Lala

Amazon's trying to compete with PayPal with a new service that brings one-click shopping into the rest of the non-Amazon world. We also kick around a rumor of Netflix coming to the Wii and discuss Google and Yahoo music searches. Oh, and then Cooley and I get deep about business models and copyright. That's near the end, though--if you don't like lectures.

Google music search announced. Still doesn’t work for Tom http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10385755-93.html

Yahoo … Read more

LOS ANGELES--Already the far-and-away leader in search, Google wants to be a big player in music discovery, too.

The search giant teamed up with News Corp.'s MySpace and streaming service Lala for the Wednesday debut of the new Google music search feature at the historic Capitol Records building in Hollywood. With the new music search, which had been internally code-named "OneBox" when news of the project broke earlier this month, search queries pertaining to something like a song, artist, lyrics, or album will bring up links to streaming songs from iLike and MySpace, as well as links … Read more

The first free on-demand music service I ever encountered was Songerize. The page was a simple white box on a red background. Enter the name of a song, and it would scour the Seeqpod database of user-posted content, find the song, and begin streaming it immediately.

There were no fancy playlist features like Grooveshark, no social-networking features like Imeem, no embedded player or song locker like LaLa, just instant gratification. Unfortunately, Seeqpod declared bankruptcy and around the same time, Songerize became useless.

Now, Songerize creator Will Johnson is back with a second take on the same concept: Songite. The interface … Read more

LaLa has come a long way since its original inception as a music locker and discovery service. Now, it's a full-on music service that lets users listen right inside of the browser. It blends a discovery engine with an online marketplace to let you explore new music and buy MP3s for playing offline. Better yet, the interface is super clean and simple, which means that anyone can play without having to know the intricate ins and outs of a overly detailed online jukebox.

The original functionality is still in place: LaLa scans your hard drive for music and then … Read more

Once again, Donald and Jasmine promise a "short one" and fail to deliver. How is it that just us talking about two devices manage to stretch on for the standard 30 minutes? We'll tell you: one of them inspires a lovefest that's saccharine enough to make your teeth throb, while the other throws Jasmine into a tizzy dripping with disappointment. This discussion on two new players--the Sansa Clip+ and the S-Series Walkman--is not to be missed. Also, the MP3 Insiders touch once again on the possibility of subscription music on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Subscribe in iTunes audio |  Subscribe in iTunes video | Subscribe in RSS audio |  Subscribe in RSS video… Read more

Checking Billboard's chart of top-selling albums usually reinforces just how out of touch I am with modern pop music (Maxwell? All Time Low?), but sometimes I discover that an old favorite has a new album out, or I am surprised to see how popular a particular band has become. (The Silversun Pickups' new record peaked at number 7? I had no idea they were that popular.)

Unfortunately, Billboard used to hide most of its chart information behind a pay firewall--you could see the top half of the Billboard 200 albums chart, but most other information was inaccessible.

Not anymore: … Read more

The jukebox in the sky is a reality. When I started this blog two years ago, it was all but impossible to open a Web browser, type a song name, and have that song start playing immediately. Now, it's commonplace.

I still like the simple approach of Grooveshark--the other night, my brother and I set up a running DJ battle on it to reminisce and introduce each other to new tunes--but Meuzer is an interesting alternative. Search on a song or artist name, and Meuzer pulls results from YouTube--very similar to the Muziic app I looked at earlier … Read more

Correction at 11:10 a.m. PDT: Lala's patent filing is an application. And Lala says it has made no promises to music labels regarding piracy in order to offer 10-cent "Web Songs."

Michael Robertson, the gadfly of digital music, is once again pestering rivals about their business practices.

Robertson--the controversial founder of MP3.com, Linspire, and MP3tunes.com--has accused Lala of attempting to transfer control of its users' music to the recording labels.

Robertson claimed last month on his personal blog that Lala had developed an "insidious new plot" to entice its users … Read more