A while back, I made a decision to thin out and refresh my CD collection. Rather than dumping them off at a music store and collecting a few dollars, I decided to give Lala a try.

Lala is a music player, store and discovery tool. It’s also a fantastically downplayed CD trading site. Back in 2006 or so, Lala was primarily a platform for trading CDs with other users. Today, the focus is on its music player but the trading community is what makes it a great site.

For $1 per trade and $.75 for shipping, you can request CDs from other users. At the same time, other users are requesting them from you. You can revamp your collection for the price of one CD and you never have to step foot in a store or a post office!

To start, add the CDs you have to your Have List. This can take a little time. I did it in increments. It can be a little emotionally jaunting to realize that it’s time to get rid of your Norwegian death metal collection, but you’ll feel cleansed in the end. Next comes the fun part, adding CDs you want to your Want List. Usually this occurs in bursts of music fits where you’ll decide you want a band’s entire discography.

Trading CDs is just like renting DVDs from Netflix. But, before you can trade you need to request envelopes. When you’re a more experienced user you can request up to 10 envelopes, but to start, Lala will send you 5 prepaid envelopes and 5 thick cardboard CD sleeves. Once you receive them then you’re ready to start sending them out. In your Have List, you’ll see the albums people are requesting followed by a “ship it” button.

After you’ve agreed to ship a CD, you’re taken to a screen that will ask whether or not you have the cover art. It is also possible to flag which of your discs have no cover art prior to this so Lala knows beforehand. Some users are really into cover art. If it’s an album I plan on keeping in my collection, I must have the cover art. Electing to receive CDs without cover art can speed up the trading process as lots of people are missing artwork. Once you’ve got all of the discs ready to ship, Lala will ask you to activate each envelope so it can be tracked. You input the 7-digit code and hit activate. Now you’re ready to drop them off in the closest mailbox.

Receiving CDs is always exciting. Your Have List isn’t set up like a queue so you have no way of knowing which ones will be sent next. It’s a surprise every time. To keep the trading fair, Lala ensures the ratio of sent vs. received is somewhat even. This way everyone in the community is equally sending and receiving. You can always see how many CDs you’ve traded, how many are on the way, and which are awaiting receipt confirmation.

Upon receipt, it’s good to test the disc and then confirm that it’s been received in good condition. I have yet to get one that won’t play. Lala’s policy states that all traded CDs must be in good condition. If you receive a damaged disc you can report it.

You’ll notice when you go to Lala.com that there is no information on CD trading. It’s like Lala’s forgotten stepchild. Don’t let that fool you though. There is a thriving trading community that most likely wants your Norwegian death metal. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of their user base primarily uses it for trading. The rest of their services are ok but with Last.FM, Anywhere.fm, Pandora, Imeem and the rest of the music player sites, they have a lot of competition. Trading CDs this effectively, now there’s an edge.

If you’re looking for a way to trade more than just CDs, Mark did a great post titled “9 Websites to Swap Your Stuff“. The post offers good suggestions for trading DVDs, books and games. Most are US only, like Lala, so international users keep that in mind. There’s also a post in the directory that highlights Lala’s music player features.

As the epitome of a music/tech geek hybrid, Lala satisfies both my hunger for a new, tangible, piece of music (hooray for album artwork!) and my need to constantly stay connected to the digital world. It’s a fun and useful spin on trading music online.

Written by Renee Valdez, A dot com junkie, music lover and frequent blogger at Shopwiki’s Overlooked, a blog showcasing overlooked products from Shopwiki’s webcrawlers.

Tagged: cd-dvd tools • music sharing • trading