Can I please have an application that just does the one simple thing it's supposed to? I feel like soon both iTunes and GMail are going to try to order my groceries for me.
Given how poorly iTunes 9 runs on my quad-core Win7 machine with gigs and gigs of ram, I'm not particularly excited by this news. Wake me up when they've completely rebuilt iTunes. The only reason I keep it around is for my iPhone - I've switched to Zune (of all things) as my music manager, and actually quite like most of how it organizes things.<p>On a less grumpy note, the $99 Apple TV they just launched is pretty smooth looking, the only thing I feel grumbly about regarding that is the absence of Hulu. But that's a topic for a different thread...
It's interesting that this is only for music. You can see this being just as applicable for movies and tv shows - and of course apps. Presumably this is a toe in the water and they'll extend it if it works. But this certainly has lots of potential for extension.
I think this will be the most monetarily successful social network yet. While Facebook has a huge mindshare I don't think they are very good at turning that mindshare into money in their own coffers.<p>Apple is really good at daring to ask for money for their services. While other companies often rely on ads or even more nebulous ways of making money, Apple just asks their users to pay money.<p>I really like this model of paying for what I get. I means that I am the customer, and not the product.
One of these days I hope they'll add the ability for me to sync my iPhone to iTunes at home and listen to it on another PC (most specifically the office) from my iPhone via iTunes without some horrible hack and manually managing my music collection.
Its going to be interesting to see what effect this has on last.fm ...It doesnt have appear to have my favorite last.fm feature, scrobbling, but I admit I use last.fm little besides that. Particular, the fact that it ties in to iTunes purchases could be very popular.
This is how Apple rolls and I must say I am impressed although it was expected.<p>They have long been sitting on one of the strongest and certainly most profitable "social" networks.<p>Now they have used it to do one of the most classical goals in business. Profit maximization.<p>I don't even think this is something other companies can learn much from as most seem to be walking around like lemmings trying to incorporate features to grow their (non-paying) following.<p>Be patient for growth not for profit as Clayton Christensen says.
Facebook must be crapping themselves a little - games, music, video and all the social aspects tied into a piece of software that's deeply integrated into a ton of people's lives.
Bah, they should get their ass together and release an update to their iPods so that you could manage your music without having to use their bloated crap.<p>You know, like the standards that apple talk about so much.
Ping, only accessible from within iTunes? Not a web interface at all? That is surprising to me. I can't participate unless I have an iPhone/iPod Touch/computer with my iTunes installed.<p>Also, he mentioned showing what my friends have purchased. I am more interested in what they are playing right now or are playing overall, regardless of where it came from. iTunes and iPods have been successful because it isn't restricted to only content purchased in the iTunes store, but now they are focusing hard on the iTunes store content only?<p>I can't see that this is going to be as successful as if they had a more open mind about it. What about the MP3s I buy from Amazon or CDs (or whatever) and load on my iTunes? Only tracking what comes from the iTunes store is like navel gazing. I think they miss the big picture that way.<p>Or maybe I am just old fashioned. :)