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Red's not here. Who would have thought... One of my favorite albums of all time, and Starless is one of my favorite songs.

Or as I pointed out in my article, hardly any Jerry Garcia albums, no Beatles, no Wim Mertens and so much more that you can't talk about on Ping.

"Incorporate Genius. Thanks to the Genius feature, Apple knows a lot about the music in my library. It could know even more by tracking those albums and tracks I play a lot. Using this information—with my permission—it could make reasonable artist and people recommendations rather than throwing a bunch of artists at me that I care nothing about. It could even give me a compatibility rating for people I’m thinking of following by comparing our genius results."

It can't.

"When you opt in to the Genius feature, Apple will, from time to time, automatically collect information that can be used to identify media in your iTunes library on this computer, such as your play history and playlists. This includes media purchased through iTunes and media obtained from other sources. This information will be stored anonymously and not associated with your name or iTunes Account. When you use the Genius feature, Apple will use this information and the contents of your iTunes library, as well as other information, to give personalized recommendations to you."

http://www.apple.com...ms.html#SERVICE

Macalways, on 08 September 2010 - 11:36 AM, said:

More accurately, "It doesn't." But, it could.

ping is great and it has huge potential and Im sure all us Appel fans are more than willing to be patient for this to mature but i wont stand for it sitting still. If it takes over a year to become something of a true social network and not just a way to sale music, ill stop using it. If they do improve it drastically, ill continue to use it. Its young and I understand it having short comings but i want proof these shortcomings are being addressed.

Having spent a week with Ping, I have many quarrels with the service.

Firstly, besides my friends who have similar musical tastes to myself, am at a loss about who to follow.

Secondly, and most annoyingly, it requires me to use my billing name. I don't own a credit card, and so use vouchers to pay for my music. However, my fathers credit card is registered with Apple. I'm forced to use his name to use the service.

Thirdly, In the (admittedly little) time i've spent using Ping, I have found that it does not enhance my iTunes usage/music habits in any way.



I am a (very occasional) Facebook user. To me Facebook has value in that it connects me to people I know. I can see the music, films, tv shows and books that they like, can view their recent photos and can strike up an instant chat. Such things are enjoyable and, to me, are a valuable way to spend my time online. Using Ping has felt like more of a chore.
I get very little back for what I put in.

Today was the day I turned Ping off. Until Apple provides me with a service that I benefit from using, thats the way it will stay.

I would like to browse a list of artists who are available to follow, not just the "recommended" ones. I tried searching, and it was miss or hit - mostly miss. I want to see everyone who's available and make my selection from that list.

The first, and simplest to implement, change Ping needs is the ability to have its icon removed from the source list in iTunes.

I've not attempted using this, but I have some questions.

Is Ping limited to music?

Apple changed the iTunes icon to drop the CD image that was part of it, but iTunes has become so much more than just tunes. What about movies, television shows, apps, books, podcasts, etc...

When people socialize, their conversations bounce around to many different topics, but if Ping is only connected to music, it seems a very isolated and narrow way to socialize. I like the idea of one centralized arena for socializing on a particular topic (or topics), where I don't have to see someone's vacation pictures or read about what they had for lunch. However, this seems a little too limiting at the moment.

I would like to have a single repository for information on the particular artists (musicians, filmmakers, authors, etc...) that I like. I'd love to get updates on their new releases, concerts, or special appearances without being inundated with trivial nonsense. Genius-type recommendations can be a part of that, too.

I have high hopes for the future development of Ping. Hopefully I won't be disappointed.

scotts13, on 08 September 2010 - 12:58 PM, said:

OH YESSS! and even more so on the iPhone/iPod!

I echo the dislike of having to use my real name.

mosley, on 08 September 2010 - 01:15 PM, said:

Absolutely. Having to go by my full name makes it difficult for some to find and follow me.

I don't know. I suspect people behave better when they don't have the ability to hide behind an alias.

I think a good way to get a base of users is to basically copy Last.fm a bit. If Ping offered at least a "scrobbling"-type option for everything played in iTunes (or on a synced iPod/iPhone), that'd be a good start. Of course, it would have to scrobble non-iTunes-store music to be worth much...