Hey, it’s better to be late than never try at all I guess. This is the apparent belief being emanated from Yahoo as they get ready to roll out their own online music service.

Yahoo Inc. on Wednesday plans to launch in beta a music-subscription service that’s likely to put the heat on rivals offering similar, but more expensive, rent-a-tune services.

The Sunnyvale, Calif., company’s Music Unlimited will offer access to the portal’s million-song library for $59.88 for a full-year subscription, or $6.99 for a monthly subscription, company officials said Tuesday. The service lets subscribers play an unlimited number of songs on their PCs or MP3 players. The songs, however, can’t be played if the subscription expires.

Yahoo has priced the service substantially less than competitors’ products. RealNetworks Inc., for example, charges $9.95 a month for playing songs on a PC, and $14.95 a month to add the portability option of playing tunes on a digital player. [Read the rest]