Apple and what used to be the best e-music service ever.

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So, I just finished watching Apple's music event. They talked about new iOS updates, iPod updates, iTunes 10, and iTV.

I tuned out most of it, except for the iTunes part, hoping to hear how Apple took advantage of Lala's streaming technology. I have yet to find a music service that offers what Lala had. Web songs for $.10, MP3 for $.89 (often less), social networking, discovery, full album previews, enormus selection, it was such a great service.

Sadly, it looks like the only thing they've taken from Lala so far is the social networking. iTunes 10 has a "Ping" feature that is basically facebook for music inside iTunes (not the web). Follow, be followed, share, discover, etc.

This doesn't mean iTunes won't eventually be a streaming service and offer what Lala had, but unil then there's a huge void in internet music services. Too bad google didn't bid for it more aggressively.

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