
Lala shut down by Apple last night, May 31st - smilliken
http://www.lala.com/sshutdowninfo
======
smilliken
Apple obviously wasn't interested in Lala's users, and I don't expect they
were interested in code, so was it a talent acquisition or did Apple just do
this to remove a competitor to future online music services?

Edit: spelling

~~~
lurch_mojoff
Regardless of the merits of Lala's service, I highly doubt that the biggest
music retailer in the U.S. had a reason to be afraid of any competition from
them. Certainly not reason enough to be forced to buy them. Apple are
infamously frugal when it comes to M&A, so this must be either "buying
technology" or "buying talent". I guess we'll see which once the iTunes
"cloud" service is launched.

~~~
Volscio
What if it doesn't launch?

~~~
jk8
lala.com will not relaunch. Talent or technology will be integrated into
iTunes and the consumers will get a something new.

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rwhitman
What the world needs is a giant repository of all music (legal, of course) and
accessible by an API for streams and downloads.

Any access to the API would charge for the rights to play the song, of course,
but it would be up to the retailer to decide how the song was paid for,
whether it be web-song stream rights, subscription, download sales, ads etc.
This would open up a whole new market for music sites without having to
directly manage deals with music publishers - we the web entrepreneurs could
focus on creative delivery instead of fearing / bargaining with labels.

This is a ludicrous pipe dream, obviously, based on how technologically
frightened and fractured the music industry is today. But it would make the
world a better place I think.

~~~
jrockway
Remember, the music industry doesn't want you to buy their music. They want to
"deal" with you.

An example of a company that wants you to buy their stuff is Amazon. Click a
button, make an API call, and you have a new server. That's because they are
the ones providing value; they are not the middlemen worrying about being cut
out of the loop.

The music industry is different -- they don't do much more than act as a
loanshark to the artists, which the artists put up with because the only way
to have your music advertised is with the record labels. If there was just an
API where you could sell your stuff, then the record labels wouldn't be
necessary. Your laptop, a good soundcard, and free software is all you'd need
to "play in the majors". That's not good for the middleman.

Bittorrent is an acceptable interim solution.

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physcab
Grooveshark will give you 1 Month of VIP if you are a Lala user.
<http://vip.grooveshark.com/lala>

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jdnier
Lala's streaming catalog was huge (>8 million songs) and included music not
available on iTunes. I enjoyed using the service and have since lost any
infatuation with downloading and storing MP3s. Being able to listen to
anything once was great but the day has already come where you'll be able to
rent access (cheaply) to an entire collection and listen to what you want,
when you want (e.g., mog.com). Still to come: better tools for organizing the
music you're interested in, learning about artists, and finding new music.

~~~
ebiester
What stops you from using Rhapsody, then?

~~~
rjurney
Their library is often missing songs I want.

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gry
Apple's Lala purchase has little to do with keeping Lala at bay, nor
disallowing a competitor to purchase it.

Their acquisition history speaks for itself:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisition...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Apple)

While Lala, Placebase and Quattro are notable because they fit in the Google
space, the quantity of acquisitions suggests to me Apple is still deliberate
about their purchasing -- and a defensive move is not a good enough reason.

Lala's purpose at Apple is specific and grand; it provides another something
to enrich our world and their ecosystem. I have little doubt.

------
ChRoss
"Credit amounts will be based on your account activity as of May 31, 2010.
iTunes Store credit amounts will be rounded up to the nearest $1 for refunds
under $10, or to the nearest $5 for refunds greater than $10."

Pardon my ignorance, I'm neither Lala or iTunes' user, is this rounding thing
is common?

~~~
wwortiz
It probably has something to do with good faith or perhaps even something
specifically with itunes gifting system.

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smilliken
More information:

<http://mashable.com/2010/04/30/lala-shutdown/>

[http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/29/apple-to-shut-down-lala-
on-...](http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/29/apple-to-shut-down-lala-on-may-31/)

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hyuen
They weren't that great anyways, you had to pay for listening after the first
time. This is fine with me, but think about all the teenagers out there, I am
sure they have found other ways to access music given their practically zero
income. Once I talked to my 14 year old niece, and she told me none of her
friends use limewire or similars, they use myspace and youtube downloaders. I
think that the effort from Apple to shut down paid competitors may not be the
solution to their root cause...

~~~
tmcw
limewire?

~~~
hyuen
limewire, napster, kazzaa, gnutella, all those things that will be gloriously
remembered in the history books :)

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crsmith
What's keeping someone else from making a Lala clone if Apple isn't interested
in keeping the service around?

~~~
swilliams
I have to think that it is a pretty big PITA (and cost) to get the proper
licenses to sell a library as large as the one Lala had online.

That said, I would love it if someone did step up. I have looked at a few
similar services, but haven't found any that make for an adequate replacement.

~~~
cageface
I actually _prefer_ mog.com. It doesn't have all the same social networking
features, but those weren't the draw for me anyway. It's certainly a much
better bargain.

~~~
rdela
mobile apps "coming"

[http://blog.mog.com/post/611539321/mogs-iphone-android-
apps-...](http://blog.mog.com/post/611539321/mogs-iphone-android-apps-are-
coming)

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brutimus
"All check refund requests for wallet balances will be mailed to your shipping
address no later than June 14th."

Does this apply to web song refunds as well? I was just wondering what linux
users could do since they obviously won't have a use for iTunes credits.

~~~
derefr
It's a bit of a hassle, but Linux users _can_ just buy the songs on iTunes on
a different computer and then copy them to their own.

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igorgue
Google is using iLike now as default for his Google music search.

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code_duck
I'd never even heard of Lala before Apple bought them. Now, if they purchased
and shut down grooveshark, both my mother and I would be grieving.

~~~
mitjak
Canadian too? I kind of wish I could try Lala and Mog. And Hulu. And NBC...

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moolave
I believe it had something to do with Apple's core competency. If ITunes is
already dominating, why create another one?

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antidaily
WWDC related? Cloud iTunes??

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hyuen
hey, checkout lizten.in, slightly different in its conception, but could be a
good alternative

------
llimllib
_moment of silence_

