lala.com: Upload and stream your MP3 collection for free

RandomEngy

Has anyone checked out lala.com?

You can upload your whole MP3 collection and then stream it via their flash player (which is pretty nifty) to any other computer. It will also match songs that are already uploaded and just play those instead.

In addition, you can buy songs for 99 cents, or just pay 10 cents for streaming rights, with the option to buy the MP3 outright for the remaining 89 cents.

You don't get useful stuff like ratings in their player, but as a utility that lets you listen to your music at work without dragging an MP3 player back and forth, it's pretty nice.

contraband

I hate to see sites like this flaunting an MP3 search engine while earnest, aesthetic sites like Muxtape get shut down by a suite of suits

Burtletoy

So...it's like winamp remote/Orb minus the video playback, but you can buy songs?

ArcSyn

ArcSyn wrote:

Lala.com

Review @ Tom's Hardware

I found this service and have been recently using it. As a previous (and semi-current) user of iTunes and owner of an iPod, I have a certain distaste for iTunes. It's ok, but the only time I ever use it is to put new songs on my iPod. I use WinAmp for playing music on my computer and CDex to rip my CDs.

First off, they separate themselves from the norm by allowing a single-listen preview of the entire song. No 30 second preview here (except after that first time).

The interesting thing about Lala.com is that they don't simply just offer a music store like iTunes or Amazon.com. They also offer a web-only copy of a song for 10 cents. You can't download it, but you can listen to it on any internet connected computer.

If you want an MP3, they offer them (DRM-free) for usually 89 cents. Some MP3s are 99 cents but they are usually less common.

The other cool thing about the service is they offer album purchases. I've read recently that some artists are not allowing their albums to be purchased piece-meal from iTunes because they feel their album is worth a whole purchase. Well, lala.com makes it a bit easier because if you buy a whole album, they'll discount the cost of a few of the songs from it. ie: One CD I was looking at (13 songs - $1.30 web or $11.57 mp3) only cost 80 cents or $7.49 for the whole album. So if you like what you hear in the full album free preview, buy the whole thing for cheap.

Lala.com also keeps track of what you have paid. Bought the web version of a song and then want the mp3? It's 10c cheaper. That's cool.

Here's the kicker that I loved:
With the lala Music Mover, you can scan your music currently on your computer to their database and anything it finds, you can listen to that song from your lala.com account for free! You can't redownload the mp3, but being able to take your music collection from your desktop and listen to it anywhere with internet is awesome.
Song not available on lala.com yet? The Music Mover will upload any songs that it doesn't find to their servers so you can hear it! (Takes forever since their database isn't iTunes huge yet) The good part is, the more people who join in and upload, the more they have to match against and less you will have to upload in the future. It also gives them a list of songs that people have which may be worth their time to seek out rights to sell. (Doing a search for an uploaded song brings it up, but is unavailable to purchase)

Anyway, now that I've been a complete shill for lala.com, check it out and discuss. Personally, I welcome new ideas and sources for music outside of DRM (or extra charge for DRM-free) stores. I would love to see a web-only subscription service from lala.com in the future, but one step at a time.

I made a thread about it before, but it didn't seem like people were interested.

Haven't heard of Winamp remote or Orb before. They good? I enjoy lala, but some of it's quirks do annoy me.