i didn't search. this has probably been mentioned before. but now that it looks live, i thought i'd mention it. http://www.lala.com/frontend/action/howitworks

is anyone here using this? opinions?

ive done it some. pretty good idea, works well if you dont mind just getting a CD.

I signed up, but I'm holding out until they provide some way to ensure that you get the original artwork for each CD. I don't care how little it is - if it doesn't come with artwork, it's a ripoff. I don't know how the RIAA is letting them get away with that, actually. CDs are a package - the disc and the artwork are the whole deal. Separate one from the other and the license is broken. Regardless of their tiny little encouragement to not keep copies of what you trade, what LaLa is doing, in the RIAA's eyes (because I'm sure they have their lawyers looking into this right now) is allowing people to make copies of the CDs, keep the artwork, and move along the original CDs to someone else.

My friend is doing that and says it's pretty cool but some of the more obscure releases he requested aren't available. I'm not sure how obsure those are, though.

ah, i didn't glean that from what i read -- that only the cd is shipped. odd decision. i guess it wouldn't matter to me not having the artwork, but what do i do with the shells of cds i ship out? house other traded cds? ..

well, you arent doing this thing for the jewel cases/artwork, its just a legal way to get mp3s as far as im concerned, or to replace a broken/scratched disc.

just did my first trades today, and boy am i excited.

another downfall to my career. i don't think this will last long.

I'm up to 143 trades, and have received tons of great stuff so far.

or you can just bypass this shit and...

1. download album

2. burn album

done.

no waiting, no hassles.

i like that money actually go to the artists, though, dalen.

my brother raves about this. given that most of my cds are in books now anyway it looks good.

I've been using it since April (120+ trades so far -- hooray for free t-shirts!) and love it, particularly for older or more unusual stuff that I don't necessarily want to go out and buy. Also happy to unload CDs I haven't listened to in a long time and bunches of promos since it's just a one-for-one swap instead of having to sell on Ebay or get a few bucks selling at a shop.

If you're concerned about not getting the artwork, they've upgraded the features so you can request to only receive complete CDs (which most people do now).

Then, if it's any good, BUY THE ALBUM!

Not many websites are offering uncompressed or lossless music files, so this isn't a very good lala substitute.

i did a few trades when i first joined but haven't done any in awhile. also, even though you can choose to have the cd booklets sent most of the people i've gotten them from haven't sent them, which annoys me as i like having all that.

everybody wants stuff that i refuse to trade too.

I was signing up and when I got to 'select a state' i looked for Queensland and then i realised it was for the wrong country. No trading for me.

that's what we're here for. wait, how much is shipping to Australia?

Umm, I'm not too sure but from the USA I guess it would be about 3 or 4 times more than the price of sending it somewhere else in Australia (I think it might be about $1 for a cd sized package). So proabably about 3-5 dollars. But I'm not too sure. Hmmmm

exactly.

i mean, how much money actually goes to the artists from this site? i'd be surprised if it's even much at all.

they claim 20%.

How is this legal?

Disclaimer: I haven't been to the site, but have read the posts in this thread about it.

from http://www.lala.com/frontend/action/howitworks

'la la' guarantees quality
'la la' guarantees its members' satisfaction. If a CD is not received in good condition, we will credit your account and make it a priority to fulfill your request.

'la la' is legal
Like any used CD store, 'la la' is 100% legal! Every CD you receive from other 'la la' members is yours to keep. Also, since we don't condone pirated music, only original CDs are being traded.

'la la' is fair
'la la' is based on trading. You must ship CDs in order to receive them. The more music you list, the better your chances are of receiving the music you want.

Ok, so I caved and decided to sign up for this last week because I have a shit ton of albums that that I don't want anymore and probably could not sell them for more than a dime on Ebay.

Here's my experience thus far: pretty good.

I listed 30 cd's that I don't want at all and got 6 requests for them right away. I'm waiting for LaLa to send me the little postage-free envelopes so I can send them off to the people who want them. While I'm waiting for that I was notified that 6 albums are being sent to me, 2 of which I got in the mail today in good condition with full inserts/artwork .

In my profile I have listed that I want all of the cover art and inserts to be included for all trades. I think it's important to immediately send off a message to the person who's sending you a cd to reinforce the message that you must have the front and back covers...

All it's cost me is two bucks and I now have 2 cd's I really wanted.

Also, if you haven't done so already, but sure to check the "send me CDs only if they include the front cover art" option in the Account section.