Get your groove on: LAUNCHcast plug-in
July 29, 2008 on 10:28 am | In Features | 29 Comments
I decided to take today to talk about one of my favorite features. The Yahoo! Music LAUNCHcast plug-in is a free add-on to Yahoo! Messenger that lets you listen to streaming radio stations. And it’s not just a few stations – there’s dozens of them ranging from “1970s Soul” to “Pop Latino” to “Today’s Big Hits”.
LAUNCHcast is already installed in the plug-in area at the bottom of your window when you start up Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 or 9.0. If you removed it, just click on the Add Plug-ins button to get it back.
To get started, click on one of the stations listed in the window, or click the “All Stations” button to see what’s available. Once a song is playing, you can click the expand arrow on the right hand side of the plug-in window to view the album artwork and song details. Clicking a link takes you to more information about it on Yahoo! Music.
You’ll notice one of the stations listed in the window is “My Station”. This is where you come in. As you use LAUNCHcast, you can rate songs. Along the way, LAUNCHcast learns what kind of music you like and begins to build a personal radio station for you. The more you rate, the smarter it gets and before you know it, you’ve got your own station that plays your favorite songs and artists, and occasionally throws in some new tunes for you.
Like sharing music with your friends? The plug-in will also display the song you’re listening to in your status message. Friends can then see what you’re grooving to and even click on your status to listen to the song and station on their own. The LAUNCHcast status is optional – you’ll be asked the first time you listen whether you want to change your status. Or go to the Messenger menu, choose Preferences, and then click on Yahoo! Music.
LAUNCHcast is free to use but there are periodic commercials. If you want to listen commercial-free, you can upgrade to LAUNCHcast Plus ($2.99 – $3.99 a month depending on the plan). The Plus package also includes access to over 50 additional stations and unlimited song skipping. If you’re unsure about subscribing, you can try it free for seven days.
If you’re like me and have Yahoo! Messenger running most of the day, the LAUNCHcast plug-in is a great add-on. What’s playing on your LAUNCHcast station? 
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
Wow!!! this is great
Comment by Dragon Ball — July 29, 2008 #
that is great to have my onwn messenger …it fantastic well i love it and i like it too….
Virginia Fernandez
Comment by Virginia Fernandez — July 29, 2008 #
I don’t know if its ever been considered but…do you know if in the near future will iTunes be supported on the windows version like the mac?
Comment by Erased — July 29, 2008 #
Hi Erased,
There is an iTunes plug-in for 8.1 and 9.0; you can read more about it here:
http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2007/06/07/itunes-remote-plug-in/
However it doesn’t provide the same kind of status message as iTunes does on the Mac.
Sarah Bacon
Comment by Administrator — July 29, 2008 #
does it send tracks to Last.fm?
Comment by jon — July 29, 2008 #
anyone know if this is going away when yahoo music stops in august?
Comment by jason — July 29, 2008 #
Hi jason,
The Yahoo! Music website is not closing down. You will continue to be able to use LAUNCHcast and the Yahoo! Music website, including viewing thousands of videos, indefinitely.
Yahoo! Music has provided a paid download service in the past, and this is the part of Yahoo! Music that is closing. You can read more about it in this article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080730/ap_on_hi_te/tec_techbit_yahoo_music_2
Thanks,
Sarah Bacon
P.S. – To Jon: Unfortunately, the LAUNCHcast plug-in does not send tracks to Last.fm. But a great suggestion!
Comment by Administrator — July 30, 2008 #
this is all new to me. im still learning about all
this. sounds good.
Comment by patriciam — July 30, 2008 #
nice to know about the launch of the all new yahoo 9.0. I can’t wait to install it and use it.
Thanks. yahoo messenger rocks.
Comment by United Voices — August 2, 2008 #
I don’t mind people listening to my Yahoo Lauchcast Radio Station. I relize that everyone has their own personal tastes and are quite sensitive to what they listen to or hear from someone else. However, on Yahoo Launchcast, you can rate what you want to hear and never hear again. My music tastes do change from time to time.I might bring down one highly rated song because i am tired of hearing it and bring up another song. I accept requests too. I am only on the free service, but I sure would like to know if someone is listening. Sometimes I will listen to other stations too.
For Halloween, I add scary music, including from the Halloween (1978) movie and the Addams Family tune. In December, I add some Holiday music. I have also added some explicit adult comedy too.
Comment by James362001 — August 3, 2008 #
Ms. Bacon,
Thank you for responding to my post. I read the article that you linked regarding the closing of Yahoo’s Online Music store. This article fails to mention what music services will still be provided thru Yahoo. Is there another press release stating your claim of Launchcast’s continuance?
Comment by jason — August 4, 2008 #
Miss Sarah,
I use the NEW Yahoo! Vista Messenger and was wanting to know if it was ever going to get plug-ins like the 8.1 and 9.0 versions of Y! Mess. for XP.
Thank You! And keep up the great work Yahoo! Messenger Team
Comment by Jonathan — August 5, 2008 #
When was the plug-in last updated?
I had tried Launchcast on Yahoo! Messenger before, but stopped using it because of reliability problems. Either the music would stop playing or Messenger would crash. Now I use the web based player and things have been much more stable.
Comment by Matt Seitz — August 6, 2008 #
Exactly what I’m writing about, Matt Seitz. Yes, the LAUNCHcast plugin is great to use, when it works!! The problem is, the service is very unstable or there’s a bug in the flash software. How many times has this happened to someone? Try skipping a few songs. What eventually happens? The skip button grays out! I’m a Plus member because I’m a Verizon DSL user, so how come I don’t have unlimited skips? Must be a bug in the software. It worked perfectly in version 7.5! The plugin system has screwed up LAUNCHcast. I hope this somehow gets fixed, though I’ve given up on that dream. I’ve been waiting forever to use LAUNCHcast within Messenger correctly. In the meantime I use the web messenger. It has its own problems, just not as bad.
Please fix that bug for final release of YIM 9!! If it’s a flash bug that can’t be fixed, maybe switch LAUNCHcast to being Java based if possible. Thanks!
Comment by Geoff — August 15, 2008 #
Hi i’m 4m India nd my launchcast isnt workin for 3-4 months ….it’s high time i get it workin again ….
Comment by Surja — September 13, 2008 #
Hey,
I’m having prblm with LaunchCast plug-in with Yahoo 9.0 beta version. Previosly it used to come automatically. But i dont find it in the Plug-ins now.
can u help me.
Comment by pallas — September 27, 2008 #
I have installed the latest 9.0 version of yahoo IM today. When I turn the add on to start for Launcast it comes up but it is continuously searching and never gets to the station. What can I do to fix this. I have uninstalled and reinstalled 3 times and that does not clear up the problem.
Thansk
Comment by Deborah Walker — December 7, 2008 #
Oh yes I am running this in Vista. continued from above launhcast problem
Comment by Deborah Walker — December 7, 2008 #
hi! i have this problem for a while already and i have been searching the internet for any solution, however i didn’t find any… my yahoo messenger doesn’t have the Launchcast installed in it… i tried using version 8.1.0.421 and 8.1.0.209 but stil, there’s no launchcast… i tried to look in the plug-in manager, but i wasn’t there… help me please… dont mind telling me to use version 9, it wont start in may pc… so im sticking with version 8.1… thnx in advance…
Comment by Francis Sabidong — January 22, 2009 #
hi, i have closed my plugins accidentally and now i could not find my launch cast radio please help me i tried to search about music for ym but all they have now is itunes…
Comment by Miel — January 31, 2009 #
tonight i started looking for launchcast plugin and found it gone in my ym application. found this announcement in http://music.yahoo.com/launchcast/subscription/default.asp
“New LAUNCHcast service beginning 2/16/2009. LAUNCHcast Plus no longer available for purchase.
Yahoo! Music has recently partnered with CBS Radio to power LAUNCHcast. On February 16, 2009, we will be launching a new LAUNCHcast radio player powered by CBS Radio, which will replace the current version of LAUNCHcast, but which will offer access to all your favorite pre-programmed LAUNCHcast stations. In addition, on February 12, 2009 Yahoo! Music will discontinue the LAUNCHcast Plus service, its commercial-free premium radio experience.”
may be the reason why we don’t see the plugin right now.
Comment by aycayc — February 2, 2009 #
I have yahoo messenger version 8.1, but I am not getting the launchcast plug in in it. Please help
Comment by Anoop — February 24, 2009 #
I think I also have the same problems like most of you here. I used to have Yahoo! Launchcast in my yahoo messenger until I accidentally deleted it a few days back. I downloaded yahoo messenger 9.0. but I was unhappy to notice that there is no yahoo launchcast in it despite what they claimed (that it’s included in the new version of yahoo messengers). I am using Windows Vista. I downloaded 8.1 again but still my yahoo launchcast is missing forever. I could not find it in my plug-ins listings anymore but now there is Yahoo! Itunes included which I dont really like because I have to open my Itunes first in order to get it to play the songs from my itunes library in my yahoo messenger and i ended up with multiple windows. I am fed up and I have no idea what yahoo has done to bring this service back to its users. I love listening to the range of music in yahoo launchcast but now it seems that it will be a thing of the past. I just hope yahoo will find a solution to this problems soon.
Comment by Enjelieka — February 28, 2009 #
i miss the old yahoo radiolaunch cast..its not that the newer version now is not good..its just that i hope they will put it back (plug-in) for ym users..it is very useful…very convenient..and organize and neat…i mean even if ure not browsing, its there..unlike this newer one u have to let ur tabs open to listen to music…i hope they can solve this one..i bet alot of users are begging for it too…
Comment by kris abrea — March 2, 2009 #
http://yahoo-exploit.blogspot.com/2009/02/yahoo-music-launchcast-plugin-for-yahoo.html
just read something and I think this might help…
read the last sentence of the post.
Comment by kline — March 22, 2009 #
i want my launchcast station back!!!!!!!! i only need 2,100 more rates and i am past fanatic!!! PLS, i can’t work without it !!
Comment by burn — April 15, 2009 #
i want to dounload again my lunchcast plugin for my yahoo thank you very much.
Comment by martina — May 18, 2009 #
What do we do if we cannot find the Plugin for Yahoo Launchcast ? I have uninstalled and reinstalled the latest version but still no plug in ! HELP !!!
Comment by Ai Lin — June 4, 2009 #
I just updated to YM 9.0 and launchcast is gone! How do I get it back? Can yahoo please sort it out?
Comment by ceepeedee — June 15, 2009 #