Ping, Apple's New Social Network, Unveiled: What You Need To Know

Apple's latest version of iTunes, iTunes 10, will include not only a new logo and new layout, but also Apple's own social network for music, "Ping."

"It's like Twitter and Facebook meet iTunes," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said during the press conference.

Mashable explains Ping's features:

Ping allows users to follow others, just like Twitter. You can follow artists or your friends to find out what they're listening or what they're creating. It has custom song and album charts, a news feed, 17,000+ concert listings, and is available to 160 million iTunes users. Ping will be available not only for iTunes on the desktop, but for iPhone and iPod touch as well.

iTunes 10, which is necessary to access Ping, is already available for download.

Will you use it? What do you think of the new feature? See screenshots, via Apple, below.

See what else Apple announced at its Wednesday press conference--including new iPods, an Apple TV makeover, and more--here.

Comments

[Jeeheon Cho]

09:06 PM on 09/28/2010

this is completely useless without facebook or gmail auto-friend searcher.

[wilray]

03:31 PM on 09/06/2010

l'll stick with MOG

[ALipschitz]

11:19 PM on 09/02/2010

Apple should come out with a mechanical gadget that is powered by a person. Everything is so digital now-a-days. Come on Wonka! Give us something that's wiz-bang! Give us a wind-up automaton. Something that makes us think, "Wow!".

Anyone can make a thin device with a screen on it and software, blah, blah, blah. Make something that MOVES!

[ALipschitz]

11:12 PM on 09/02/2010

Why isn't it called IPing or something else with a capital 'I' in front of it? This is a serious change in direction.

[starwart1]

05:14 PM on 09/02/2010

I admire Steve Jobs' ambition, but there's already a music social network site called last.fm which is about ten times better than Ping. Nice try.

[garder54]

09:01 AM on 09/02/2010

Am I the only one that thinks part of the reason they selected "Ping" was to take a jab at Microsofts "Bing"? I'm not saying it was the whole reason or even the majority, but I would imagine it played a part in the name.

[Sievanh]

09:41 PM on 09/06/2010

I agree

[advertific]

08:05 AM on 09/02/2010

No, this is the real ping http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ping

[wilray]

03:18 PM on 09/06/2010

This is the real Ping

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/02/14/article-1145434-0380914B000005DC-729_468x674.jpg

[Cryostatic]

07:28 AM on 09/02/2010

Requires iTunes?

Fail.

[billybuck]

04:25 AM on 09/02/2010

Firstly, I find social networking online to be lame. I would rather be on the phone or face to face with people I want to communicate with. If I need to know what music my friends are listening to, I can ask them. However, if they let me share music with them, I'd be alright with that.

Otherwise, I just deleted my facebook account and am very happy. I don't need a new account of the same ilk.

[bryanzth]

02:25 AM on 09/02/2010

Well, it ain't FB. Stay tuned is the most likely suggestion, eh?

BZ.

[Kamereon]

01:39 AM on 09/02/2010

Sounds like they just ripped off Rdio. I sense a lawsuit coming.

[LightShadow62]

10:53 PM on 09/01/2010

Another data mining program by Apple.

Looking more like Big Brother every day.

[Johna Lee]

08:42 PM on 09/01/2010

This is the kind of social networking I want. Just about music.

[starwart1]

05:05 PM on 09/02/2010

I recommend last.fm. Ten times better than Ping.

[byrdland49]

08:37 PM on 09/01/2010

Wonder what Ping, the very large and successful golf equipment company based in Phoenix AZ, will have to say about this?

[Cdangers]

10:08 PM on 09/01/2010

Nothing. Ping is a very well known network command.

[koppenberg]

08:49 AM on 09/05/2010

Ping is a very well known active sonar operation that the network command was named for since it does a similar thing.

[Brutus76]

08:04 PM on 09/01/2010

According to the article "iTunes 10, which is necessary to access Ping, is already available for download." My iTunes says 9.2.whatever else is the most current version. Is anyone else able to download the 10?