OK, to start off, I am not an iTunes user (I don’t even own an iPod), however, I have used iTunes and to be honest, I have preferred Amazon’s Mp3 store since it opened up shop. However, in terms of cataloging and accessing your music, iTunes has just about everybody beat, well, everyone but Lala.

Lala is a newcomer to the scene, introduced to me by an article on TechCrunch by Jason Kincaid, and like Jason, I have to admit that I was skeptical when the article popped up in my email. But I went, and I have to say, I’m glad that I did. Lala at first blush looks a lot like most other internet music sites (it actually bears a strong resemblance to Jango), but it’s a lot different than any site you’ve been to, not because of what they do, but specifically because of how they do it.

Monetization

We all know that the key to making any music site survive is monetization. Most internet radio sites do this through advertising. Pandora, my personal favorite internet radio site is a perfect example of this, integrating non-invasive fluid banner advertisements into it’s web application and occasionally running ads in it’s Adobe AIR app (mainly when you switch channels). The first thing I noticed about lala, no ads. None.

Lala has found a new way to monetize their incredibly vast collection, and I do mean vast. I tried to stump it using as many little known artists as I could come up with, and it had them all, from Stuart Davis to Slint, Crass to Failure, they had them all and more importantly, you can listen to any of their songs once, all the way through for free. Granted this is not a new feature, Rhapsody introduced this a while back, but Lala throws a curveball. You can purchase a web version of any song on their site for ten cents, and it’s yours to listen to at anytime on the site. Plus, if you decide to buy the mp3 version of the song (for $.90 to $.99 cents), the dime is credited towards the purchase. The cost for full albums is competitive with Amazon or iTunes, and in a couple of cases that I found, a good deal cheaper than Amazon.

Integration

The manner in which Lala integrates with your current music library (whether you use iTunes or Windows Media Player) may be its most impressive feature. A small piece of software called the “lala music mover” searches the library on your computer and uploads all of your music to lala (no matter how you happened to come by a given song). Lala automatically adds the music you already own (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) to your collection, and gives you access to them over the web. The first sync takes a little while, depending on how much music you have, but it’s pretty nice to know that I can access all of my music, from anywhere with an internet connection.

I suppose what it comes down to in the end is how Lala intends to attack the ubiquity that Apple has managed to achieve in the digital music space. Breaking the iTunes barrier is the ultimate goal for Lala (it certainly almost has to be) if they aspire to become the go to place for digital downloads and the iTunes pseudo-monopoly (there are ways around iTunes if you look hard enough) is fairly pervasive.

Were I an iPod user I would still take a hard look at Lala, if for no other reason than the accessibility that it offers, although the slightly cheaper prices would certainly be enticing. Add on to that the ability to listen to any song in the library for free, as well as the option to buy those songs you like, but only every once in a great while for just a dime (did I mention that your first 50 web songs are free?). I’m not 100% sold on Lala just yet, but 95% after my first perusal is pretty good.

What online music services are you using? Are there even better alternatives out there?

(Devil In The Details)

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