

Ping: Why Bother? - elblanco
http://www.osnews.com/story/23761/Ping_Why_Bother_

======
zppx
Ping is a kind of Steam, Xbox Live or PSN, I think that people that thinks
that it will compete with Facebook are misunderstanding the situation (I did
before trying to use it).

~~~
chrischen
Completely agree. It's there just to enrich the experience for iTunes store
users.

------
protomyth
"at this point, the Social Networking thing has pretty much played itself out,
picked its winners, and we've all moved on."

Statements like these would have been music to MySpace's ears at one point.
People are finicky about social networks and another generation is being born.
I don't think we are at the end of the evolution.

------
mcgraw
Because when I'm tired of looking at the iTunes Top 10/100 list and I want new
music I tweet, "Any new music recommendations? I need something new!" Now I
follow quite a few people that I follow on Twitter and can immediately see
what they are enjoying. I would love to see this migrate into applications as
well.

It's a social network for products. Help me find the good stuff in an
oversaturated world.

~~~
chrischen
I too will shamelessly plug my site (yet again). Try out <http://like.fm>.
Still very, very new and I'm only plugging it because.. well.. lots of press
about Ping right now. You can follow blogs as well as people, and you can
embed your profile in Facebook. (It's also free, and works across iTunes,
Winamp, Pandora, and YouTube).

~~~
jamesbritt
"iTunes, Winamp, Pandora, and YouTube"

Any love for Amarok?

(Also, why the need to ask for gender?)

~~~
chrischen
Yea somebody requested Amarok today. I'm going to start that soon. I have to
setup a linux desktop first though in order to test it (if any Last.fm client
developers are reading this, Like.fm uses an identical scrobbling API. You can
email me at chris@like.fm if you'd like to help).

Do you think the gender is intrusive? At the moment I don't really do anything
with gender except personalize pronouns (he/she) in emails. I know it seems a
bit out of place... I guess I can make it optional. However I'm planning to do
stats and analytics and gender would be useful in the future (like what girls
listen to vs what boys listen to, etc).

~~~
jamesbritt
"(if any Last.fm client developers are reading this, Like.fm uses an identical
scrobbling API. You can email me at chris@like.fm if you'd like to help)."

Hmm. Can I just tell (if possible) amarok to use a Like.fm URL in place of
last.fm?

Also, the gender thing is not a big deal, but feels like a big sign saying
"We're going to use your data for marketing purposes".

If you think it actually adds to the quality of the user's experience (via
some analytics and such), then that's a good thing. But my initial reaction is
that all a site needs is a unique way to identify me; past a name and
password, everything else I'm made to enter isn't done for for my benefit.

Maybe I've been thinking about form usability too much lately for my own sites
...

------
Oompa
Perhaps if iTunes didn't suck, and if I could use it in my browser of choice,
I'd like it more. But as it stands I won't ever use it. Last.fm does
everything I need and more, doesn't take up yet another spot in the in iTunes.

~~~
lukifer
I've never understood why the iTunes store couldn't just be a website. Browse
and preview when and where you want, and the iTunes app invisibly starts
downloading purchases as soon as it's able.

~~~
mediaman
The bizarre part is that most of the store actually _is_ a website (CSS/HTML),
and iTunes renders it with Webkit, but it can only be viewed from within
iTunes...

~~~
jamesbritt
It's a weird mix of the worst of both worlds. It feels very much like a Web
site (i.e. slow), yet I cannot do useful Web stuff, such as open links in new
tabs so as to not lose my place when browsing around.

Very frustrating, so I don't use it.

------
robryan
There are still a lot of bands on Myspace for which it is only a matter of
time before they make a switch because Myspace doesn't connect them with their
fans anymore. Given this it makes a lot of sense for Apple to at least attempt
this.

Really though I don't see why Facebook couldn't give better support for bands
so they could go where the fans are more easily.

------
sgt
What's with all those hideous google ads scattered all over OSNews all the
sudden? I don't know about other people, but seeing that many ads will keep me
away from a site.

