Ping In Your Library

Apple released a new version of Ping in iTunes 10.0.1. Don’t let the .0.1 fool you, this is a big step forward.

Cosmetically, the biggest change is the provision of a sidebar that stream of updates from those you follow on Ping, but the biggest advance is that you can post and like music in your own library.

Federico Viticci, iTunes 10.0.1 Goes Live with Ping Sidebar

The most important feature introduced in this new version of iTunes isn’t the sidebar, though: you can now like and post songs / albums directly from your Music library.

This was the major goof in the initial Ping release, as I stated when it first came out (see iTunes Ping: Social Music).

Here’s how the streaming sidebar looks, with the post edit textbox opened.

And each song in your library can be liked or made the subject of a post by a pulldown:

So Apple is starting to make the changes necessary for Ping to be actually usable. I am still waiting for recommendations of people to follow, and finding other people’s posts on music I like. Maybe the naysayers will start to retract their snarky commentary, although I guess we will have to wait for a few more ‘minor’ releases like this one.