Apple to move iTunes libraries to the Web?

EddieC 0 549 Views

After a swirl of rumors that Apple was in talks to acquire music-streaming service , the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the companies had reached a deal. Exact terms were not disclosed.

Lala, a four-year-old private company, offers a terrific Web-based that lets you listen to any song for the first time for free, and as many times after that for $.10 per song. Unlike with iTunes purchases, you never own the file. Instead, you buy the right to stream it from any browser at any time, even from mobile devices.

But here's where it gets really good: Songs you already own through your iTunes purchases also become yours to hear through Lala AT NO EXTRA COST. So in a way, Lala can be used as a kind of iTunes backup. Sign up for free and transfer your iTunes libraries and play lists right over. I know several people (including me) who would have benefited from such a backup after their hard drive crashed. If you've paid the $.10 for streaming and you decide to buy the song outright, you pay just $.79 more to download an MP3, which isn't encumbered by DRM yet still compatible with iTunes (and Windows Media Player).

There's been lots of speculation about what Apple is up to. After signing up today and sampling Lala, I think the most logical move would be, as : to "merge all of Lala's goodness into iTunes itself, creating a seamless experience across Mac, PC, iPhone, and iPod." Put more simply, it would make your music available anywhere from any device.

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made the obvious connection in 2009: Apple did buy Lala. That purchase closed in early December 2009, but the story did not end with a new Lala-branded product living inside iTunes. (macrumors.com)

Apple folded Lala’s team and some of its technology into Apple’s cloud plans, then discontinued the Lala service a few months later (the site was shut down in late May 2010 and remaining web‑purchase credits were converted/redirected toward iTunes). That closure is a good real‑world reminder that “cloud only” access can disappear if a provider changes strategy. (wired.com)

What followed at Apple was not a simple copy of Lala’s on‑demand web model but a sequence of cloud features: Apple introduced a music‑matching/upload service (iTunes Match) in November 2011 and later moved into full streaming with Apple Music in 2015. Those products used different licensing and delivery approaches than Lala’s original site. For readers wondering whether the “Lala idea” made it into iTunes — the short answer is yes, but transformed and rolled into Apple’s larger iCloud/Apple Music strategy rather than keeping Lala’s standalone storefront. (macrumors.com)

Practical takeaway and immediate steps for protecting a library: consolidate your library so all media live in the iTunes/Music folder (File > Library > Organize/Consolidate), locate that folder (~/Music/iTunes or ~/Music/Music on newer macOS versions), then copy the entire folder to an external drive and enable Time Machine or another offsite backup. Also export important playlists (File > Library > Export Playlist) for a portable copy. Follow Apple’s official guidance when moving or backing up your library so metadata and playcounts survive. Local backups ensure access even if a cloud service changes or shuts down. (support.apple.com)

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