10:49 PM
Kakrona Chan
Apple launched an update to its iTunes software for Macs and PCs last night.
The new version (10.0.1) mostly adds bug fixes, but the most important addition
is an overhaul of how you share your music with friends on Ping, the musical social network that Apple released alongside the new iPods a few weeks ago.
Now you can “Like” or “Post” a song from your library or playlists with a menu that appears next to the title of whichever song is playing, as seen in the picture above. The original version of Ping lived in its own world apart from your music library, making it kind of a pain to use.
There’s also a Ping sidebar that lets you view updates from artists and friends you’re following without leaving your library. A button has been placed in the bottom right corner of the iTunes window that expands or contracts the sidebar.
No significant changes were made to Ping itself — only to the ways you can access it from the application’s main interface. That’s a huge improvement; Ping’s features were previously so far detached from the normal iTunes listening experience that you’d have to want to use it pretty badly to bother opening it up.
Ping still has a ways to go. The lack of Facebook or Twitter integration is a huge barrier to drawing new users. The service still doesn’t “scrobble” the songs you listen to like Last.fm does, and we’re not sure why.
Now you can “Like” or “Post” a song from your library or playlists with a menu that appears next to the title of whichever song is playing, as seen in the picture above. The original version of Ping lived in its own world apart from your music library, making it kind of a pain to use.
There’s also a Ping sidebar that lets you view updates from artists and friends you’re following without leaving your library. A button has been placed in the bottom right corner of the iTunes window that expands or contracts the sidebar.
No significant changes were made to Ping itself — only to the ways you can access it from the application’s main interface. That’s a huge improvement; Ping’s features were previously so far detached from the normal iTunes listening experience that you’d have to want to use it pretty badly to bother opening it up.
Ping still has a ways to go. The lack of Facebook or Twitter integration is a huge barrier to drawing new users. The service still doesn’t “scrobble” the songs you listen to like Last.fm does, and we’re not sure why.
Other Changes
Apple fixed a number of bugs, including a crash bug
and two visual performance glitches. Other than those and the Ping changes,
we’ve only found one useful addition: Apps that support Apple’s Xbox
Live-like social gaming service Game Center now
have a badge in the App
Store to indicate as much.
Small as they are, these are welcome changes. The Game Center badge wasn’t mentioned in Apple’s update notes, so let us know if you find anything else on your own.
Small as they are, these are welcome changes. The Game Center badge wasn’t mentioned in Apple’s update notes, so let us know if you find anything else on your own.
[via mashable]
Posted in: Apple
0 comments:
Post a Comment