YES!

So I lucked out. My brother knew someone with a La La invite and sure enough I got hooked late Wednesday with the link.

A few hours in and I am hooked. It is wonderful.

Basically its a way of trading legit cds with other people that want that cd. Its legal and you "own" the cd in theory when you get it. The thing is, the more you 'trade' the more you can get traded back to you. It even comes w/pre-paid envelopes like Netflix. Let me explain a bit more.

Once you get in you see a massive inventory. I put in bands like The Turing Machine and got hits and this is still and "invite only" site. Granted nobody had the Turing Machine but its at least in the database.

Under each image of a cd it says "have" or "want". If you click "Want" it goes on to your want list. So I added a few things, then I decided I'd put in a "have". I added a "have" and moments later I got a request for it. Basically someone wants it..and since I can send something I can get something. Five minutes in I had a message saying a cd was being sent to me.

I raced home and picked out about a dozen cds I felt I could trade. The idea is rather than pay 99 cents for a song, here is the whole cd for 1.00. You can rip and add to your "have list" or you can keep the cd.

The best BEST part is the artists are getting 20%!!

So by 9pm or so I had 15 items in "have list" and already 7 of them have requests. Now you can deny the request, decide you don't want to send etc. If you commit to send you have to, but you are asked "Do you want to send this cd to XXXXX".

All I need at this point is the envelopes!

How much you are prolly asking (this is from the FAQ)
Pay only $1 for a CD!
Once you decide to start trading, you only pay for CDs received from your Want List. There are no hidden costs or monthly fees. Every CD you receive costs only $1 plus a standard shipping charge of $0.49. The number of CDs you receive will depend on how many CDs you ship to other members.

Not bad and it deducts off a credit card.

Non cd buyers will probably find this tedious and lame so call me both. (can you call someone tedious?) They ask you send the cds in good shape and NO copies.

I think what I am gonna do is get the stuff and rip to the ipod then add it right back on to my have list. I'll be honest, most of my "wants" are stuff that I am not sure I'd ever buy but I like a single song, plus its a perfect chance to get those guilty pleasure cds!

Under my name on the site it asks me if I have "shipped" XXX or received XXX and then I am sure I get my karma points and it lets the person know stuff has arrived or is sent.

It says you don't send the art work but you can add it if you toss on a stamp to the envelope. I'd prolly send it, cuz if you decided to keep the cd..why not have it..and I don't have the cd any more..okay I am rambling.

According to the main site it launches in July but you can put in a request for an invite. I am not sure if and when I'd get any invites (I am sure I need to trade some cds and build up what they call 'karma' to be given the chance to invite.

Lars said he wanted an invite, but if this sounds cool to you it may be quicker to get on the "request list" I'll update anything I get about an invite and fire a note to the first taker(s) and I'll be adding more to the blog about my experiences. I am all ready giddy though!