I've used LaLa, the music CD trading site, for over a year, have spent almost $100 in trading fees, and enjoyed every minute of it. I logged on every other day, explored my trades, checked out other member collections, and listened to my radio station. And yesterday talked with a LaLa representative about the new LaLa.
Yep, like other things in life that were already good (think XP), someone has to come along and make it better.
The better is that you now have free streaming music. That new is a good thing. PC World's crackerjack streaming music expert, Eric Dahl, just posted "Lala.com Bets Big on Free Streaming Music" and talks about everything I missed about LaLa's redesign. Read his take here.
Is New Really Better?
My focus is on the LaLa redesigned site -- it takes some getting used to. Okay, I'll say it: I found it utterly confusing. Though if you're a new user and having nothing to compare it to, you'll probably be happy.
What you won't get used to is the site's sluggishness. How slow is it? (Ed McMahon's probably calling his lawyers as we speak...) As I moved from tab to tab, I felt like I was back on dialup.
Despite my kvetching, please do visit the site. LaLa is definitely worth relearning and if you have a tabbed browser, you can read some of our blogs and columns while you're waiting for LaLa to load.
Tomorrow: What I like about LaLa -- and a LaLa response to my kventching.
I've been using La La since last October, and as a recovering AllofMP3.com user, it's nice to be on the legit side again. I have enjoyed La La a lot and hope it keeps on keepin' on.
I gotta admit that the new website design isn't what I wanted, but I'm hopeful that that it'll improve with more attention. In the meantime, I'm eager to keep on trading CDs that I no longer want. And that's the important part.