Apple Launches Ping

As part of Apple’s grand unveiling of the new iPods, Steve Jobs announced a new version of iTunes. Not surprising in and of itself, but what it has is pretty surprising. Apple has included a new social network called Ping. Meant to compete with Facebook, Last.fm, MySpace, etc, Ping is a social network centered around music. You can follow artists you like and your friends. Good idea in theory, but I tried it and absolutely hated it. My biggest problem is that it can only be accessed in iTunes. Yeah, it can be used on your iOS device, but they really need a web interface for it. I don’t want to launch iTunes just to access Ping. I also don’t like how limited it is. It’s basically a ripoff of Facebook as far as functionality goes. You have songs and artists as pages and you can like them. Another big thing it’s missing is showing what you’re listening to. It can show what you buy on iTunes, but it doesn’t let you post the songs you’ve listened to recently like last.fm does.

So, I’m sticking with last.fm. It’s far more robust, and has a huge userbase that isn’t just tied to iTunes. I can install the scrobbler on my PC, Mac, or Linux machine, and it works with a huge variety media players on those operating systems. In addition, it will also scrobble from your mobile devices too. Again, Apple, open networks>closed. But I guess this is just another way for Steve to keep the walled garden alive.