iTunes Ping Draws Fire From Facebook & Indie Music Community
Discontent and controversies are continuing to grow regarding iTunes' new social network Ping just two days after its launch. A hands on tour of Ping by ars technica showed promise, but some features are confusing and leave much to be desired. The biggest battle is the Apple-Facebook friction that erupted (NY Times) and lead to Facebook shutting off connections to Ping just minutes after it launched.
If you're an indie artist, you've got even more to complain about.
Apple tells Hypebot that, for now at least, artist profiles are by invitation only. Are there workarounds? We'd love to hear from bands who have found them like creating a new user profile to build a band presence.
"This is ridiculous," one indie musican wrote to Hypebot. "Amazon have an artist claim process… It only takes a few days and then you can take over your profile on the Amazon store, add videos, a banner etc.. Why can't Apple do that?"
“Why can’t Apple do that?” Because Apple doesn’t care about people. They care about corporate control and making money.
Jesus, it’s been 2 days since the launch…let them get some feedback and update the damn thing, remember how shitty facebook was at first? I’ve had my FB account since 2004 and it was very stripped and hardly recognizable against todays giant.
Not really relevant aj. If facebook launched a new service today and that failed, that would be more of a comparison.
Apple should know what they are doing by now. The launch just seemed rushed that’s all.
Agree with AJ. Apple should know what they are doing by now when it comes to iPods. When it comes to building social networks, it’s their first go at it.
There are some obvious things missing from Ping, and I would give it about a 4 out of 10…. but to blast them right out of the gate is pretty silly I think. I saw people on my Twitter feed literally hours after it launched saying that it sucks.
Nothing is ever perfect when a new idea launches, regardless of how large or small the company is. Despite Apple’s tremendous successes, a new social network is something they’ve never done before.
It was exactly the same way when the iTunes Store launched…only record labels were able to have product on the store. Once Apple was sure everything was working, it all opened up to everybody.
So, for the record, Apple has multiple innovations and excellent support when needed. Facebook has one innovation and multiple trust infractions.
Let’s see…who to side with?