iTunes ping
 

Last night, my computer informed me that it was time to download a new version of iTunes (v10).

I have no great problem with iTunes; it's a package that does what I want in a fairly intuitive way, but leaves me enough room to tinker and fiddle with settings to get things how I want them. It's free, and rarely falls over.

I know that there are open source equivalents, and have tried a couple over the years, but frankly it doesn't offend me to be using iTunes, so I'm happy enough to carry on with it.

So - iTunes downloaded itself, and installed itself, and insisted on re-loading my library - and at over 100Gb that takes a while.

I was struck by how DULL it all is now - compared to iTunes in the past, all the colour is gone, which is actually a bit annoying, as it means you lose one of the cues to quickly click the bit you wanted - it's not a major problem, but I can't fathom why they did it.

Anyway, the next thing I notice is that there's a new thing called "ping".

Looking into it, I see that ping is some sort of social sharing system.

It's not clear what, other than the good folks at Apple seem to think me and all my friends are going to LOVE it, and want to share, and .. and ... blah .. blah .. blah....

I also notice, that acording to ping, I am only allowed to "like" a MAXIMUM of THREE genres of music! I can like Classical, Rock, and Blues - but if I try to add Pop, I have to ditch Jazz, if I want to like R&B I have to ditch Classical, and so on. So I can tell people I what I like, as long as I only like what they tell me.

I happen to count amongst my favourite records items of genres that they don't even LIST! Where's "Heavy Metal", where's "Progressive Rock", etc. etc.

So, friends, has anyone used Ping, and does anyone know the point?

I stopped using itunes, so I can't help you out there. Sometime in the spring, a version of itunes fucked over my music. I spent hours fixing it. I'll never bother with itunes again.

According to what I've read so far Ping works best as an exciting new vector for spam.

Spammers attack Apple's Ping social network

I won't upgrade my itunes. It works as it is supposed to for my needs to move music and movies to my ipod.

Why does everything need a social component? Seriously, why?

“Ping is not very social and it is not really about music. It is about music purchases and celebrities.”

—Fred Wilson, A​​V​C​:​ ​P​i​n​g

:thumbsup:

I have disabled ping, as it looks utterly pointless to me - I don't buy music from iTunes store (except if someone gives me a gift card) as I much prefer to own the hard copy media of my music, even though most of my consumption is via iPod from ripped CDs.

One feature that they have incorporated that I like (in iTunes generally) is that you can now select tracks based on whether or not they have artwork - it's a minor thing, but it bugs me that I can have an album loaded with artwork on one track and the whole thing shows as having it, until you play the track and get the "no art" grey note.

Minor, but pleasing.

All they have to do now is expand it from a "yes/no" as it is now, to a "do different tracks in this album had the same art" so I can weed out the tracks that don't share art, thus pruning the size of the directory.

If you like MySpace for music... you will love iTunes Ping.

Other than that... why bother.

If I upgrade my iTunes, does Ping automatically download with it? Is there a way to turn it off or anything?

You can easily deactivate it.

Oh good, another social network. :expressionless:

I've shut it off, and baring a major incentive (currently absent) I will not be switching it back on.

As a follower of the Great Steve Jobs, I have Ping, and one of my other friends from college has it as well.

I don't have cool enough friends in Ohio that like the same music I do or that could recommend songs. I would also like to know if they have found some new songs that they like or if I have found something, I can tell them about it.

The issue is that there are only 36 bands singed up and posting info so far. Now, I expect this number to grow, but I would think promoters should be all over this. If I have a bunch of music from let's say Linkin Park or Fall Out Boy, and they happen to be playing a concert in Columbus next weekend, I might be interested in buying tickets. And if they make it so people who bought their CD or mp3s gets a section of seats, that sounds like it would be a good thing.

Or if one of my friends from out of state posts that they are going to some music festival, I might decide that that is a good idea and should be able to get more info on it.

I think it has potential, and with the initial numbers of people signing up for it, I think they might need to work on it 24/7 to make some big improvements quick, because it could be interesting.

The one issue I have is that it only allows you (currently) to follow and track music and musicians that are available on iTunes. If you have a band that you love that doesn't have an iTunes account... forget it.

I guess it could be useful if you don't have the time to keep track of all your favorite bands...but was it really that hard before? So...yeah, another useless gimmick that people will get sick of seeing after about 2 weeks and just shut off?

Whatever, the whole social networking thing/fad/gimmick is just lost on me anyway so I guess I'll just be shutting it off when I update later (which is oddly a pain in the ass sometimes...it takes friggin forever). I wonder if they'll ever tack so much shit on itunes that it will get so cumbersome and stupid that nobody will ever want to use it anymore. Is it that bad to just have a nice little program that stores music and isn't always bugging me to buy music i probably won't like anyway? Sorry itunes just because I have some Coltrane albums on my comp doesn't mean I'm going to enjoy the latest snot headed elevator music you people call jazz.