BEIJING, Nov. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Apple Inc., acquired online music streaming company Lala,  adding a Web-music service to its iTunes song-downloading business, the comapny announced Monday.     

    But 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.     

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

    The acquisition gives Apple another way to sell music. Unlike iTunes, 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 10 cents for a version that can be played online repeatedly or pay 79 cents or more for a copy that can be downloaded.

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

    (Agencies)