Become.com, a search engine that helps people find product reviews and relevant buying information, announced the availability of a beta version of its comparison shopping service. This new service helps consumers find the best deals on over 5-million products and services from a wide range of online merchants.

The comparison shopping service is tightly integrated with Become.com's research index of over 3-billion pages to give consumers unparalleled access to the best shopping information.

"Existing search engines provide general results that are manipulated in favor of stores, and comparison shopping engines lack the comprehensive research information necessary to choose the best product for your needs," said Michael Yang, CEO and founder.

"Become.com is fully integrated and allows consumers to first research a product, find the one they want, comparison shop for that product, and if they desire, research it again against other comparable products -- all on a single site. This helps people to shop more effectively and make better use of their time and money."

Become.com's comparison shopping service allows consumers to find products that interest them and view photos, descriptions, and other relevant buying information. Finally, they can compare actual prices (including shipping costs and tax) from a wide variety of stores to find the best deal.

As part of the comparison shopping service, Become.com is also unveiling 'My Favorites.' This innovative new feature allows users to save product information for later reference, and compare similar products side-by-side. It's great for everything from building shopping and wish lists, to creating a new wardrobe for back-to-school.

Become.com's research service, which complements its comparison shopping service, helps consumers determine the product that best meets their needs by locating relevant information such as buying guides, expert reviews, forums, articles, product recalls, and other highly targeted resources. The shopping search engine uses Become.com's proprietary AIR technology (Affinity Index Ranking) to deliver search results.