buying

Apple is looking to acquire audio streaming company Lala – if they get the deal then this could free up all of that prime real-estate on your various hard-drives if, like me, you have 50 days or more’s worth of constant music sat in digital audio form.

The move could also improve your music’s sound quality (by allowing larger files) and let you upgrade your computer without losing ratings, playlists and DRM tunes.

Lala is a Stateside service with a nine million-track audio database in the cloud.

Even more tempting for Apple, though, could be Lala’s licenses allowing it to offer free online Music Lockers.

You allow Lala to forage through your iTunes and/or Windows Media library and it will helpfully create a virtual library in its servers.

You can then stream any of those tunes from Lala from free – and at higher qualities than those 64kbps MP3s you still have with all that treble hissing everytime a high-hat is hit.

I can’t really see any major downside – although I’d still be tempted to keep my collection backed up, just in case.

But the thought of having my settings and ratings still there after reinstalling iTunes, all the duplicates removed (as long as it recognises different versions and remasters!), no more DRM-limited or corrupt tunes; and decent quality streams (128kbps, going to 192kpbs and possibly higher).

If you were Apple would you be snapping this up no matter how much Lala is asking for?

{ 0 comments }