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The internet streaming service known as Lala was bought by Apple last year, prompting speculation about what the company would do with the cloud-based music service. Now we know. Apple will be shutting down the service May 31, and as of today, is no longer accepting new users according to an announcement on the Lala site.
Customers who have bought music on Lala will still be able to play MP3s on their computers and MP3 players. As of today though, no new music will be uploaded to the service and web songs and gift cards can no longer be purchased. Customers who still have a balance on their Lala “wallet” have until May 31 to purchase and download MP3s. Anyone unable to use their wallet balance by May 31 will be given an iTunes gift certificate for the equivalent amount or can request a check for the amount of the balance, as long as they request a refund before May 31. Any refunds owed by Lala will be issued by June 14 according the company. As web songs will no longer work, customers who have purchased web songs will be given a credit in the iTunes store equivalent to the amount of Lala web songs purchases.
Obviously, Lala is a big part of our music coverage here at Paste. The website will be missed.
Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.
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This makes me really unhappy - I loved Lala's library and ease of use, especially while I was at work!
Can anyone recommend a good replacement? What is Paste going to do or use?
Lala the brand will go away, but it's product will live on under Apple.
I would be on the lookout for a web-based iTunes where you store all your music in the cloud. Which would be awesome.
Noooo!! Lala was my favorite site to buy and listen to music! Does anyone know of a nice non-apple substitute?
This makes me unhappy too. I loved the ability to check out full tracks or whole albums before deciding whether I wanted to purchase something or not. I bought quite a few "web albums" and loved having access to those wherever I was.
I'm curious what Paste, Pitchfork and others will use in place of Lala to stream new tracks.
Apple blows, when are people going to get it?
Well, Spotify is on the way, but isn't expected in the States until fourth quarter, at least.
I remember when LaLa was a CD trading website, which was really cool--it only cost a dollar or so for trades, and they provided all the mailing materials Netflix-style, but the trading was peer-to-peer using snail mail. I got so many old CDs that I hadn't ever bought that way! Then one day I logged in and they had changed everything. I don't understand why they got rid of the trading altogether after adding the streaming. Sometimes change can be too much.
Sorry for the long comment.
Cool online music player. Alternative to Lala or grooveshark. Over 8 million songs streaming all free. You can create your own play-list and share it with friends. Fully integrated with Facebook. http://www.myfriendsandmusic.com
All I can say is, it is WAY past time that iTunes followed the Lala model and let users listen to ENTIRE songs - not just 30-second samples. That feature was one of the best things about Lala, and why I used it far more often than iTunes to make buying decisions.
30-second previews aren't enough to decide whether you should purchase something or not; Lala provided a money-saving service that will be missed (and I'm not confident Apple can/will make it better--we know for certain it won't be $7.50 for most albums!)
Jango is the easiest online radio for specifying individual songs, but it's still a shuffle.
I loved LaLa during it's original inception as a music trading site. It was a great way to trade CDs and the members developed a little community during the brief period of it's existence. It lost something when it switched over to a music streaming site.