Goodbye, LaLa.

LaLa.com is closing it’s doors. But not in the sense you might think. They were purchased by Apple in December of 2009 for an “officially undisclosed” amount (17M is the latest figure I could find). Thanks, TechCrunch!

There’s a great post byEd Bott going over some of the initial steps Lala was taking in mid-April to start to disable some of the bigger features of the service (uploading your music library to be able to stream it from anywhere to name one).

Currently visitors are greeted with a page stating:

The Lala service will be shut down on May 31st, 2010. Unfortunately we are no longer accepting new users. Members, you can still use Lala through May 31st 2010. Log in for details.

Once logged in, users are shown a page detailing what the shutdown means for their users, and offers iTunes gift cards for “web songs” (web-play only), unused “wallet” balance or unredeemed gift cards. Lala is asking users to send in requests for check refunds of unused wallet balance by May 31st (be nice and submit early though, ya dope).

There’s also a link to the “Credits” page which goes over the refunds and credits rules in more detail.

What does this mean for paying users?

If you have purchased web songs on Lala or have an outstanding wallet balance as of May 31st, 2010, an iTunes Store credit code will automatically be sent to you after the service is shut down. Click here for more information on iTunes Store credit including the terms and conditions”

We’re still waiting to hear from Apple or any clued-in bloggers about what will happen with Lala’s intellectual property, and when.

We’re all waiting with baited breath though.

Apple? Care to comment?

Joel