Users who search for an artist with available content on Yahoo will be able to click play right in the Yahoo shortcut at the top of the search results and instantly stream full-length songs by that artist. The songs will be provided by Rhapsody’s FoxyTunes Player.

"The integration of Rhapsody playback into Yahoo! Search is a major step toward our goal of delivering "Music Without Limits" to consumers across the Web," said Neil Smith, vice president of business management for Rhapsody America. "The integration between Rhapsody and Yahoo! eliminates additional steps that previously served as a barrier to connecting consumers with artists and their music."

The new partnership will enable all users to listen to 25 free full-length tracks every 30 days. Once 25 songs have been played, users can are limited to 30-second samples until the next month. Users who already subscribed to the Rhapsody Unlimited streaming service (or wish to subscribe) will not encounter this limitation.

In total, Yahoo offers full-song playback for more than 5 millions tracks.

This is a good for Yahoo, a company which is in great need to increase its share on the Google-dominated search market. As for Rhapsody, the company stands every chance to increase its number of subscribers (or at least, to keep the current ones happy), and that says it all.