Very few people would ever dare criticize a product Apple has released. In the following critique I will join the small subset of the population who venture to perform such a feat. The Apple product I will critique is called iTunes Ping. For those of you who don’t know what Ping is, Apple dubs it simply as a“social network for music”. It is included in the current version of iTunes and was first introduced in 2010 in iTunes 10.0. Apple saw the social network as a way to connect all iTunes users in approved countries together so they had the potential to connect users to artists directly and to view what  their friends were listening to. Additionally, it has functionality to find new music, stay up to date on concert dates and top hits, and share songs publicly from right within iTunes.

Now, from my description above, you may be thinking, “this sounds great! I want to get on board!!”, but trying to use the social network from within iTunes is not an enjoyable experience at all. First of all, the network is very slow to load, even on a fast Internet connect (I have download speeds of 50 mbps as I’m writing this). Once the network loads, as it is a module inside iTunes itself, the page that is displayed is confusing. You are shown a feed called “Recent Activity”, which is supposed to intersperse artists you follow and friends you follow. The design of the page is absolutely horrendous. You see a small,unintelligible icon that is supposed to be the poster’s profile picture. If you are going to show a profile picture, it makes no sense to displays it so impossibly small that you have to squint to see it. Next to the icon you see the poster’s name in blue abruptly followed by the post in grey. Below that there is usually an album, photo, or video, all of which are displayed way too small as well. Every post seems cluttered and cheap. Readability is apparently not included in this network. Apple should have carefully spaced out the posts; they look cheap and are very confusing. The posts look like I’m on a cheap forum (like this forum),not a high-end social networking platform.

Another major design consideration omitted is that when you scroll down, the number of posts is not limited and the sidebar menus are not accessible. Apple should have made it so the sidebar menus slide down as you scroll down. Without the sidebar menus, which allow you to view your profile, find friends, create playlists, among other features,there’s not much that you can do with the network.

Now, beyond the “Recent Activity” feed, the language used ont he network is very confusing. They use the term “Artist” to describe and separate music artists from general users, like me and you. They use the term “People” to describe regular users. The use of the term “People” seems very impersonal and ambiguous. Using a term like “Friends” as Facebook uses creates a much friendlier and personal feel and would encourage me to want to use network to connect with my “Friends”, why would I ever want to connect with random “People”. Additionally, this term is very ambiguous, aren’t artists people too? When I’m searching for people, does the site mean artists or non-artists, because there is a huge distinction between the two. The use of the term “Friends” could alleviate both of these concerns.

Another major implementation issue apparent in the design of the network is how it connects to iTunes. Clearly the deep integration with iTunes should indicate that they are one in the same, but the features within Ping seem to indicate otherwise. Three features in Ping, each with their own sidebar module, see picture below, have a direct or indirect logical mapping to a feature that already exist within the iTunes store. Those three services are “Ping Playlists”, “Ping Charts” and “We Recommend You Follow”. “Ping Playlists” exists in iTunes simply as “Playlists”. “PingCharts” exists in iTunes as “Top Singles/Albums”. “We Recommend You Follow” seems eerily similar to the“Genius” recommendations inside of iTunes. Ping does not make it clear how these services differ or relate to similar services with very similar names just a tab away in the“iTunes Store” tab or “Music” tab. I have many playlists within iTunes itself, but inside Ping the service indicates that I have no playlists. “Ping Charts” does a better job of trying to distinguish its purpose the statement “These are the top albums among the people you follow” appears in small print below the label. But that’s a mouthful and it takes you a second to realize “Oh, ok I get it now”. A much easier solution would be to make the title “Top Albums In Your Circle” or something to that effect. If you need a description for a title, change your title! The“We Recommend You Follow” is a much better title and does explain what this section does, but it is not clear how this relates to another iTunes product, Genius. The genius product takes your music in your library and generates a list of music the algorithm believes you would enjoy listening to. Does this section do the same thing as Genius and analyze your music library? Does it make these recommendations based on what you share and what your friends like? The basis of this section is very unclear. A better solution to this problem would be to either use the word Genius in the title, if it is using the Genius system, or a system like it, or to make the title something like “Artists LikeThe Ones Your Follow”, in not so many words. Rewording of such sections on the service could make the Ping experience must more enjoyable and clear.  See the confusing mapping below.

If one of the main goals of the site is to connect users to artists and friends, it sure makes it awfully hard to do so. There is no direct way from the mainpage to add an artist or friend to your circle. It takes extensive scrolling and clicking to get to the artist or user’s page to add them. If you are recommending me to follow someone, let me do it!! Beyond the extensive navigation required, the lack of integration with Facebook is probably one of the biggest issues. The service initially advertised that it had integration with Facebook, but after some issues Facebook had with the service, they closed off their API to Ping. The result is more manual labor required by me to use a service that, at this point, I already don’t want to use anymore. It requires you actively if your friends have an iTunes account and, if they do, searching through along list of users to find them. All this work isn’t work it. Now, they do have Twitter integration and the ability to import friends via email address book, but Facebook integration is a necessity for this service. All of these blunders have left the service a virtual ghost town. The last post by an artist in my feed is from over a year ago, not a good sign in network that encourages sharing.  Note June 05, 2011 in the image below.

Now, Apple did have a good idea, but even Apple makes mistakes. The whole service feels like an advertisement pitch to buy every song or album in iTunes. They should have made a real,functioning standalone application and done it the right way. Evidence that this is the correct way to create a sharing network can be seen in popular music service Spotify. Spotify does what Ping couldn’t do; it connect and encourages sharing and active listening, instead of passive consumption of music. The serviceis an subscription based, unlimited music service. It works as a standalone application for many platforms,from Windows and Mac to Android and iOS. Spotify has a thriving community of users, a sleek, beautiful platform,and the makes you want to keep listening to music on the service. It now requires a Facebook account to register. It is deeply integrated to Facebook such that you are one click away from sharing the music you love with all of your friends and family. Additionally, it has a whole application platform to encourage active listening, allowing you to interact with the music in new, exciting ways. They did what Ping couldn’t do. Further evidence of the lack of successPing has had is that it is being removed from iTunes in the next version, to be released later this year. Ping was a great idea with tons of potential, but Apple’s design and implementation choices left it a social ghost-town.

View the future of social music below =)