I have to say goodbye to music discovery service, Lala, as it shuts its doors today as a result of Apple’s buyout. I don’t know if I first learned of it through my students at the high school. I often see them spending time with the Lala service in the background of their browsers, streaming music online. What made Lala superior to other online music services (Pandora, Last.fm, Groveshark) is the ability to discover new music with a single option: the ability to listen to every song once all the way through. No limited 30 second previews.

I wish all music services allowed the freedom to explore and discover new bands and music. It always reminded me of the listening booths you see in a Borders where you can sample entire albums. But it makes much more sense in your own home on your computer. If the music industry is paying attention, I have bought more music and been more engaged in finding new favorite bands/singers as a result of Lala. And I’m confident that my students become more avid music aficionados as a result of Lala.

Apple bought it out and shut it down, and hopefully they will offer something comparable in its place. But there is no guarantee. The way Apple controls distribution of content through ITunes, I’d be surprised if we see a valuable service like Lala. Spotify is a similar service in Europe, but we haven’t benefited–it has been promised in the United States, but no signs yet of it here.

Lala is one of many online services that I discover through observing students in the computer labs. We should be aware of our students’ activities when they think we are not watching because sometimes they will make us aware of tools and services that might help or benefit our instructional practices.