Lala, the frequently changing streaming service/download store/online music locker has made some changes aimed at an easier user experience and music discovery. Whether or not it will connect with consumers, the new Lala has set itself apart. More serious music fans should take notice.

First off, Lala has licensed tracks for all majors and thousands of indies. Its Music Mover application scans your music files and checks them against what is on Lala's servers. Since the company has licenses to make a copies of songs on its server, the time to upload your collection can be shortened considerably. A few weeks ago, five out of every eight songs in my collection needed to be uploaded byte by byte. That is not the case now.

Second, Lala has an impressive widget called (ready for the pun) Forecast. A user can put four songs on a Forecast widget and place it on a blog or Facebook page. The difference about this widget is its simplicity. A Lala user can opt to purchase a web stream (an unlimited, ten-cent stream of the song that acts as a credit if you choose to purchase the MP3), follow that user's Forecast or see which users are following that Forecast. Every action requires a single click. It is the easiest way I've seen yet to keep tabs on other users (meant to be tastemakers in this case) and make a purchase (again, it's a stream in this case but it can be upgraded to an MP3). Right now, heavyweight music bloggers like An Aquarium Drunkard, Muzzle of Bees and My Old Kentucky Blog have Forecast widgets. At Lala, there are social features that allow you to track friends' songs and playlists and share songs.

Lala is different because there are no advertisements. In this New York Times post, chief executive Geoff Ralston talks about the site's aim toward music fans. "You want to help people discover music," he said. "You don’t want to slow them down with ads." Agreed. I have used Lala for months because it is ad-free, free of clutter and is more music service than social network. Even though streams cost money (unless you own the track), Lala is light years ahead of the much-trumpeted MySpace Music in terms of usability. Creating a playlist at MySpace Music is a tedious, time-consuming process. At Lala it is almost effortless.

Will the model work? Labels are happy to give it a go. Said Warner Music Group head of digital Michael Nash, "The psyche of the music industry right now is that not experimenting is riskier than experimenting." (Lala counts Warner Music Group as an investor.)

Interesting tidbit in Billboard.biz's article: since the beta launch in May, between 30% and 40% of web stream buyers ended up buying the full MP3.

Lala is currently available to U.S. users only.

More commentary:

• TechCrunch. A very positive review. Comments are more positive than I expected. Lala's ten-cent streams were not well received when the beta was announced (maybe not at TechCrunch...I couldn't find a post on the beta). Looks like things have changed.
• VentureBeat. "Lala convinces record labels to be a little less dumb." According to the LA Times' article, it was Sony BMG's Thomas Hesse who took credit for the idea of web streams.
• Technologizer.
"What’s impressive about Lala isn’t just the number of things it does, but how well it does them." Agreed.