After much debate and consideration, we've decided to partner with Lala.com to offer A.V. Club readers streaming music. There are ups and downs to every service, but we feel that Lala offers the most freedom—full songs, tons to choose from, great embedded player—with the least amount of invasiveness. It is, however, very slightly complicated, so follow along, won't you?
The first time you click on any Lala stream embedded on avclub.com, you'll be able to listen to the full song exactly once with no charge. You'll be able to do this for five days with the entire Lala catalog, which is pretty massive. After five days, to continue utilizing one-play, full-song streams, you'll need to sign up for a Lala account—which is 100% free. They just require an e-mail address. You can continue to use Lala this way for the rest of your life, getting one free play of any song from here to eternity. (Many songs even switch to a 30-second sample once you've already used your free play.)
If you want to go deeper into Lala-land, though, you can, but it'll cost you. For ten cents, you can purchase "web songs" from Lala, which means you can stream them any time you'd like through the Lala player. For 89 cents per song, you can download a DRM-free MP3. (Full albums are available, too.) Plus, you can both sign up and sign in directly from avclub.com, which is nice. You never have to leave.
The Lala FAQ can tell you even more. And yes, this is the same service that our friends at Pitchfork.com and Billboard.com use, so if you've already signed up at either of those sites, you're all set. Feel free to leave feedback on your experience with Lala here. (Like I have to tell you that, right?) Go to any music review this week and you'll see the player embedded near the record cover. It looks purty.