Lala + "The Cloud" v. iTunes + Hard Drives

Lala's initial intrigue for me was the integration with my Facebook contacts. I loved the ease of which I could recommend songs to my other musically obsessed friends and their ability to do the same. I am now in the process of copying my iTunes library to it. While I am hesitant to comment on this experience until I have used it a bit, its potential is what has me thinking it will bring down the current mp3 purchase model. Pandora & Last.fm fans, the suggestion feature is lacking here. Integration with either would be an amazing improvement, especially Last.fm's audio scrobbling.

Approximately half of the time I listen to music, it is from my iPhone. On it, to have complete control over the music you listen to (song & album selection, skip tracks backwards, playlist creation) the best option is to play songs stored on the hard drive (HDD) that can be damaged and result in file loss. When 3G or WiFi is not available, this is the only option. This also means the hassle of transferring songs from a PC over USB.

This is the initial benefit of Lala. After installing their "Lala Mover" software, it will learn what songs are in your library and attempt to find a match their 8 million track database (a form of "cloud" computing). Once the track has been added to your online library, it is available anywhere you have internet access with control capabilities that match a track on the HDD. If this app is ever released for iphone (Lala was recently purchased by Apple, who may not want to release this) it will mark the biggest change since the move from CDs to digital files.

In addition to the added benefits, most Lala tracks are free. You pay 10 cents once to add a song to user created playlists (and for the rare song limited to a 30 second clip) and have the option to download songs for 89 cents (compared to 99 cents at iTunes).

For those people who already have a data plan over 3G, or who listen to music mostly when wifi is available, this decision should be a no-brainer. Those without constant internet access (an ever-diminishing demographic) may want to consider the value of adding a data plan to their phone for the value they save in future purchases, which Apple's partners like AT&T would surely appreciate. An early adopter will reap the benefits from sites like Lala across entertainment as movies, tv and even books seem all headed to the cloud for lease rather than purchase.