to a general site rollout in open-beta mode in June 2008. The site was openly divided between trading members and non-trading members with different access to certain site features. Registered Lala members could stream songs or albums in their entirety once at no cost. Individual tracks could be purchased in MP3 format for 89 cents, or, for ten cents, members could purchase the right to stream a song from the website as many times as desired (referred to as a "web song"). All members could also upload their MP3 song libraries for personal web access from any computer. In December 2009, Lala made the decision to close their trading service. Lala.com was purchased by Apple, Inc. on December 4, 2009. On April 30, 2010, Apple announced that it would be shutting down Lala.com entirely on May 31, 2010. Original business model The original primary function of the website was brokering trades of CDs between users. After a few years, the company shifted its main focus to uploading MP3s, listening, and buying instead of trading. For the trading function, Lala made money by charging a fee for each disc a trading member receives (this fee was $1 per disc since the website's inception). Upon signing up for the trading service, a user would provide a credit card number which was used for subsequent monthly billings. New traders received a packet of prepaid shipping envelopes and protective cardboard sleeves; new envelopes were provided as required while the user was expected to re-use the disc sleeves from discs they received. Limits were placed on the number of discs a trader could have in transit in either direction at a given time. This protected not only Lala.com, but the recipients and shippers as well. The website had a "buy new" feature which allows users to purchase new CDs directly from the Lala store at low prices (often at wholesale) through a partnership with retailer Newbury Comics. Lala.com also had a gift feature through which people were able to purchase CDs for other members directly from those members' want lists. The recipient was sent an email letting them know that a gift had been purchased for them, and the CD was automatically added to the recipient's Have list. Shipping costs Unlike other sites which facilitate direct sales between users (such as Half.com), Lala.com paid shipping costs, which were recovered as an additional fee to the