Lala now on Google and Facebook

We’re very excited to be able to bring together the complementary strengths of Google and Lala.  Google is focused on improving search and getting users to what they are looking for as fast as possible.  Lala is dedicated to providing the best possible experience around music discovery, listening, and purchasing.  Together, we’ve enabled a music search that is unrivaled on the web.  Check it out on Google as they bring music search to most US users over the next couple of days.

We’re also excited to announce that the new Facebook Gift Shop that was announced last week is nearing full rollout, and is now available to the vast majority of U.S. users.  Lala is powering the “Music and MP3s” section at the top of the Gift Shop, enabling you to now purchase web songs and MP3s as gifts for your Facebook friends without ever leaving Facebook!

so, i’m not going to lie, i’m late to lala.  a former colleague, blake, sent me an invite eons ago and i sat on it.  i didn’t see the value at the time.  i was able to stream sirius on my laptop in the office and music-wise, i was generally satiated.

after sirius did some general bed-shitting all around (web player sucks, cut-off access to 3rd party streaming apps and their iphone app sucks), i was stuck using pandora.  pandora gets old, after a while. so, i dug up the lala invite and went to town.

the concept of being able to upload my entire music library and having it accessible through a browser whenever i want it is great.  also, the “add song” enabling one to listen on the web but never have to download or buy the song?  genius.  i’ve sort of converted to “music in the cloud.”

so - enough background.  my point is, do you see iTunes or Amazon doing this?  i can’t send someone music through facebook with those services.  i can’t use google to search itunes.

i realize their market share, user base, etc. is eons beyond but people are starting to move past the idea of owning physical content.  or needing to download physical content and towards it being accessible the way we want and need it without worrying about external hard drives for the rest of our lives.  on-demand, essentially.

utopian?  maybe.  the future?  certainly.