Digital Diversion

I heard about Lala.com on the local news a few weeks ago where they were touted as a breakthrough in the business model for online music.  So what’s different about Lala?

1. You can listen to any of their 6 million songs in their entirety – but only once. Compare this to the 30 second clips with no listening restrictions that you get from iTunes
2. You can purchase a song for online listening for $.10
3. MP3 downloads are $.89 (cheaper than iTunes but the same price as Amazon)
4. Lala allows you to upload your entire music collection so that you can listen to it online from anywhere for free
5. They’ve included community features and the ability to ‘follow’ someone like you would on Twitter

From my perspective, the real twist on the business model was the ability to have your entire library online. I figured I’d give it a shot and tried to upload my music.  I have over well over 30,000 songs in my digital music library and unfortunately Lala was ill-equipped to handle the upload so I eventually gave up.  After what amounted to several days of uploading, I was only able to get about half of my library online.   (continue reading…)