LaLa is a CD trading service - you trade CD’s with other LaLa members. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s cheap. Those are three words all music addicts love to hear. Their slogan is “discover new music, update your collection.” And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing since joining the service a year ago.

Using functionality similar to Netflix, LaLa lets you build two queues – one queue of the CD’s that you have and wouldn’t mind getting rid of, and a second queue of CD’s that you don’t own but would like to have. Then, you start trading. LaLa sends you cardboard sleeves and postage-paid envelopes to ship your CD’s to other LaLa members.

Each time you mail a CD from your “have” queue, you get one from your “want” queue. It’s that simple. Best of all, the only thing you pay for is each CD you receive from your “want” queue, and it’s only $1 per CD, plus $.75 shipping. No monthly membership fee. No hidden transaction fees. And if you like a CD that you receive from your “want” column, you can keep it. That’s just one less CD you’ll be able to trade. Tell me this isn’t the coolest thing you’ve ever heard!

My only word of caution is, when you go out and build your “want” queue (mine is currently 850 and counting), don’t expect that you’re going to get those CDs immediately just because you add them. LaLa’s database is quite exhaustive, but just because the CD is in their database doesn’t mean there’s another member out there who owns it and will be able to trade it with you. I made the mistake of getting overly excited as I was initially building my queue, only to realize the above fact. So…be patient. And remember…there’s a little gift waiting for you in your mailbox every few days if you play your cards right!

Does anyone else out there LaLa? Or know of any other good trading services?

www.lala.com