I wrote a post about customer service not too long ago where I stated that one of the biggest mistakes you can make in customer service is uncertainty. The biggest gripe I have with Apple shutting down Lala is the uncertainty as to whether something comparable will take it’s place. If Apple purchased Lala simply to shut it down I’d be especially upset because I thought that the acquisition was a positive move intended to improve Apple’s offering not crush a worthy competitor.
I love Lala’s music service. The music locker feature is incredible, giving me access to my entire library of nearly 20,000 tracks from anywhere in the world with an internet connection; my fiancee was a DJ and I’m a music fanatic. Web tracks are great, giving me the option to “purchase” tracks for $0.10 each and listen to songs online an unlimited number of times. This is a better option than pirating music for me because believe it or not, people of my generation actually want to pay for music. We just want it on our terms and we don’t want to get ripped off. Lala also had a great feature where if you purchase music on Lala it will sync back to your itunes library.
Everything about Lala was very user centric from the cost structure to the music discovery, the social aspect, and the ability to share music via embeds and links. It was great, and now it’s going away, leaving a giant void because no one knows if Apple will incorporate Lala’s services into iTunes.
I’d love an official answer from Apple as to why they killed Lala without offering me an alternative.
So Apple this is what I want…
-Get rid of all DRM on all tracks
-Give me a web based service that syncs with iTunes
-Let me listen to an entire song once before giving me a crappy 30 second sample.
-Give me the ability to buy web tracks so I can sample tracks and determine whether I want to add it to my permanent collection
-Give me an iPhone app that will let me stream music from iTunes online or whatever you call your Lala replacement.
-Let me embed playlists on my blog so I can tell people what I’m listening to. (Hint: this could translate into sales for you!)
-Finally, think about ME, and all of your customers and give us back the Lala service, it’s a winner! You are already in the lead. This one is a no brainer.