.

Q.    Can you still listen to radio in Yahoo! Messenger?
A.    Yes, radio is still available as a plug-in for Yahoo! Messenger.  If you already had the LAUNCHcast plug-in, you do not have to do anything to get the new player.  Simply start the radio plug-in and you can listen all you want.

Q.    Can you still rate songs, artists, and albums in the new radio player?
A.    Yes, you will be able to rate songs in the new radio player powered by CBS RADIO. However, those rating will not be saved back to your Yahoo! Music profile yet.  Yahoo! Music will be working with CBS to associate your radio ratings with your Yahoo! Music profile.  In the meantime, we encourage users to continue to rate songs, albums, artists, videos, and genres throughout the Yahoo! Music site as those ratings will continue to power their on-demand, personalized recommendations. Additionally, user ratings will influence the song, album, artist, and video recommendations and serve to shape a user’s Yahoo! Music profile and let others see their musical tastes.

Q.    What happened with users’ LAUNCHcast ratings?
A.    All of the music you have rated in the original LAUNCHcast player is still available on the Yahoo! Music site here: http://new.music.yahoo.com/mymusic/ratings.  Users will no longer have access to their custom radio stations in the radio player but their ratings history and all future ratings of albums, artists, songs and genres throughout the Yahoo! Music site will continue to influence their profile page and their music recommendations.  The new ratings page can also be found by selecting "My Ratings" beneath the My Music tab in the main Yahoo! Music navigation bar.

Q.    Are all of users’ favorite LAUNCHcast stations still available?
A.    All of the pre-programmed stations are still available.  However, the station line up is subject to change.

Q.    Is radio on Yahoo! Music available for Firefox and Mac users?
A.    Yes, for the first time, radio is available to Firefox and Mac users.

Q.    What software does a user need?
A.    The CBS RADIO player works entirely through your browser, so you do not need any separate software. You do, however, need Flash Player for your browser, which is often already installed. If not, you can get the latest Flash Player plug-in (currently Version 10) for your browser here: http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/

Q.    What type of Internet Connection does a user need?
A.    All radio stations are available to narrowband (dial-up) and broadband users, but they will receive those stations at different bit rates to ensure the optimal experience for their bandwidth. Broadband listeners should be prepared to handle a stream of around 64 Kbps, while narrowband will come in at around 32 Kbps.

Q.    What will happen with the Sansa Connect?
A.    Sansa Connect users will continue to have access to LAUNCHcast radio stations via WiFi on their devices.