Problem with ping

By launching Ping in the latest iTunes update, Apple has finally added a social element to its software. Ping, in essence, is a social music search feature in iTunes. You can add friends, subscribe to artists' accounts, or keep track of what music people like, buy, or review others - those you know and don't know.

Ping seems very promising, if only because Apple has access to 160 million music buyers through iTunes. And, no doubt, this number will only grow. But at the start, Ping is replete with problems from the fact that Apple does not know how to make social programs. This is absolutely not her element, and it is noticeable.
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The biggest problem I encountered in working with Ping is that it lives inside iTunes. And not only lives - he is isolated in it. iTunes is not social. He's not even on the internet. And Ping has no access to other social networks. I don’t see messages from other people from Ping on Twitter, Facebook or anywhere else. Although Ping makes iTunes social, the problem is that I do not live inside iTunes. This is a shop. I enter it, buy goods and leave as soon as possible. Not sure if Ping can make me stay there longer than usual.

Let's start with registration. Ping has no easy way to find people you already know. Facebook Connect should have solved this problem, but it was turned off while Apple and Facebook are sorting out the relationship. The only thing you have to do is to drive in the names of friends with your hands, hoping that they have already registered with Ping, or to send each of them a separate invitation by mail. Let's hope no one has registered their names yet. (The war with squatters and spammers has already begun. Earlier today I found hundreds of Steve Jobs accounts, which have now been deleted). There is no mechanism for importing your friends from Gmail or another email service / program, or inviting your friends from Twitter or other social networks.

In general, you have only one option left - to find one or two geek friends, and search among their friends who else could be added. The only people I could find were two technbloggers, whom I zafrenil in other places for other reasons. I have no idea about their musical tastes, but it seems that soon I will have to find out. Getting started using the service should be easier than what we see in Ping, but this is not the worst.



Once you have subscribed to several people, you can see all the songs that they like, rate, write reviews or buy. This creates a live tape that gives you “entry points” in the iTunes Music Store. This feature also works on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

But let Apple's ambitions in the field of social media do not confuse you. Ping is focused on increasing sales in the iTunes Music Store. It is completely separate from your library in iTunes. You cannot like songs while you are listening to your existing music collection. If you bought a song or album, Ping will assume that you liked it (a bad guess), but nothing from your actual “listening” activity will appear in your tape.

You can only like songs in the iTunes Music Store, but even that will not be a simple matter. For each album there is a large “like” button, but if you want to go to a separate song, you need to click on the arrow that causes the drop-down list located next to the “buy” button. Be careful not to click on buy - well, only if you really like this song.

As soon as you get to the song, it will appear in your feed along with a big beautiful “buy” button - for all your friends. Of course, they can not listen to the song completely before the purchase - only a small excerpt. You can not share your playlists. You generally can do little - except for “selling” music to your friends.

Just ping too commercial. He is not for fun. It does not even have a leaderboard or any visible game mechanics. There is no way to find out which of your friends gives the best musical recommendations - based on subsequent purchases among his friends.

Ping - promo machine for iTunes and musicians. If you follow a band like U2, then they have a special account that allows them to upload videos (and God knows what else). Why can't I upload photos and videos to my tape? I can’t even add a comment or status without first reading, appreciating, or buying a song or album.

And although I’m sure that Ping will help increase sales, and I’ll probably go over it with my eyes, looking in iTunes for some other need, it’s not as exciting as it could be. The most interesting information in iTunes is what your friends are listening to and what they think about songs that they know by heart - those that are now in their library. By simply allowing people to like or talk about songs in their existing libraries while they listen to them in their iTunes or on iPods, Apple will make Ping much better. The ability to share a playlist is also very simple.

Ping could be much bigger than it is now: isolated, controlled and a bit boring.