Head to Head on Blended Search

Music:

If you've stalked me on any one of the various social networking sites, you know that I'm heart is filled with the glorious sounds of Country music. (I know, it's very odd for a girl from Long Island to be such a Country fan, but you can't help who you love, right?) And my Country group of choice? That would be the always awesome Rascal Flatts.

• Ask.com: Even if I didn't already love Ask, their result for this query would be enough to do it. Ask.com clearly understands my Rascal Flatts love and is attacking this query from all angles. First there is the Rascal Flatts Smart Answer that comes complete with relevant links, such as their Official Site, ringtones, audio files, concert tickets, and other info. Then the 3D component kicks in, giving me a selection of images, sound clips coming from iLike, event listings and a seriously impressive Narrow and Expand Your Search option. This is perhaps the most beautiful page I have seen. I don't even want to leave. But I have to. It's time for Google.
• Google : Okay, Google sucks. I'm sorry, but this is not an impressive result. A picture so small I can barely make it out and a (non-clickable) list of some of their albums and songs? I'm bored.
• Yahoo: Yahoo has come up with a solid Music Shortcut that seems to mix what both Google and Ask are offering. It may not be as extensive as Ask's, but Yahoo does give users video clips. Yahoo's focus seems to be not so much on giving users everything on one page, but giving you a taste of all the different Yahoo properties and encouraging you to follow a link off the page and explore them. In other words, it's all very Yahoo.

Who does Music better? Ask.com. No contest.