Lala To Shutdown May 31

I woke up this morning to some of the saddest news I've gotten in a while. As of May 31, Lala will be shutting down. When I discovered Lala in my time working overnight at Apple Fifth Avenue, it changed my life. After 2AM, the store was almost empty, so it wasn't the worst thing in the world if you wanted to listen to music. Lala made that possible. Anywhere in the store, without my headphones, or having to worry about what music I had on my iPod, Lala empowered me to have my music with me anywhere I went. Many of my friends, and in fact, both contributors to this site, Jamie and Ryan both are regular Lala users.

While this is disappointing, there are a few reasons that may have been behind it:

Apple vs. Google

Yep, they haven't been getting along. Just about a month before Apple picked up Lala, Google and Lala teamed up to push a Lala result to the top of search results pertaining to a song. So, for example, if you search on Google for "train hey soul sister", you'll see the Lala entry right up top, allowing you to stream the song for free. Well, what if Apple were none too happy about that? It very well may be that they killed off Lala just to spike Google.

Apple vs. Lala

A less likely, yet entirely plausible, scenario involves Apple buying up and subsequently shutting down Lala to serve its own needs: protection. A service that offers unlimited streams for $.10/song, and $.99(or $.89 prorated if you purchased the stream)/song for a DRM-free download is not a service Apple should ignore. Amazon offers a similar pricing structure, but is not small enough that Apple could buy up without the bat of an eyelash. So, maybe Apple was just watching their back and taking preventative measures, with no intention of incorporating Lala into their existing product.

Apple iTunes in the cloud

The third and, in my opinion, the most likely possibility is that Apple purchased Lala to roll it into a new iTunes product in the cloud. Whether or not all of Lala's features such as $.10/song streaming will remain is unknown, though frankly it seems unlikely. Our contributor Jamie noticed: "'you will receive a credit in the amount of your Lala web song purchases'.  This means existing lala users who purchased a web song will not be able to access that song from iTunes.  Instead, we will be given our 10 cents back."

Keeping music libraries in the cloud so that users have access anywhere and everywhere seems like a more likely angle for Apple to take. While I'd be thrilled to have that incorporated within iTunes, I will certainly miss the web song feature. This will come down to how Apple implements an incorporation, if that's the case.

Okay, so this is how it will go down. Lala is not taking any new signups. So, if you're not a member now, you never will be. Sorry. If you're an existing user, you can still log in and use the service until May 31. After that, sadly, the plug will be pulled. If you've purchased web songs from Lala, they'll be refunding you your $.10/song in the form of iTunes credit. If you have a balance on your Lala account, that will be credited to iTunes as well, unless you request a check. Gift cards can still be redeemed until May 31 and will be treated the same way as the rest of your wallet balance. All the songs you've downloaded from Lala will, of course, still work just fine since they're DRM-free MP3s.

My flag will fly at half mast for you today, my good friend Lala. You've been good to me in the the 2+ years I've used your service. Godspeed.