Dear Yahoo,

Tonight, going without my music collection (which is on a truck on its way to Washington) finally got too tough.  So I decided to try out one of those fancy monthly subscriptions where I can download millions of songs, transfer them to my portable player/phone/car and enjoy that warm feeling that comes from making sure that recording industry executives don’t ever have to worry about putting less-than-premium fuel in their private jets ever again.

Because of the extremely competitive price, and my not-so-great experiences with a certain headphone-wearing feline, I decided to check out your Yahoo Music Unlimited service.

First off, so far I like what you’ve done.  The “Music Engine” has done its job so far.  But the whole thing has some issues for me:

-I didn’t ask for the Yahoo Messenger.  I don’t know a single person that uses it, so I have no use for it.  Not only did you install it without giving me an option, but you made it run at start up without asking me.
-When I signed up for the account, you had a million spam options enabled by default.  I had to turn them off, and I almost didn’t even see them.
-I never asked for desktop icons.  You gave me two.
-I never asked for Quicklaunch icons.  You gave me two.
-You added Yahoo Messenger to both my programs list and my start menu list (so on XP it shows up in the same list twice).
-When I start the music app, you start the messenger app.  why?  If I wanted it, I would’ve started it myself.  Or not shut it off when it ran on start-up.
-Your two apps add two tray icons.  The music one doesn’t seem to do anything.  It just sits there taking up space (and memory) providing no function other than running your music app.

These are all examples of a little something I call “AOL-itis” – it’s commonly found in products that contain the words “AOL” and “Real.”  Fortunately, I don’t think it’s too late for you.  If you drink lots of fluids, and stop trying to trick people into using your unpopular services, it should clear right up.