The signs that something big was cooking with Yahoo when it came to music were not all over the place, but they were noticeable at any rate and, while reading a blog from Ian Rogers on the matter, I came across something mighty peculiar in the bottom left corner of the page: a grey rectangle with a green circle winking at me. The curious nerd I am, I hovered over it with the mouse and out popped the MP3 Player.

It is actually some code that embeds the simplest Javascript-based player on any website that finds MP3s on a given page, creates a playlist and a very simple overlay in order to play the songs. Using the XSPF format, the player expands to show the playlist of all the files on the page mentioned, when hovered over.

It's a bit grosso modo the way it all looks, but nevertheless, it is a first step into whatever it is that they are planning to do in the long run - and this too will be revenue producing, this is hinted at by the file names that are linked to Yahoo search. According to Yahoo! Director of Product Management, Lucas Gonze, who confirmed it to Michael Arrington of TechCrunch.com, the product will most definitely be expanded over time and my guess is that they won't be stopping to music formats, but will encompass all media files, video included.

The interesting part about this MP3 Player is that it requires no additional software download, not even the commonly used Flash that most browser plug-ins crave for. This must be the team's Cinderella, as they have another product that does the same, but it uses Flash, and just like the story, the poor and ugly looking sister (the one released today) might prove to win the heart of the Prince (played by all the users, for this movie).