Anyone use lala.com? How is it?

The interesting twists:

- you don't send the jewel box or liner notes, just the CD in a special plastic case inside a Netflix-like envelope
- you aren't supposed to send a CD that you have ripped

No idea if this will flame out or prove to be worthwhile...

what's the point? doesn't the other person want the liner notes/inlay? don't you want the original CD if you're going to keep the box and inlay?

Wouldn't it be easier to trade CDR's?

Sorry, but this sounds stupid.

I ask you to do your part by doing the right thing: remove songs from your iPod or PC if you've agreed to send the CD to another member.

If you want to listen to that CD again, just add it to your Want List and help us support that artist you can't get enough of. You'll have access to plenty of good music to enjoy in the meantime. We'll make sure of that!

Respect the artists and Karma will be on your side.

much, much roffling.

[really dumb]

(Why does the name Bill Nguyen (on their about page) seem to ring a bell?)

We're way over our beta plans, but if someone wants to send an email to me bill@lala.com I'll send over an invite.

Regards,

bill
founder, la la

If I may be so bold, what exactly is the rationale behind not simply sending the whole shebang (disc/liners/jewel case)?

It may well be me being dumb, I just can't work out the 'why?' here.

Probably because they'd be replacing the (crushed and mauled) jewel case every single time someone sent it and sent it back. People have been known to do similarly awful things (whether by accident or design) to delicate, thinly printed paper inserts.

Plus, it follows the "disc-only" Netflix model, so there's a certain level of precedent.

This is a completely new thing now and is pretty amazing as far as legal music services go. Stream anything in the site's collection once for free, stream on an unlimited basis for 10 cents a song, and download the mp3 for 89 cents. Also you can sync it with your digital music collection, so any song you own that Lala.com already has in its database can be streamed on the web as many times as you like. In effect, it allows you to transfer a sizeable chunk of your collection (for me it turned out to be about two-thirds of what I had on my computer) to the cloud.

Anyone else use this?

I'm a member of an offshoot forum, and I still use Lala for the free one-time stream sometimes, but since the actual cd trading and community disappeared, the streaming is all I use it for.

If I traveled or had multiple computer areas, I guess there would be some value.

Yeah, it's nice to be able to listen to stuff at work that I don't have on my iPod.

I use it pretty frequently to hear songs I'm hearing about.

Well crap.

Never paid for their streaming service, but it sucks that the general cheapest (excluding eMusic subs and the occasional Amie St. find) mp3 seller is going down. I wondered how they'd stay in business when most albums undercut Amazon by a dollar or more, and after Apple bought them out.

that sucks. I've become completely addicted to streaming Lala at work.

that sucks. I've become completely addicted to streaming Lala at work.

^^^^^^

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/04/30/apple-acquired-lala-music-service-to-shut-down-may-31st/

Lala.com has announced that they will be shutting down their service as of May 31, 2010. Lala is a streaming music service that was acquired by Apple in December, 2009.

Lala was a four year old startup company that offered customers streaming music over the internet. This allowed users to listen to a catalog of over 7 million songs for free as a stream over the web -- much like internet radio. If you wanted to buy the right to listen to a particular song on demand an unlimited amount of times from the web, it would cost $.10. In order to permanently download the song to your hard drive or device, however, it would cost the more traditional $.79-$.89 per song.

Some had speculated that Apple would leverage the talent and technology to offer a similar "cloud-based" iTunes service. It was believed that Apple would introduce a version of iTunes that offered streaming music and possibly video services to users. Apple is presumably shutting down Lala to devote resources on its own plans.

fuuuuck

:( RIP

Apple said that any songs that Lala users have downloaded onto their computers will continue to play after the shutdown. In addition, users will get a credit to use on iTunes for any song they have purchased through Lala.

Read more: Apple shutting down Lala on May 31 - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

a good argument for not spending $$$ on building up a "collection" of music that's locked in to one service. i feel bad for all of the people who paid for "web songs," even if they are getting an iTunes credit (according to http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/29/apple-to-shut-down-lala-on-may-31/)

:(

P4k can't be too happy about this, either

didnt see this thread /:

"a good argument for not spending $$$ on building up a "collection" of music that's locked in to one service. i feel bad for all of the people who paid for "web songs," even if they are getting an iTunes credit (according to http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/29/apple-to-shut-down-lala-on-may-31/)";

This---I pay for music all the time, but paying for digital-only copies of lossy files linked to a particular service just doesn't make any sense. Give me something I can hold onto OR a DRM-free lossless download at reasonable prices (read: lower than CD, there are no physical production costs), with high-quality artwork scans, with extra content, with a rich user/new music discovery experience. A lot of people are willing to pay for recorded music, but we are still waiting for a user experience that's better than "illegally" downloading first and buying the CD afterward. Either explicitly RENT music as a subscription service with no expectation of getting to keep songs forever and ever, or let us buy outright in CD quality with CD-level extras. Muddling around in between will just turn off potential customers.

motherfucking shit i just started on this site last week and was having a grand old time. paying for lossy files is still stupid, tho

i've bought a lot of lossy files over the past year, but that's slowing down. been buying more CDs & hoping for Spotify and/or "iTunes.com" or whatever Apple will end up coming up w/ for a Lala-type service

I never bought anything from Lala, so I don't really care about that aspect of it, but I did stream stuff on there all the time. Are there other sites where I can just look up a random zouk band I just read about and listen to their greatest hits in full?

Grooveshark has been working for me lately, but I don't think they have a deep deep catalog. Have been surprised at some relatively obscure stuff though.

I am confused at the speculation on iTunes switching to or adding an "in the cloud" sales model- opening up their own version of Lala or whatever. The classic iTunes sales model seems to be working out pretty damn good for apple imo

besides, Apple said when they bought Lala they just wanted to steal some of the engineers who worked there, and employ them over at apple/itunes. I'm guessing they just don't have any use for Lala, and don't feel like maintaining it as a service

you guys who are complaining about paying for lossy files, what kind of systems are you using to listen to this stuff? does your equipment outresolve high quality AACs and mp3s? I know it's the principle of the matter but come on

i think this signals an itunes celestial jukebox in june to support the ipad.
at least i hope it does.

So a friend who used lala a bit to get a hold of various Middle Eastern musicians' work that she couldn't find on line for purchase otherwise -- Rahim Alhaj, for instance -- is bummed by the shutdown and is looking for other options. Any suggestions? She is not one for iTunes and apparently Amazon hasn't been any good -- I was going to suggest eMusic.

lala had quite a few unique selections. For example, it had most if not all of the ECM catalogue, which eMusic is unlikely to get and Amazon didn't cover. When I received the notice of lala's demise I scoured the ECM catalog to see if there was anything as intriguing as last year's Anouar Brahem and Jon Balke/Amina Alaoui discs (which Ned's friend should know about).

I have a grandfathered (lower rate) eMusic account, and will continue to use it. But a subscription model focusing on American indie labels will never be a mainstay of my legitimate music consumption.

I'm wary of iTunes, as my only experience(s) with the client software was as bloatware that took forever to load and had its own undivulged means of reorganizing my library. Is it possible to access the iTunes store outside of the client software?

They recently added the ability to see web previews of most iTunes store links, but you still have to buy them through the software. At least the files are DRM-free nowadays. Just don't have it manage your existing library.

lala had quite a few unique selections.

such as?(n.1) if there's cool stuff that i won't be able to get elsewhere (and it's reasonably priced), i'd like to download it before the service is shuttered at the end of the month.

_____________________________________
(n.1) i'm going to check out the Rahim Alhaj and EMI discs. i'm looking for other titles on lala that might be hard to find elsewhere.

surprised that they're still picking up new releases this month

business-as-usual until the end, i guess.