Apple is yet again overhauling its iTunes media application and has introduced iTunes 10 with a new logo and a social network called Ping.
iTunes 10 will feature a new revamped logo that ditches the old CD icon and replaces it a smooth buttonized-musical note. The latest version also includes a new list view that displays cover art when your have more than five songs from the same album.
These minor changes were eclipsed by the announcement of Ping, a social network for music designed to help you discover music. Ping allows you to follow artists and friends and have them follow you. This music-based social network also displays a customized Top 10 chart that is based upon your followers. The friends feature also incudes some privacy controls so you can setup a private circle of friends or share your music preferences to the masses.
Ping is a standalone social network that is not tied to any other networks like Facebook or Twitter. What happens on Ping, stays on Ping. Apple is launching this new social network with a user base of over 160 million people that spans 23 countries. The iTunes software will still retain its Twitter and Facebook integration, we’d imagine.
As expected, the Apple TV was revamped and the new iTunes will support that with 99 cent HD video rentals for TV shows.
The new iTunes 10 with Ping is now available on the desktop, iPhone and iPod Touch.
The new features of iTunes 10 should definitely be nice but we are a bit disappointed that we didn’t see more streaming services, as we thought. In particular, we think that Apple could change the game by introducing a subscription music service.
The company has the know-how with its purchase of Lala and multiple companies are bringing subscription music to the iOS products. None of the subscription music services have the clout of Apple, though.