I checked out Yahoo's new Audio Search last night, and came away with the same impression as John Battelle. From a search perspective, it's pretty impressive but the fact the service is heavilly geared toward paid downloads takes away from its appeal. I did manage to find a free interview with Phil Esposito about the 1972 Canada-Russia series but came away with blanks on search for legendary hockey broadcaster Foster Hewitt. If people think Yahoo Audio Search is an easy way to find free MP3s, they will be sadly disappointed. Obviously, the service is work in progress and its launch reflects the "we really need to get to the market before the evil competition" approach prevalent in the search world these days. That said, if the online music business is going to gain momentum, services such as Yahoo Audio Search are a step in the right direction. What say you, Google?