5:24PM
Stick to what you Know, Apple. Ping Sucks!
iTunes 10 came out yesterday and offered one major change - Ping. Steve Jobs touted it as "a social network for music". You were supposed to be able to follow bands and friends and share what music you were buying, listening to and where concerts were being held. Sounds cool right? Well its not. First, Facebook is blocking Ping so you can't connect with your friends. The only way you can find them is though search or emailing them directly and who wants to bother with that. Second, the software doesn't find similar music to what you like for recommendations, but instead only what's popular. Lastly, the software doesn't seem to filter spam and will let you take whatever name you want. Thus follow me, Kurt Cobain!
Apple even had Facebook connect on its own website yesterday morning. However, Facebook started blocking Ping as there was no contract in place. This would be really funny as Apple is getting some of its own medicine, but without Facebook Ping is terrible as a social network. You can't connect with your friends easily. What good is a social network if you can't easily find the people you want to be social with? When I created my profile I picked Nirvana and Alice in Chains as the only two bands I liked. So whom does Ping recommend that I follow? Lady Gaga and Katy Perry! Obviously the software is just showing you what is popular (Lady Gaga already has over 150,000 followers) rather than what you might like that is similar. Another issue is that you can pick any name so there are already six Justin Biebers. I took the name Kurt Cobain. Yes, I have taste and while I don't see myself using Ping much - follow me for kicks! The other big problem with Ping is it doesn't filter spam in the comments. I followed Rick Rubin and there were 82 comments on an album he liked. At least ten of these were "get a free iPhone at . . ." with a link to the same website. Apple needs to get this under control really fast or Ping might be their biggest flop since the first generation Apple TV. I'm a big Apple fan, but just like Google should never had tried to make a smart phone (sorry to anyone who bought a Nexus One), Apple should stick to what its good at. Unless Apple works out a deal with Facebook and gets a handle on the spam, Kurt Cobain says, "Stay Away!"
Submitted by 
Kenny Hirt (iPhone4idiots.com) Sep 3, 2010 at 5:24 PM in Ping, iTunes tagged Apple, iTunes Ping, network, social media
Kenny Hirt (iPhone4idiots.com) Sep 3, 2010 at 5:24 PM in Ping, iTunes tagged Apple, iTunes Ping, network, social media
Reader Comments (9)
Why are you downing Apple for Ping? It's a great start. It's been 3 days! Sure it isn't perfect but it's doing pretty good in my opinion. FaceBook and Twitter integration will come soon enough. What you really lack is patience and appreciation...
"Apple should stick to what its good at". Yeah, that's music. Apple have built a social network around it.
@Chris First, I'm an Apple fan boy, but lets get real. Apple sold the Facebook integration at the Keynote. The problem is they have no agreement with Facebook and IMO likely will never have one. I respectfully disagree that its doing good. The spam thing is a joke and if not addressed very soon will kill it. Again, I think the iPhone is the best tech device of the past decade by far, but I'm not such a fan that I can call out bad products like Apple TV and now Ping.
@Connor Apple was good at music with iPods, but that's old tech now. They also are great with smart phones and computers. They presently stink at TV and this social network like Google is gonna Wave bye bye if they don't fix it quickly.
Remember, this just came out. Nothing is perfect when it first comes out, you have to do updates to get things going.
One million users in 48 hours. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/09/03ping.html
Wow... Do you not remember when anything first came out? Like Youtube, or Facebook? They both blew hard and I was totally not on board. Now through many iterations I would say that have worked out the kinks although Mark needs to get really on Facebook and start being innovative. Right now he is creating the worlds largest stalker database with his throw privacy to the wind techniques. I created my own name here in the blog comment just like ping is doing so what is the difference? Spam exists everwhere, on any page, at any point in time. Apple will start to block and filter it out and Ping should be a nice little network. Nothing huge I would say, but still very user friendly and interesting.
Thanks,
James Cameron (or is it?)
@James - Interesting yes, but I think you are giving Apple too much credit thinking they will change. You really see Apple giving Facebook what it wants (maybe the credit cards in their iTunes database)? I just can't see that happening and that is what this really needs. I don't know anyone using this yet. The software recommendations are stupid and the spam and letting you take anyone's identity is not helping either.
Now if they cut a deal with Facebook I might change my mind as the other stuff is fixable, but I seriously doubt that and I bet they take their sweet time fixing the software. Seems like this was rushed to market like Google Wave.
The outcome of an social media outlet is determined by the quality of the users, if you're not using Ping, it makes it a whole lot better.
What are you talking about? They do know what there doing. They bought lala, which is why there doing this. You make no sense.