LaLa to Swaptree to Swap to...What?
May 22, 2013 8:31 PM Subscribe
Once upon a time, there was a site called LaLa.com which offered peer-to-peer CD trading services. You listed the CDs you had, the ones you wanted, and it paired up people who had what you wanted and wanted what you have. And all was right with the world. (can you see there this is heading?)
Then Apple bought LaLa and swiftly shut it down, but not before they allowed people to migrate their want and have lists to a competitor called SwapTree, which offered the same service, but for movies, games and books too (hooray!).
A few years later, Swaptree became Swap.Com, got bought out by some scandinavians, and closed the trading portion of their site with no warning to the users. (boo!)
What I'm looking for is a replacement for the above functionality, focused mostly on CDs (ten years in the music biz = hundreds of CDs i'm not fond of), with an active enough userbase that it wouldn't be a total waste of my time to re-list.
I've found bookmooch.com for books, though all i've gotten is requests for my books rather than offers for the books I'm looking for.
Please hope me!
Then Apple bought LaLa and swiftly shut it down, but not before they allowed people to migrate their want and have lists to a competitor called SwapTree, which offered the same service, but for movies, games and books too (hooray!).
A few years later, Swaptree became Swap.Com, got bought out by some scandinavians, and closed the trading portion of their site with no warning to the users. (boo!)
What I'm looking for is a replacement for the above functionality, focused mostly on CDs (ten years in the music biz = hundreds of CDs i'm not fond of), with an active enough userbase that it wouldn't be a total waste of my time to re-list.
I've found bookmooch.com for books, though all i've gotten is requests for my books rather than offers for the books I'm looking for.
Please hope me!
Best answer: On Bookmooch, you don't wait in line and a book is only reserved for you if the poster does so. A book can be mooched by anyone who wants it. You won't get many outright offers on bookmooch; you have to keep checking your wishlist. They will send out emails if a book is posted that is on your wishlist but it will be in random order to anyone wishing. Better to check it daily so you are less likely to miss a popular book.
On swapacd, paperbackswap and swapadvd, you do wait in line and you will be offered items on your list when it is your turn. The item is reserved for you until you order it or cancel the wish. You can put things on auto request. I know this is how PBS works, but the DVD and CD sites might be a little different. I think there is a 50 cent fee for each CD ordered.
Both sites are not a direct trade system but deal in credits. They also have plenty of items posted that you can order at any time without wishlisting it.
posted by soelo at 9:14 PM on May 22, 2013 [1 favorite]
On swapacd, paperbackswap and swapadvd, you do wait in line and you will be offered items on your list when it is your turn. The item is reserved for you until you order it or cancel the wish. You can put things on auto request. I know this is how PBS works, but the DVD and CD sites might be a little different. I think there is a 50 cent fee for each CD ordered.
Both sites are not a direct trade system but deal in credits. They also have plenty of items posted that you can order at any time without wishlisting it.
posted by soelo at 9:14 PM on May 22, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Bookmooch is not very active right now; I've had much better luck with Paperbackswap. There is a mechanism for sharing credits between paperbackswap, swapacd, and swapadvd.
posted by pombe at 1:03 PM on May 23, 2013
posted by pombe at 1:03 PM on May 23, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by jessamyn at 8:44 PM on May 22, 2013 [1 favorite]