Comments on: Apple Tunes Up With LaLa? http://www.jeffbennett.com/2009/12/apple-tunes-up-with-lala/ Sharing experiences as an entrepreneur, social media man, e-commerce pioneer, and student of life Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:38:45 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: dealsbennett http://www.jeffbennett.com/2009/12/apple-tunes-up-with-lala/comment-page-1/#comment-16150 dealsbennett Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:07:44 +0000 http://www.jeffbennett.com/?p=2627#comment-16150 Thanks for the comment Steve. I think the moral of the story according to Steve Kane is spot on. Thanks for the comment Steve. I think the moral of the story according to Steve Kane is spot on.

]]> By: Steve Kane http://www.jeffbennett.com/2009/12/apple-tunes-up-with-lala/comment-page-1/#comment-16148 Steve Kane Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:54:16 +0000 http://www.jeffbennett.com/?p=2627#comment-16148 Hi Jeff I've been following LaLa for ages (I think they started 5+ years ago, not 4) The NYTimes didn't say LaLa had no ideas or traction; rather the company itself has had to admit that they have no path to profitiability, or even hugeness. That plus the fact that LaLa has raised a huge amount of venture capital made the company a "dead man walking" - consuming big amounts of $$$ but unfundable. Investors had already wrote down their investments twice, I think (Public company Warner Music publicly disclosed their writedown.) The moral of the story if there is one, is successful innovation does not necessarily begat successful investing... Hi Jeff

I’ve been following LaLa for ages (I think they started 5+ years ago, not 4)

The NYTimes didn’t say LaLa had no ideas or traction; rather the company itself has had to admit that they have no path to profitiability, or even hugeness.

That plus the fact that LaLa has raised a huge amount of venture capital made the company a “dead man walking” – consuming big amounts of $$$ but unfundable. Investors had already wrote down their investments twice, I think (Public company Warner Music publicly disclosed their writedown.)

The moral of the story if there is one, is successful innovation does not necessarily begat successful investing…

]]> By: dealsbennett http://www.jeffbennett.com/2009/12/apple-tunes-up-with-lala/comment-page-1/#comment-16117 dealsbennett Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:27:55 +0000 http://www.jeffbennett.com/?p=2627#comment-16117 Thanks Adam. I agree with your view that media is being returned to a natural state. This applies to these new forms of digital distribution with http://www.lala.com. It applies to distribution and sharing of packaged media as well with cool sites like http://www.swaptree.com. Media is to be consumed and shared. It is a very important source of information and entertainment. Media has also always been social bringing people together...nd the web is enhancing the social connections and sharing around media now as well. Thanks Adam. I agree with your view that media is being returned to a natural state. This applies to these new forms of digital distribution with http://www.lala.com. It applies to distribution and sharing of packaged media as well with cool sites like http://www.swaptree.com. Media is to be consumed and shared. It is a very important source of information and entertainment. Media has also always been social bringing people together…nd the web is enhancing the social connections and sharing around media now as well.

]]> By: Adam Gross http://www.jeffbennett.com/2009/12/apple-tunes-up-with-lala/comment-page-1/#comment-16116 Adam Gross Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:08:40 +0000 http://www.jeffbennett.com/?p=2627#comment-16116 Great post. I completely agree that the cloud will overtake personal media ownership. Location independence and sharing capabilities are a return to the way media has historically been consumed; media ownership in silos is actually the anomaly. Up to the advent of movies and recorded music, when families wanted to listen to music, Uncle Joe would "on-demand" play the piano and family and friends would sing a long. Or they would go to the theater. And books have always cycled into and out of our houses, because we only have so much room and desire to re-read them. Twentieth-century technology greatly expanded choice, but only serious fans truly embraced the role of being a "curator" of their own libraries that came along with this. Now technology is coming full circle, by returning media to its natural state. Great post. I completely agree that the cloud will overtake personal media ownership. Location independence and sharing capabilities are a return to the way media has historically been consumed; media ownership in silos is actually the anomaly. Up to the advent of movies and recorded music, when families wanted to listen to music, Uncle Joe would “on-demand” play the piano and family and friends would sing a long. Or they would go to the theater. And books have always cycled into and out of our houses, because we only have so much room and desire to re-read them. Twentieth-century technology greatly expanded choice, but only serious fans truly embraced the role of being a “curator” of their own libraries that came along with this. Now technology is coming full circle, by returning media to its natural state.

]]> By: dealsbennett http://www.jeffbennett.com/2009/12/apple-tunes-up-with-lala/comment-page-1/#comment-16114 dealsbennett Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:48:27 +0000 http://www.jeffbennett.com/?p=2627#comment-16114 Josh - Thanks for the comment and sharing your experiences with LaLa for all of us. It is my hope that Apple will enhance this and not just kill it. This disruptive offering could add an incredible dimension to the Apple strategy! -Jeff Josh -
Thanks for the comment and sharing your experiences with LaLa for all of us. It is my hope that Apple will enhance this and not just kill it. This disruptive offering could add an incredible dimension to the Apple strategy! -Jeff

]]> By: Josh http://www.jeffbennett.com/2009/12/apple-tunes-up-with-lala/comment-page-1/#comment-16113 Josh Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:44:09 +0000 http://www.jeffbennett.com/?p=2627#comment-16113 Jeff - Couldn't agree more with your take (and opinion on the nytimes piece). I have used Lala for the last year and think (along w/Pandora) it's the best music site available today. Three reasons I love it: 1. It is the best way to sample new music (you get one free listen of any album). Every Tuesday when new music comes out, I can log onto lala, add the new albums I'm interested in to my queue, and have a super easy, free way to decide if I want to invest in that album for repeat listens. I think this is a HUGE reason Apple has acquired them - think of how that functionality could impact iTunes shopping. 2. If I decide I'd like to buy a new album, it costs me about 80 cents to "own" that album on the cloud. Given how pervasive access to the cloud is becoming, and will be, this is a steep discount to the 10 bucks I'd need to shell out to download the same album. Perhaps another, defensive reason Apple took the step it did. 3. You write "I would love to leverage the cloud for access to “my” owned and borrowed catalog". Good news: you can, now, on Lala (through the Lala Music Mover). They don't yet have an iPhone app and their integration with hardware like the Logitech Squeezebox is not fully integrated yet, but I'm sure it will be, and then your vision of your music everywhere from the cloud will be realized. To me, the big question is will Apple enhance and strengthen the things that make Lala such a great service, or will they diminish some of those capabilities since they are so potentially disruptive to the approach they've carved out to date. Jeff -

Couldn’t agree more with your take (and opinion on the nytimes piece). I have used Lala for the last year and think (along w/Pandora) it’s the best music site available today. Three reasons I love it:

1. It is the best way to sample new music (you get one free listen of any album). Every Tuesday when new music comes out, I can log onto lala, add the new albums I’m interested in to my queue, and have a super easy, free way to decide if I want to invest in that album for repeat listens. I think this is a HUGE reason Apple has acquired them – think of how that functionality could impact iTunes shopping.

2. If I decide I’d like to buy a new album, it costs me about 80 cents to “own” that album on the cloud. Given how pervasive access to the cloud is becoming, and will be, this is a steep discount to the 10 bucks I’d need to shell out to download the same album. Perhaps another, defensive reason Apple took the step it did.

3. You write “I would love to leverage the cloud for access to “my” owned and borrowed catalog”. Good news: you can, now, on Lala (through the Lala Music Mover). They don’t yet have an iPhone app and their integration with hardware like the Logitech Squeezebox is not fully integrated yet, but I’m sure it will be, and then your vision of your music everywhere from the cloud will be realized.

To me, the big question is will Apple enhance and strengthen the things that make Lala such a great service, or will they diminish some of those capabilities since they are so potentially disruptive to the approach they’ve carved out to date.

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