NPR has named Apple’s Ping — a social network for music — one of the worst ideas of 2010. The reason, says NPR, relates to Apple’s inherently closed nature, reports “Ericric” (http://erictric.com/2010/12/21/npr-names-apples-ping-one-of-the-worst-ideas-of-2010/).
“Why Ping has floundered can be summed up in a sentence: Apple doesn’t like sharing, thus, it is difficult for them to build a social network,” says Latoya Peterson.
“Riddle me this: How did the Apple crew create a social networking site for music way back in September, but only introduce a way to swap playlists four months later?” she says. “Considering how important playlists are to the organization of a healthy music collection, one would imagine that type of functionality would have been ready at launch. But don’t let the new functionality fool you — Ping restricts even this sharing to songs that already appear in the iTunes store. That great band you saw in concert and bought their $10 CD? They don’t make the cut. Picked up a love for k-pop sensation 2NE1 from a semester abroad in Korea? You’ll need to write that information into your profile.”
Ping, introduced in iTunes 10, lets you post your thoughts and opinions, your favorite albums and songs, the music you’ve downloaded from iTunes, plus view concert listings and tell your friends which concerts you plan to attend. It lets you follow your favorite artists to see what they’re up to, check out photos and videos they’ve posted, see their tour dates and read comments about other artists and albums they’re listening to. You can also create a profile on iTunes to let your friends know who you’re following, what you’re listening to and which concerts you’re going to.
Ping’s Recent Activity feed shows you their posts about artists, albums, songs and concerts, plus a consolidated Top 10 list of the songs and albums your friends and the artists you follow are downloading from iTunes. In addition to using Ping on your desktop computer, you can take it with you on your iPhone or iPod touch.