Yahoo revises its browser-based MP3 player

The search company updated its application which plays MP3 files directly within the browser, this time allowing third party developers to use the functionality.

Previously, it had been intended for use with 30-second samples of music tracks from its Yahoo Music site. However, now Yahoo is opening up the code to allow anyone to use the application for his own purposes.

Yahoo's player is also similar to a Flash application that it recently released on its beta site, Yahoo Next. The company explains that these are essentially the same application, however one uses flash to run, while the other employs JavaScript.

The player's API is built completely in HTML, however the back end is in JavaScript. In addition, the developer has control over what the application uses as album art, the sequence in which MP3 files are played, and how the song should be titled.

The libraries for the player's codebase are all hosted by Yahoo, which makes updating the application easy for developers who may not have a lot of experience with JavaScript coding.

Yahoo said it would also monetize the application by allowing users to click through to its search engine from the song titles.

"We're creating a new generation of playlist technology by turning the page into a playlist," Yahoo said in a blog entry.