FoxyTunes

Last updated

FoxyTunes
Developer(s) Alex Sirota, Yahoo! Inc.
Stable release
4.3.6 / March 22, 2012
Operating system Cross-platform
Platform Mozilla Firefox/SeaMonkey/Thunderbird, and Internet Explorer
Type Web browser, Music, Media player
License Freeware, Proprietary

FoxyTunes was a browser extension allowing control of media players from the web browser window. [1] The company that developed FoxyTunes was bought by Yahoo! in 2008, and FoxyTunes was closed in 2013.

Contents

History

In 2004 computer science graduate student Alex Sirota was making Foxytunes available for free and accepting donations. [2] The company behind Foxytunes was founded in 2005 by Vitaly and Alex Sirota with private investors [3] and subsequently acquired by Yahoo! on February 4, 2008, for what was understood to be over US$ 30,000,000, Yahoo! retaining the Foxytunes branding. On June 28, 2013, Yahoo! announced FoxyTunes's closure, scheduled for July 1, 2013. [4] [5] At its peak FoxyTunes was available in over 30 languages. [6]

Software

Foxytunes was controlled by a toolbar interface which was installed on the web browser. [1]

Supported web browsers and other applications included Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, [7] SeaMonkey, Mozilla Application Suite, Flock and Mozilla Thunderbird. [8] 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. [9] Additionally, the extension allowed searching various Web sites to get images, lyrics, videos, biographies etc. related to the music being played. [1] [10] [11]

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. [12]

Supported players

FoxyTunes supported more than 30 desktop and web-based media players on a diverse variety of platforms. [1] [11]

Microsoft Windows[ citation needed ]
Linux systems
[1]
Mac OS X
[15]
Online services [16]

Reception

FoxyTunes Version 1.0 was reviewed in 2004 by ExtremeTech, [19] in 2005 by Ynet, [13] by Tony Hoffman in "The Best Free Software (2007)" in PCMag [20] and Preston Gralla in PCWorld . [8] It was Claudine Beaumont's favourite in her 2008 article "Firefox 3: Top ten extensions" in The Telegraph . [21] Haaretz reported in 2008 that it had been downloaded by 8 million users. [3] It was reviewed in 2009 by download.com [7] and Softpedia. [17] In 2010 in How-To Geek. [22] In 2011 by Chris Wiles at TechAdvisor [23] / Macworld , [24] and Ghacks. [25]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Rankin, Kyle (November 29, 2005). Linux Multimedia Hacks . O'Reilly Media. ISBN   0-596-10076-0. Hack#94 - Use the Foxytunes plug-in as a remote control for your media player without leaving firefox.
  2. ↑ Blackwell, Laura (November 29, 2004). "Download This: Live a Little! Remove the 'Irk' From Work". PC World . IDG. Archived from the original on April 23, 2013. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  3. 1 2 Grimland, Guy (5 February 2008). "Yahoo Buys No-sales FoxyTunes for $40m" . Haaretz . Amos Schocken, M. DuMont Schauberg. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  4. ↑ Rossiter, Jay (June 28, 2013). "Keeping our Focus on What's Next". Yahoo! blog. Archived from the original on June 29, 2013. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  5. ↑ Parfeni, Lucian (June 29, 2013). "Yahoo Kills a Bunch of Products, AltaVista, Axis, FoxyTunes, and Many More". Softpedia . SoftNews NET SRL Romania. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  6. ↑ "{title}". Archived from the original on June 27, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. 1 2 "FoxyTunes for Internet Explorer". Download.com . CBS Interactive. February 27, 2009. Archived from the original on June 19, 2018. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  8. 1 2 Gralla, Preston (2007). "14 Great Multimedia Utilities". PC World . IDG. Archived from the original on September 20, 2018. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  9. ↑ Nicole, Kristen (March 27, 2007). "FoxyTunes Planet is a Widget Frontpage for Music". Mashable .
  10. ↑ Van Buskirk, Eliot (4 February 2008). "Yahoo Buys FoxyTunes". Wired . Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  11. 1 2 Rothman, Wilson (February 4, 2008). "Yahoo Dumps Music Service, Sends Customers to Rhapsody".
  12. ↑ "{title}". Archived from the original on January 14, 2009. Retrieved May 11, 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  13. 1 2 3 שני, רוני (March 3, 2005). "FoxyTunes". Ynet . Yedioth Ahronoth. Archived from the original on April 14, 2009. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 "Review: Top 10 Mozilla Firefox Extensions". PCMag . Ziff Davis Media Inc. July 31, 2006. Archived from the original on April 5, 2018. Retrieved September 23, 2018– via Fox News.
  15. ↑ Battersby, Jeffery (22 September 2005). "Web browser roundup". Macworld . IDG. Firefox extends the experience. Archived from the original on 2 July 2017.
  16. ↑ ROGER, CYRIL (February 8, 2008). "Yahoo! acquires FoxyTunes". Softonic . Softonic International.
  17. 1 2 Parfeni, Lucian (August 21, 2009). "Share Your Songs on Twitter, Facebook or Last.fm with FoxyTunes". Softpedia . SoftNews NET SRL Romania. Archived from the original on May 14, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  18. ↑ Catone, Josh (May 30, 2009). "10 Ways to Share Music on Twitter". Mashable .
  19. ↑ "Review: Ten Extensions Enhance Firefox - Page 3 of 5 - ExtremeTech". ExtremeTech . Ziff Davis Media Inc. November 8, 2004. Archived from the original on September 23, 2018. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  20. ↑ Hoffman, Tony (January 31, 2007). "The Best Free Software (2007)". PCMag . Ziff Davis Media Inc. Archived from the original on December 14, 2017. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  21. ↑ Beaumont, Claudine (June 27, 2008). "Firefox 3: Top ten extensions". The Telegraph . Telegraph Media Group – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  22. ↑ "Control Your Favorite Music Player from Firefox". How-To Geek. Archived from the original on February 3, 2013. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  23. ↑ Wiles, Chris. "FoxyTunes for Firefox 4.3.2.1 - Audio, Video & Photo - Downloads". TechAdvisor . IDG. Archived from the original on September 23, 2018. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  24. ↑ Wiles, Chris. "FoxyTunes for Firefox 4.3.2.1 - Audio, Video & Photo - Downloads". Macworld . IDG. Archived from the original on September 4, 2017. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  25. ↑ Gross, Melanie (June 11, 2011). "New Versions of FoxyTunes Include More Supported Players, Increased Functionality - gHacks Tech News". Ghacks . Archived from the original on October 4, 2014. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
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