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Apple Looking to Acquire Music Streaming Service Lala?

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Apr 12, 2001
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CNET reports that Apple is in "advanced" negotiations to acquire music streaming firm Lala. The news comes from two sources who reportedly have knowledge of the discussions between the two companies.
Talks are very advanced, said the sources. One of the sources said that the sides have already agreed on terms and have only to sign a final agreement.

Steve Dowling, Apple's spokesman, said the company doesn't comment on rumors and speculation. A representative from Lala was not immediately available.
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The report notes that it is unclear what Apple's plans would be for Lala, as it already holds a dominant position in the online music industry. Lala's streaming service, however, allows users to store music on the company's servers and stream it to any Web-enabled device. Such services have become more popular with consumers, and Apple may be looking to make a foray in that direction.

Lala recently partnered with Google to offer music samples in Google's search results.

Article Link: Apple Looking to Acquire Music Streaming Service Lala?
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2009/12/04/apple-looking-to-acquire-music-streaming-service-lala/
This remotely stored data paradigm is the future - it's wise for Apple to acquire a company with the system and infrastructure in place so they can add its functionality to their products.

...that is, to all their products except the iPhone in the US, because obviously ATT would NEVER allow anyone to do anything cool with their iPhones like this. :p
 
Way to go Apple. Having LaLa in your arsenal would be a great addition.

I just tried LaLa today after hearing about this story, and it is easy to use, and fun to discover and preview full songs and albums by many artists.
 
I quite liked Lala until they made it US-only. Hopefully Apple will use its existing worldwide negotiations to expand it back out again.
 
GREAT idea.

The online iTunes "store" is utterly useless.

lala is the model for the future.
 
so apple wants to be known for music among other things...that is clear enough
 
Didn't know about Lala until now. Currently listening to some tracks, it's awesome! Definitely something I would buy into at 10/cents a song. Now they just need an iPhone app!
 
5-1 negative over positive? Methinks that ratio will reverse!

I love the idea if it means easily previewing whole songs and inexpensively "consuming" songs I don't need to own.

I don't care much, however, for storing my music online. I want my music (the stuff I own) with me always, everywhere and instantly. Online doesn't satisfy that at the moment (even with an iPhone).
 
lord patton said:
5-1 negative over positive? Methinks that ratio will reverse!

I love the idea if it means easily previewing whole songs and inexpensively "consuming" songs I don't need to own.

I don't care much, however, for storing my music online. I want my music (the stuff I own) with me always, everywhere and instantly. Online doesn't satisfy that at the moment (even with an iPhone).
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when do you listen to music and not connected online? working out..jogging...yeah maybe that will suck with iphone..but its possible..

everytime i find myself listening to music...i am connected online already..so there is no difference between having the music be browser based or on my computer.
 
iOrlando said:
when do you listen to music and not connected online? working out..jogging...yeah maybe that will suck with iphone..but its possible..

everytime i find myself listening to music...i am connected online already..so there is no difference between having the music be browser based or on my computer.
Click to expand...

I guess my opinion could change if it ended up working well. But even in the dense Chicago suburbs I notice dead-data zones, and even if my iPhone is connected, I may not want to drain its battery. More importantly, as nice as its GUI is, finding songs on the iPhone's iPod app is nowhere near as quick as navigating via keyboard shortcuts on my MBP.

But I'm not against having the option. I just don't think I'd find it very compelling. Could be wrong.
 
This is exactly what I've been waiting for. A big name company to offer the service-- one that I know will not go out of business and cause me to lose my entire music collection. Apple is just the company that would make me consider switching to a service like this. But, song prices would definitely have to be a lot less than $0.99.
 
I don't believe a word.

Why would Apple want to spend money for a service that a. doesn't fit into their current business model, b. would be discontinued after a purchase? If they really wanted to set up a streaming service, they would do it themselves.
 
lord patton said:
I guess my opinion could change if it ended up working well. But even in the dense Chicago suburbs I notice dead-data zones, and even if my iPhone is connected, I may not want to drain its battery. More importantly, as nice as its GUI is, finding songs on the iPhone's iPod app is nowhere near as quick as navigating via keyboard shortcuts on my MBP.

But I'm not against having the option. I just don't think I'd find it very compelling. Could be wrong.
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and i'm sure if apple had their way..then would set up their own networks...yes the poor networks in the U.S. is one big fail (and a problem for now)...but in 2012? who knows.

Speedy2 said:
I don't believe a word.

Why would Apple want to spend money for a service that a. doesn't fit into their current business model, b. would be discontinued after a purchase? If they really wanted to set up a streaming service, they would do it themselves.
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what you mean discontinued after a purchase? From what I understand, LALA is among the leading firms that offer this.
 
iOrlando said:
what you mean discontinued after a purchase? From what I understand, LALA is among the leading firms that offer this.
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Apple would surely rename it. It would be stupid, since no one knows LALA, especially not outside the US. And I can't imagine SJ allowing anything Apple not being called Apple.
 
Speedy2 said:
I don't believe a word.

Why would Apple want to spend money for a service that a. doesn't fit into their current business model, b. would be discontinued after a purchase? If they really wanted to set up a streaming service, they would do it themselves.
Click to expand...
methinks Lala.com might already have MILLIONS already in the service -- Apple is on top of this streaming stuff all the faster.
 
How different is lala than iTunes, really?

Make the streaming samples on iTunes full length songs and add the ability to store purchases and you'll practically have the same service.

I think this rumor - if real - has more to do with Apple buying lala before Google does (there was a rumor just last week about Google's interest in lala and as the MacRumors article mentions, they are partners already).
 
iOrlando said:
when do you listen to music and not connected online? working out..jogging...yeah maybe that will suck with iphone..but its possible..
everytime i find myself listening to music...i am connected online already..so there is no difference between having the music be browser based or on my computer.
Click to expand...
The majority of the music I listen to is on my external drive. Only rarely do I listen to streaming music. Not everyone has the same music listening habits.
 
Speedy2 said:
I don't believe a word.

Why would Apple want to spend money for a service that a. doesn't fit into their current business model, b. would be discontinued after a purchase? If they really wanted to set up a streaming service, they would do it themselves.
Click to expand...

Apple wants the people who created LaLa to work for them and/or the intellectual property.

Apple likely has no interest in LaLa in its current incarnation (an Adobe Flash-based music streaming service that competes with Last.FM and Pandora).

What’s interesting about LaLa is it started off as sort of a Netflix for music, except LaLa didn’t own the music. Their members exchanged their own personal CDs with each other. As far as I know, this part of the service is still offered today, just downplayed in favor of their streaming service.
 
Speedy2 said:
I don't believe a word.

Why would Apple want to spend money for a service that a. doesn't fit into their current business model, b. would be discontinued after a purchase? If they really wanted to set up a streaming service, they would do it themselves.
Click to expand...

I could see them buying up a service like this easily. Apple has built a massive server farm in NC and Lala already has the infrastructure in place and they may feel they can get Lala at an affordable price and knock out competition.

What I'd like to see:

-iTunes cloud services that store your data
-hopefully free or at a small price to store your media for MobileMe users
-stream data from your iPhone or tablet through 3G
 
Apple needs to stay the F away from my lala, thank you very much!

lala is currently backed financially by the major labels.
 
Spotify and Last.fm already hold the dominant position in this area. Lala isn't going to do anything for Apple.
 
The cloud is a lie! It simply doesn't exist! Whether data is stored on your hard drive or on a servers hard drive, it's still stored on a hard drive, plain and simple! It's beginning to look a lot like 1984 all over again, the personal computer is about to be reduced to a dumb terminal and a handful of large corporations will be in control of all of our data! :(
 
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