http://www.lala.com

Go here now! This site rules. I found it a while back, thought it seemed cool, wasn't sure how trustworthy it could be! Sure enough, I tried it out, and created a Want List. It works! Only $1.75 per CD!! You know how I love cheap CDs. Hahaha.

I have already gotten the self-titled by Beyond Fear, now I have on the way To The 5 Boroughs by The Beastie Boys and Transform and Destroy What You Enjoy by Powerman 5000. So far I'm trading Freedom Is A State Of Mind by Corporate Avenger and Through The Eyes Of Night...Winged They Come by Fog; I'll ship them as soon as the site sends me the packing envelopes. Yep, the site provides packing material and prepaid envelopes and the person receiving the CD pays for shipping.

I sent an e-mail to the site asking about the trades, since the way it is worded is a bit ambiguous. Basically you can get one CD when you start, but no more until you actively begin to trade. So, if you've sent 9 CDs out, you can get a 10th, but no more until you send another.

Of course, none of this works unless you have CDs you're willing to part with. $1.75 is not a lot for CDs, but beware; if it's on your Want List and someone agrees to ship it to you, you get charged. It could potentially add up quick if you have a lot of stuff on their that is easy to find.

Great site, though! Four CDs for a little over $5 and two CDs I didn't want/need? Not a bad deal at all.

Only for US residents, sadly.

Only for US residents, sadly.

this sucks monkey balls. residents of the US have an about five times bigger average income, than residents of my country (Slovakia), the CDs are generally 30% cheaper and you have stuff like that. it just ain't fair

Now excuse me while I go into my bathroom with a nice shiny razor and nice black eyeliner

Only for US residents, sadly.

this sucks monkey balls. residents of the US have an about five times bigger average income, than residents of my country (Slovakia), the CDs are generally 30% cheaper and you have stuff like that. it just ain't fair

Now excuse me while I go into my bathroom with a nice shiny razor and nice black eyeliner

Nooooooo! Don't get emo on us!!

You could, you know, steal this idea and use it in your country. =)

You could, you know, steal this idea and use it in your country. =)

ah well. I would. If I was a naive dreamer. (Un)fortunately I'm not. I actually study economics and work as a financial consultant. there would be two major problems (maybe three) with this plan:

1. the too low average income of the population, which causes them to download/pirate music instead of buying it, because it's too expensive for them. so the target market is small.
2. low amount of households connected to the internet. makes the target market even smaller. out of those internet-users only a minimum have experience with buying online. even smaller target market.

3. (a problem which probably could be fixed by some research) : I don't know how sites like those work from a financial point of view. take http://www.yourmusic.com as an example. subscribtion fee - 6$/month, whether you buy something, or not. for those 6$ you are free to buy any CD out of the sortiment. You can buy as many CDs as you want to, for an additional 6$ each. shipping is free. how come? those CDs are usually 10 - 15$ each + shipping. are they endorsed directly by the artists? no way I'd say, seeing how the contracts of many of them wouldn't allow it. are they going under price, or with no profit? if yes, where does the profit to run the company come from?

ah excuse me, just the little economist in me speaking, I'll have to shut him up, so I can go all emo over the place and cut myself with a spoon

CDs only cost about $1 or $2 to make. Most sites are likely buying their stock for just a little more than that. Sites like this are making a lot of money on bulk sales, not individual.

This lala site, however, is basically an intermediary. They connect two people willing to make a trade, or half of a trade, rather. The person receiving the album pays $1.75. Lala.com sends the packing envelope—I got mine today—that consists of a small hard plastic case for the CD, the booklet and back REPLACE go inside the envelope with the case. It's a very light package because it eliminates the jewelcase. It weighs a little more than a regular letter. Thus it probably costs less than $0.75 to ship. So they're making $1 per transaction.

Since I joined just the other day I have 5 CDs coming my way, I packed up 4 today. So in a few days they're making at least $9 from y transactions, $5 for the CDs I'm receiving and $4 from those receiving CDs from me. Not a lot of money at all, but multiply that by, say, a million! That's a good profit, no? =)

CDs only cost about $1 or $2 to make. Most sites are likely buying their stock for just a little more than that. Sites like this are making a lot of money on bulk sales, not individual.

This lala site, however, is basically an intermediary. They connect two people willing to make a trade, or half of a trade, rather. The person receiving the album pays $1.75. Lala.com sends the packing envelope—I got mine today—that consists of a small hard plastic case for the CD, the booklet and back REPLACE go inside the envelope with the case. It's a very light package because it eliminates the jewelcase. It weighs a little more than a regular letter. Thus it probably costs less than $0.75 to ship. So they're making $1 per transaction.

Since I joined just the other day I have 5 CDs coming my way, I packed up 4 today. So in a few days they're making at least $9 from y transactions, $5 for the CDs I'm receiving and $4 from those receiving CDs from me. Not a lot of money at all, but multiply that by, say, a million! That's a good profit, no? =)

thanks a lot for explaining this well I knew, that the manufacturing costs of CDs are pretty low, but the high price usually acumulates itself during the lenghty process of getting from the pressing into the hands of the fan, while everyone who's involved in that process is taking his provision and makes money out of it. I'd be interested to see some statistics of overall sold units of a site like lala.com compared to regular shops, or webstores of record companies, as well as the comparison of their turnover and profit.

I think it's only good, if sites are trying to take this low-cost route, that's the way to fight piracy and not through overpriced CDs and persecution of people, who download it, because they can't afford, to buy it.