LaLa.com Discussion

[AchrisK]

This post if for info on LaLa.com, but also for discussion of LaLa experiences, for anyone who is a member.

Mods: I think this is a good forum for this, but feel free to move it. I would prefer it at least end up in the Social Forum. I am not affiliated with LaLa.

Anyone here a member of LaLa.com? It's a CD trading "service" that basically facilitates trades. So you put up your want and have lists and when one of your haves line up with someone else's want, you send it to them. Then you are eligible to receive a CD from someone (not necessarily the same person). So basically you send off stuff you are willing to trade, and wait to receive stuff you want to get. You don't get to pick what you will receive, but it will only be stuff from your want list. They have other digital music services and a store that I ignore. It costs $1.75 for each CD you receive, and they send you postage paid mailers (you have to take the CD/inserts out of the case). It's only in the US.

The down side is you are not guaranteed to receive the back artwork. You can specify that you require artwork, but that only applies to the front booklet. But if you require artwork, most people send both. You can also specify "No Art Required" and you may receive stuff faster, but with the possibility of no art.

I have been able to get rid of a lot of stuff I didn't care about, and get a lot of stuff to check out relatively cheaply. I have received about 69 CDs in total (and sent out a few more than that).

 

[supseudonymous]

I'm a member and I love it. I used the service to get rid of a lot of old punk CDs I had laying around from a long, long time ago. I've also been using it to get rid of all my nu-metal from a couple years ago. I'd post a link to my lists if I weren't so absolutely positive that not a single person here is interested in the garbage I'm unloading. There are only a couple downsides I've found so far. The first being that they are missing a ridiculous number of good bands from their database. The second is when you receive a promo or incorrect CD and mark it as such, it appears they still count it toward your balance of CD's that you are eligible to receive.

 

[ohiogrinder]

I never used it cause it requires a credit card and doesn't accept paypal.

 

[AchrisK]

I'm a member and I love it. I used the service to get rid of a lot of old punk CDs I had laying around from a long, long time ago. I've also been using it to get rid of all my nu-metal from a couple years ago. I'd post a link to my lists if I weren't so absolutely positive that not a single person here is interested in the garbage I'm unloading. There are only a couple downsides I've found so far. The first being that they are missing a ridiculous number of good bands from their database. The second is when you receive a promo or incorrect CD and mark it as such, it appears they still count it toward your balance of CD's that you are eligible to receive.

Yeah, used for what potential it has, I'd say it's a great service. But there are drawbacks. I just recently received a promo and marked it as such I didn't take note if they counded it as a received CD or not, but I guess they must have. I think the same thing happens someone sends no artwork, even though you required it. That has only happened to me once.

One reason I wanted to mention it here is that the more metalheads on it, the more metal that will circulate on it.

 

[supseudonymous]

True. That would be great if everyone here would sign up and send me some spectacular CD's for basically nothing. I was going through my received CD's history and I noticed that about 1/10 of what I received turned out to be promos. I generally don't mind as long their not crippled promos (a la In The Arms Of Devastation). I can't speak toward the artwork since I don't require it (although I still get at least the front about 50% of the time).

 

[Zephyrus]

No paypal? Too bad.

 

[AchrisK]

They charge a monthly fee based on your trading activity. I guess they could charge that to Paypal, but that type of thing is typically put on a credit card.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

I like my thread better.