LaLa Review
LaLa is an online music service that allows users to stream music for free and buy both the digital and/or physical album of what they heard. LaLa is one of the first services to make a big bet on the fact that if people actually hear the music, it will entice them to buy it. LaLa’s model is far superiod to the old, antiquated model that forced consumers to buy the CD first before they listened to it, only to be disappointed when 13 of the 15 songs suck on a $15 album purchase. The Internet is based on a free-flow of information and this service is the representation of that.
In terms of the service, it offers what most digital music services don’t (other than free streaming and purchase capability) and that’s a web-based song management and playback interface. There are no bulky downloads or installs as most of the service functionality is through the web-browser (syncing to MP3 players requires a download). The features offered include song storage (access your library from any web-browser), general music browsing, playlist creation, recommendations, MP3 player syncing, community features, and the ability to purchase both the CD and the digital album separately or as a bundle. The average bundle cost $9.99 for both the CD and the digital album which is a great value.
The song storage feature is simple to use and allows you to upload your entire music library and access from anywhere on the web through a web-browser. Unlike iTunes and a lot of the other digital music services, you don’t need to have anything installed on the computer you are using to access your music. However because it’s all web-based, you actually have to upload each song file from your hard drive to the LaLa servers. So, if you have a large library of songs, it could take forever to upload your entire library.
In terms of a dominant feature, outside of free streaming, it seems to be user playlists. You can easily create playlists by clicking on songs on your screen and then clicking the “Add to Playlist” button. For each song you select to listen to, LaLa provides a list of playlists that include that song. Playlists can be created with songs you have uploaded from your library or with songs that you can freely stream on the website.
The community features are not the focus of the site but are positioned in an effective way throughout the service. These community features definitely help discover new music if you don’t really have a particular song or artist in mind.
The sync with your portable media player feature is the one I had the biggest issue with. It required a 1MB download and after I installed it, started my web-browser, and went back to LaLa, it asked me for permission to open the LaLa media player. I said no and it crashed my browser again and again and again. I finally agreed and things loaded fine. I could not surf the LaLa site without it running after I installed it. This is either a bug or is intentionally required. I think it’s a bug but we will confirm.
The major drawbacks of the service are song availability (did not find all of the music I searched for), no bundle options for a lot of music, no rewind/fast forward controls when listening to music, and only 30-second samples of a lot of the music (not the full song for free streaming).
All in all, LaLa is a solid music service for anyone looking to sample music before they buy it. Great design and navigation, simple, web-based song management tools, free music streaming, and a great bundle pricing package. Once their library of songs reaches the levels of iTunes and the larger music services, LaLa will be a force to be reckoned with.