Web portal Yahoo is planning to launch its own online music service later this year, despite its US$160 million purchase of Musicmatch announced last week, according to music industry sources.

Since late last year, Yahoo has been developing its own music player software, which will be underpinned by a subscription and download service provided by MusicNet, sources familiar with the plan said.

Yahoo still plans to launch that home-built package by the fourth quarter of this year, despite its recent purchase of Musicmatch, those sources said. The Web giant is likely to run the two services side by side for some time before ultimately drawing on Musicmatch's technology and moving Musicmatch's subscribers into the Yahoo fold, sources said.

After more than a year of staying largely out of the digital music sales business, Yahoo's double-barreled strategy could help shoot it quickly to a top role in a business increasingly populated by giants such as Microsoft and Sony.

A Yahoo representative on Friday said the company had no comment on its pending music plans. But David Goldberg, who runs Yahoo's Launch digital music subsidiary, hinted at larger ambitions on Tuesday, after the Musicmatch announcement. "We're making a big investment," he said at that time. "We want to be the major player in digital music."
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Source : CNET News