I have written previously about LaLa, Apple’s purchase of LaLa, and then Apple’s termination of the commitment LaLa made to users.
Others are commenting and some offering alternatives. Evidently MP3tunes is willing to pick up LaLa users for 10 cents. If Michael Robertson’s description of this offer is accurate, I think his optimism is off target and his understanding of the value of LaLa somewhat limited. It is true that LaLa gave your credit for your purchased music and allowed you to play this music from Internet-connected computers, but LaLa also allowed you to pay 10 cents for Internet-only access to your music.
I am predicting that the MP3tunes offer is for one year only and the regular annual price of $40 will be in play again next year. There are other ways for me to access my own music SimplifyMedia (this happens to be the service I use and I assume there are others). The unique component of the LaLa system was the opportunity to purchase online access to specific songs/albums. This may have been a part of the LaLa service intended only to attract users, but I found it quite valuable and purchased access to hundreds of songs.
Now, I must modify my own contentions. It appears that SimplifyMedia is also backing away from the services it has been offering. It is becoming more and more difficult to trust cloud companies.