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Lala.com review

CNET Editors' Rating

4.0 stars Excellent

CNET Editors' Rating

4.0 stars Excellent
  • Overall rating: 8.3
  • Installation and interface: 9.0
  • Features: 8.0
  • Performance: 8.0
  • Service and support: 8.0
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Average User Rating

3.5 stars 27 user reviews

The good: Lala.com provides an easy, inexpensive, and entertaining way to trade used CDs; the site also hosts a decent assortment of Internet radio stations including the once-defunct WOXY, plus user-programmed selections; Lala recently began streaming live performances; community features such as buddy lists, member home pages, member blogs and user-created music reviews make the Lala experience all the more engaging; Lala also offers low-cost new CDs.

The bad: Some CDs languished for months on our Have List without finding any takers; for the best experience, you need to create a relatively large Have List containing 50 or more CDs; you currently have to request the privilege to create your own Internet radio station; because of copyright laws, you can't listen to your own Internet radio station; other limitations also apply.

The bottom line: If you have CDs that you don't want anymore, you can trade them on Lala.com, a very cool online swap meet that also offers Internet radio stations and compelling community features.

A giant online swap meet for used CDs might not sound too exciting on the surface, but Lala.com is one of the most engaging Internet music services we've ever come across. The concept is elegantly simple: You create an account, log on, then list the CDs you have and those that you want. The service automatically sends you an e-mail whenever a CD on your "Have List" is matched up with a disc on another member's "Want List." By trading CDs on your Have List to other members, you earn "karma." The more karma you have, the more CDs you receive from other members. You don't have to scour other members' profiles to find matches; Lala handles that automatically. Best of all, you pay only $1.75 including shipping for each CD you receive. And there's no charge for sending discs to other members.


When a CD in your Have List has been paired up with another member's CD request, a "Ship It" button appears next to the item on your personalized Have List page. Clicking the Ship It button opens a page where you can print a shipping label, then you're off to the races. You're never obligated to trade any CD when it's requested by another member.

In addition to its CD-trading service, Lala.com offers numerous Internet radio station streams, which help make the site a real destination. In October, the service resurrected and incorporated WOXY, a venerable and much-revered indie rock station. In addition to professionally programmed stations, Lala also features user-programmed selections. Although you have to request the privilege to program your own radio station, if you trade a lot of CDs on Lala, they'll probably let you have at it. There are some catches though. Your station has to be three hours long, you can add only two tracks from each album, and--even worse--due to copyright restrictions courtesy of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), you can't even listen to your own station.


Lala.com offers hundreds of Internet radio stations. Some are bona fide broadcast stations, while others are user-programmed. Streaming a radio station while you shop on the site makes the experience more like being in a record store.

When you get to the Lala site, it's fun to start out by firing up an Internet radio station. Listening to music while you shop makes the whole experience more engaging, and more like being in a real-world record store. If the station is playing something you like, you can add it to your Want List directly from the playback screen. A budding virtual record label, Lala has also begun streaming live sessions. Some of the performances can be downloaded for transfer to your iPod or other MP3 player. Lala seems serious about this endeavor; cofounder John Kuch told us of plans to open studios in Austin, San Francisco, and Brooklyn.

In terms of its online interface, Lala is well organized and pleasing to use. Throughout the site, CDs are listed along with cover art images to keep things interesting. After you've created an account, Lala sends you a starter kit, which contains Netflix-like prepaid shipping envelopes and plastic clamshell-type disc cases. When one of your CDs has been requested, you log on to Lala.com where you'll find a completed shipping label ready to print. Affix the label to a Lala envelope, insert the disc, include the cover art if you have it, and simply drop the package into the mail. It really is that easy.

 

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