AOL to launch new broadband version of service
America Online is the largest Internet provider in the world with 35 million subscribers but most of its users get online via slow dial-up Internet connections (subscription required).
Next month, America Online, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc., will begin offering for the first time a completely retooled version of its online service that is specifically designed to run on broadband Internet connections. The new version of the service has players for full-motion video and compact-disc-quality music built into it, so users won't have to click on a separate "media player." It also will have more so-called appointment viewing, with televisionlike shows such as "Broadband Rocks," which will feature behind-the-scenes footage from rock concerts every Friday afternoon.
To help promote broadband connections, America Online also has quietly begun allowing multiple users to be online at the same time. Until now, every America Online account could have as many as seven users but only one of them could be logged on at a time. Now, America Online will allow all seven users of one account to be online at the same time if they are on a high-speed Internet connection.