LaLa: File-Sharing in the Real World
I heard an episode of the American Public Media "Futuretense" Podcast in March regarding the launch of a new music trading website called LaLa. What sets LaLa apart from network-based file-sharing systems like Napster or Kazaa is that LaLa participants obtain legal rights to new music by forfeiting legal rights to CDs in their existing music collection. To get new music using LaLa, you must indicate which CDs you own and would like to trade, along with which CDs you'd like to receive. LaLa then connects you with someone else who would like one or more of your CDs. Upon shipping your CD, one or more of the CDs you'd like to receive will be sent. The fee for this kind of transaction is just $1.00, plus $0.75 postage. And, $0.20 of each trade goes directly to the artist. Typically, artists receive nothing from sales of used albums.
I decided to leverage my 200+ CD collection by trading some of my less-played and less-loved CDs by creating an account on LaLa last Wednesday. So far, I've sent 5 CDs, have received one CD, and am expecting 5 more CDs to arrive soon. It seems like a cool system, though there are some areas that ought to be improved. Most notable is the order in which CDs from the "Want List" are sent: semi-random. Once I've sent a CD out, a CD from my Want List will be sent to me, but I have no control over which one. There are over 40 CDs on my Want List and I have no idea which will be sent in the near future.
Also, it's not made clear how to deal with album artwork that's difficult or not possible to ship. Most users indicate that they would like to receive album artwork; however, artwork is sometimes not included or is integrated into the CD packaging. It sucks having to throw away a nicely designed CD case because it can't be sent along with the CD in the pre-formed LaLa envelope.
So, LaLa seems like a good deal and is an interesting business venture, but there's a lot of work to be done in improving the process for users of the service. I'll continue to test out the service for a few more months to see if the time spent has been justified.