BrandWikiReturn

FoxyTunes

FoxyTunes was a browser extension allowing control of media players from the web browser window. The company that developed FoxyTunes was bought by Yahoo! in 2008, and FoxyTunes was closed in 2013.

History

In 2004 computer science graduate student Alex Sirota was making Foxytunes available for free and accepting donations. The company behind Foxytunes was founded in 2005 by Vitaly and Alex Sirota with private investors and subsequently acquired by Yahoo! on February 4, 2008, for what was understood to be over US$30000000, Yahoo! retaining the Foxytunes branding. On June 28, 2013, Yahoo! announced FoxyTunes's closure, scheduled for July 1, 2013. At its peak FoxyTunes was available in over 30 languages.

Software

Foxytunes was controlled by a toolbar interface which was installed on the web browser.

Supported web browsers and other applications included Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, SeaMonkey, Mozilla Application Suite, Flock and Mozilla Thunderbird. The extension supported the normal media player functions and displayed currently playing track information. In 2007 the FoxyTunes Planet rich media front page was launched. Additionally, the extension allowed searching various Web sites to get images, lyrics, videos, biographies etc. related to the music being played.

The presentation of the toolbar interface could be altered by a skin extension. This allowed a user to select from alternative presentations of the toolbar which had alternative characteristics of colors, layout, size and collapsed state.

Supported players

FoxyTunes supported more than 30 desktop and web-based media players on a diverse variety of platforms.

  • Microsoft Windows:
  • Apollo media player
  • The Core Media Player
  • dBpoweramp Audio Player:
  • foobar2000
  • iTunes
  • JetAudio
  • JRiver Media Center
  • Last.fm
  • MediaMonkey
  • Media Player Classic
  • musikCube
  • Musicmatch Jukebox
  • Spotify
  • Songbird
  • Sonique
  • Quintessential Player
  • Pandora
  • RealPlayer
  • UltraPlayer
  • VLC media player
  • Winamp
  • Windows Media Player
  • Yahoo! Music Jukebox / Yahoo! Music Engine
  • Zinf
  • Linux systems:
  • XMMS
  • Beep Media Player
  • Noatun
  • JuK
  • Amarok
  • Music Player Daemon
  • Rhythmbox
  • Mac OS X:
  • iTunes
  • Online services
  • Yahoo! News
  • Yahoo! Music
  • Twitter with TwittyTunes

Reception

FoxyTunes Version 1.0 was reviewed in 2004 by ExtremeTech, in 2005 by Ynet, by Tony Hoffman in "The Best Free Software (2007)" in PCMag and Preston Gralla in PCWorld. It was Claudine Beaumont's favourite in her 2008 article "Firefox 3: Top ten extensions" in The Telegraph. Haaretz reported in 2008 that it had been downloaded by 8 million users. It was reviewed in 2009 by download.com and Softpedia. In 2010 in How-To Geek. In 2011 by Chris Wiles at TechAdvisor/Macworld, and Ghacks.

External links

References

  1. Kristen Nicole. FoxyTunes Planet is a Widget Frontpage for Music Mashable, March 27, 2007^
  2. Wilson Rothman. Yahoo Dumps Music Service, Sends Customers to Rhapsody February 4, 2008^
  3. Lucian Parfeni. Yahoo Kills a Bunch of Products, AltaVista, Axis, FoxyTunes, and Many More Softpedia, SoftNews NET SRL Romania, Jun 29, 2013, retrieved September 23, 2018^
  4. Josh Catone. 10 Ways to Share Music on Twitter Mashable, May 30, 2009^
  5. Control Your Favorite Music Player from Firefox How-To Geek, retrieved September 23, 2018^
  6. Melanie Gross. New Versions of FoxyTunes Include More Supported Players, Increased Functionality - gHacks Tech News Ghacks, June 11, 2011, retrieved September 23, 2018^
  7. Tony Hoffman. The Best Free Software (2007) PCMag, Ziff Davis Media Inc, January 31, 2007, retrieved September 23, 2018^
  8. רוני שני. FoxyTunes Ynet, Yedioth Ahronoth, March 3, 2005, retrieved September 23, 2018^
  9. Review: Ten Extensions Enhance Firefox - Page 3 of 5 - ExtremeTech ExtremeTech, Ziff Davis Media Inc, November 8, 2004, retrieved September 23, 2018^
  10. Laura Blackwell. Download This: Live a Little! Remove the 'Irk' From Work PC World, IDG, 2004-11-29, retrieved September 23, 2018^
  11. CYRIL ROGER. Yahoo! acquires FoxyTunes Softonic, Softonic International, 2008-02-08^
  12. Kyle Rankin. Linux Multimedia Hacks O'Reilly Media, November 29, 2005^
  13. Guy Grimland. Yahoo Buys No-sales FoxyTunes for $40m Haaretz, Amos Schocken, M. DuMont Schauberg, 5 February 2008, retrieved 23 September 2018^
  14. Eliot Van Buskirk. Yahoo Buys FoxyTunes Wired, 4 February 2008, retrieved 23 September 2018^
  15. Jay Rossiter. Keeping our Focus on What's Next Yahoo! blog, June 28, 2013, retrieved June 29, 2013^
  16. Jeffery Battersby. Web browser roundup Macworld, IDG, 22 September 2005^
  17. {title} retrieved May 11, 2006^
  18. {title} retrieved May 11, 2006^
  19. Preston Gralla. 14 Great Multimedia Utilities PC World, IDG, 2007, retrieved September 23, 2018^
  20. Chris Wiles. FoxyTunes for Firefox 4.3.2.1 - Audio, Video & Photo - Downloads TechAdvisor, IDG, retrieved September 23, 2018^
  21. Chris Wiles. FoxyTunes for Firefox 4.3.2.1 - Audio, Video & Photo - Downloads Macworld, IDG, retrieved September 23, 2018^
  22. FoxyTunes for Internet Explorer Download.com, CBS Interactive, 2009-02-27, retrieved September 23, 2018^
  23. Claudine Beaumont. Firefox 3: Top ten extensions The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, June 27, 2008^
  24. Lucian Parfeni. Share Your Songs on Twitter, Facebook or Last.fm with FoxyTunes Softpedia, SoftNews NET SRL Romania, August 21, 2009, retrieved September 23, 2018^
  25. Review: Top 10 Mozilla Firefox Extensions PCMag, Ziff Davis Media Inc, 2006-07-31, retrieved September 23, 2018^