REPSONSE TO ANOTHER STUDENT'S WEB 2.o post.

Alicia's Blog

http://aliciakalb.blogspot.com/
Friday, October 9, 2009

bp6_20091009_Web 2.0 Tools Lala

Web 2.0 Tools - Lala

When I was researching music Web 2.0 tools, I wanted to find a tool that would allow me to take the music that I have on my computer and have a copy online. A big part of music education for me is having my students listen to music. Often I would use my iPod during class to have my students listen, but in the event that I cannot hook up my iPod to a speaker system, I need a way to listen to with my students. The Web 2.0 tool that I found that meets this need is called Lala (http://www.lala.com). Not only does it allow users to listen to complete tracks and albums before purchase, but it allows you to upload you entire music collection and play it from anywhere in the world. There is also the social aspect of the site, which allows you to listen to friends’ playlists and discover new music.

Besides having students listen to and analyze music, I would also use this tool for daily journal assignments. In my music tech class, I asked the students to complete a daily journal. I would play a piece of music and they had to answer the question on the board. Towards the end of the semester I would have the students create a journal entry for the class. Unfortunately it was more trouble than it was worth, because it was such a hassle having each student bring in a song. Some students brought in their iPods, which technically broke school rules, many told me which song they wanted to play, which meant that I had to find it, and some used online radio tools to play their music, but it only played a portion of the song. If I would have known about Lala last year, life would have been much easier. Each student could create their own account and upload their music to the platform. Then all they would have to do would be to log in to play their assignment. We could also use this program to save their own compositions that they created in class.

References:
Lala. (2009). Listen for free on lala. Retrieved October 9, 2009 from http://www.lala.com
















My Response:
I've heard of Lala prior to Alicia's post. The Full Sail Music History class found this product in a response the better functionality than iTunes. When it comes to large scale distribution to your students of music Lala offers a better platform for gifting credits or specific songs.

After reading Alicia's post I naturally when to research more. "The social networking aspect of the service combines different ideas from more general social networks such as Twitter and Facebook and does a good job of serving recommendations, aiding music discovery, while not duplicating unnecessary functionality" (Neagu, 2009). I was shocked how social this music site was. I think that Lala.com is a great alternative to iTunes and Pandora.

Also check out emusic.com and a change from iTunes. It's the second largest online music store with the recommendation aspects of Lala.com (Lardinois, 2009).


References
Lardinois, F. (2009). Four approaches to music recommendations: Pandora, Mufin, Lala, and eMusic. Retrieved October 10, 2009 from http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/music_recommendations_four_approaches.php

Neagu, S. (2009). Lala- Really cool new site for music streaming & downloads. Retrieved October 10, 2009 from http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/lala-the-best-new0service-for-music-downloads