All of the sudden, things have picked up. Since Sunday, I've sent 5 CDs, and am getting 5 in return. Sweet.

:lol: I just added a couple new CDs to my want list. Cleared some out and an hour later one is on its way. I guess I wasn't maxed out.

You'll know when you're maxed out. A message pops up saying, "You cannot ship out until you receive some more CDs." I've found it's best to stay ship throttled if you want to get more CDs in quickly. If you're not throttled, though, you could be in trouble. There's no incentive to ship CDs to people who aren't shipping out. So, stay throttled, get a few in, and ship a few more out.

the Lala store has some good prices on new cds. I got some Eno remasters for like $7 last week (prices went up shortly after) and just bought XTC's Skylarking for $6+ shipping.

I added a couple to my list. I checked to see if there was anyone else in line by temporarily adding one of them to my have list first. No one else wants it and it isn't rare or anything, so we'll see if I ever get it...

I'm the other way around. I haven't shipped in a long while, only received. I guess a similar message will pop up then.

Your green light will change as you approach your receiving limit. First yellow when you're approaching the limit and then red when you hit the limit.

I have to take a moment here to express my continued admiration of LaLa.

I average about 6 cd's a month being shipped to me. My want list is only about 30-40 titles and I have completed about 420 trades since March of 2006.

I even get a few surprises once in awhile. A sealed copy of Bjorks latest album. A couple imports here and there that would have cost me 30-40 dollars.

And most recently I had the latest album by Linkin Park on my want list. Someone not only sent a sealed copy, but it was the limited edition book version that comes with a DVD as well. It retails for about 30 dollars new.

Also, I recently have been invited to a Beta version of a new LaLa that allows you to upload your Itunes library and then you can access from anywhere in the world with a internet connection. You can then load your Ipod from anywhere. I haven't tried it yet so I'm not sure how they get around your Ipod being chained to one computer....

Hey, it's these continued improvements, and the ongoing sense of community that makes not only LaLa but places like DVDTalk a fun place to be.

You're definitely the exception and not the rule. Hell, i'm lucky to get the artwork (even though i'm artwork only). And i'm not even going to start about the tray art again. I still can't figure out why it's so hard for them to fix their definition to include the tray art. -ohbfrank-

I don't get why people fold the tray art when it clearly fits in the envelope.

I think it's because the ends can easily get stuck in the adhesive and rip when the envelope is opened.

I've gotten front and back art with nearly every CD since the beginning, and complete digipaks most times, too. Never had any tear coming out of the envelope either (and I'm usually pretty careless opening those things!)

As for the service itself, I've only gotten four discs in almost as many months. Anyone aware of other CD swapping sites I could try since Lala is all but dead for me?

I probably average a bit higher on per month trades, although it definitely goes in spurts. I usually have a ship request list of about 40 at any given time, but many of them are CD's I haven't decided upon keeping or shipping so they just sit there...my dry spells...but then every couple weeks I'll get 5 or 6 to ship at once, and that's about the average I like to keep it. I'm already overwhelmed by all the music I've received and not been able to listen to yet.

I've received a few surprises in that I didn't think certain albums or artists would EVER show up in my inbox, but no new cd's, no rare cd's. That's fine with me, however, as I don't really expect it for $1.75 + cd. Sounds like you've got some really good karma going on there.

Yeah I got invited to the beta also. First thing I noticed which I was rather apalled about since I warned against it a long time ago on the forums was the ability to upload your music collection to the lala server. This is essentially what got mp3.com in trouble many years ago back in the day. At least they had SOME authentication requirements in that you had to actually let the software scan your cd before it would unlock the music. I can just see lala getting sued over this just like mp3.com was, although I certainly hope that doesn't happen.

I hear people complain and whine and moan day in and day out on the lala forums, but, in the end, the trading is what I'm there for primarily and as long as I'm receiving CD's occasionally (and really why would I ever be 'disappointed' in a receive since it wouldn't be on my want list if I didn't, well, 'want' it) I'll stick with the service.

Michael

There has been an increase for me as well. Just put in 2 Howard Jones live CDs over the weekend, and got notice they are on the way to me :)

I decided to get off my ass and ship some out. I've got 8 sitting here and half of them are going to Florida. Odd.

At any rate while I was going though them a new one popped up on my list to dump which rarely happens. You have to be extremely lucky to get rid of the true shit. At any rate I managed to unload this sucker on some hapless soul:

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/9...zzzzzzzhg6.jpg

I seem to miss trade's with LaLa. Is there some other way in being notified when there is a trade request?

I tried to find a plug-in for Firefox but didn't find anything.

Thanks
~m~

If anyone is still using my program, change the LaLa page to "/frontend/action/trade" (without the quotes), change the action to take so that it opens up that same URL, and then hit update.

For example, my settings:
LaLa Page: /frontend/action/trade
Action to take: "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" http://www.lala.com/frontend/action/trade

Check out page one of this thread.

Thanks for the update, Jeremy.

Jeremy, is your program still working for you? For some reason, I'm getting the "Failed to find magic phrase" error. I've updated the cookie info a couple of times, I've done the changes you stated above (which worked for a short time), and I've used both versions of your program.

Any idea what's happening? I can get jacquer's lalinator program to work, but prefer yours.

So after receving 67 CDs I just received my first CD that is scratched all to hell. It is Weird Al's "Lynnwood" disc which is double sided. Both sides look like shit. It still plays fine, at least the audio side, I haven't checked the DVD side yet. It is so scratched though that I wouldn't be comfortable sending it out again when I get tired of it.

It falls between the "received in good condition" and "received broken." How do you guys report these?

i woudn't find that acceptible at all. i'd report it as damaged.

If it plays all the way through without skips or blips, then report it as good condition. I'm surprised it doesn't have SOME defect if it is as scratched as that. Have you listened to it all the way through?

Michael

Most of the CDs I get look like this. What the hell do people do with these things, anyhow?

Most of the CD's I get look just fine and I've traded 728 on lala. I've gotten maybe 15-20 that are a bit worn, but the overall percentage is quite low. From what people seem to post on the forums there, it would seem that the only people trading cd's deliberately use the trading network to get rid of their bad cd's, but that's not what I've found at all (even as art optional)

Michael