Several years ago, I tried out iTunes and really enjoyed the experience. I came from a Winamp background and really liked having a fast loading application. On top of that, I am a computer geek, so I already know where all my files are on the OS filesystem.
Anyway, after using iTunes for a little over a year and hundreds of songs purchased later, it was starting up slower and slower. Updates to Quicktime/iTunes was coming a little too often-- practically every time I started up the program, I had to download an update... which was quite annoying. Overall, the program was getting bloated on my Windows XP machine. So I uninstalled and switched back to using Winamp. It was fast and now also offered a music library for managing songs.
As good as Winamp is, it doesn't solve one problem I as a geek have. I use multiple computers to get my work done. One at work, several at my apartment, and even several at my parents house. I don't want to drag my music/files everywhere I go just to listen to it. (I'm a big enthusiast for Cloud Computing).
So I came across this post on 20somethingfinance.com (one of my favorite financial blogs) on LaLa. I started using it and I'm loving it!
Here are the main highlights/advantages for using LaLa:
- You can play entire songs over the web, free
- It's a social network for music lovers, so you can get recommendations on similar music/artists
- Songs are cheap: 10 cents to add to your playlist, 89 cents to download a DRM free mp3
Try out LaLa
Now, I'm not saying this is a complete replacement for iTunes/Winamp. If you are playing music on the go and disconnected from the Internet, you'll still need a music player application. This is just a awesome service for when you are connected. Give it a try, you get 50 free songs to add when you sign-up.
2 comments:
or maybe it's a way for them to track your library and all of your illegal downloads...
first off, what illegal downloads? the only pirates i know of are in somalia...
second, for any social or even digital mp3 download/purchase you go through with an online service, they will have some tracking of your library to give recommendations. they will have some kind of algorithm to compare trends of similar downloaders.
as the web increasingly becomes more social, there is no escape from the fact that companies out there are tracking your activities online. as for any illegal downloads, i don't think as a company they would care. if they are going to survive and thrive in the market, they'll need to put out a kick-ass service that is highly social and usable over the rest.
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