LaLa, a music swapping service via CD, has announced that it will allow users to listen to music in the hopes that they’re going to buy a CD. If they’re listening to free music do you think they’re really going to buy a costly CD? Still, I see this as an interesting move. LaLa has found itself a successful niche in the powerful music business and is trying to find a way to exploit this. It took additional funding (in the range of $9mm) to execute this piece of its strategy. Could be a quick burn.

Meanwhile, this guy has an interesting startup idea that he based on a LaLa epiphany. He’s being added to my RSS! I have the distinct feeling that a service telling you where to save money has been tried many times before. Maybe he should check out my latest list of 20 Great Business Ideas. While this idea may save you some money, it sounds like shopping.com (just more difficult) I liked this post of his as well. It looks like MySpace is now on the defensive; Facebook has attacked.

Overall, I’d have to say that LaLa has proved to be pretty successful in its niche. I look forward to seeing how its winner-takes-all strategy pans out…