Apple confirms Lala music service acquisition

IDG News Service - Apple has acquired online music streaming company Lala, the company said Monday, adding to the ways it could offer music to users.

The company gave no details on the price it paid or how it would integrate Lala into Apple products. "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not comment on our purpose or plans," an Apple spokeswoman said in an e-mail. Earlier reports said Apple had bought Lala, but neither company had confirmed the deal.

Lala lets U.S. users stream and purchase over 8 million songs, according to its Web site. Users can listen to a song once for free, pay US$0.10 for a version that can be played online repeatedly or pay $0.79 or more for a copy that can be downloaded.

Apple runs a huge business selling songs through iTunes, but its media player does not currently let users stream full songs.

Streaming music services have become increasingly popular. Both Facebook and Google struck deals with Lala in recent weeks to let users stream songs.

Lala did not immediately reply to a request for comment.