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Huh. I had thought Ping had some sort of Facebook integration. And I wasn't the only confused one.
Confusion Over Facebook's Brief Appearance in Ping for iTunes
With yesterday's release of iTunes 10, Apple also deployed a new music-focused social network feature known as Ping. When it initially launched yesterday, users creating their profiles were presented with an option to use Facebook Connect to find friends who had already created their own Ping profiles. It is unclear, however, whether the feature was functioning properly, as a number of users reported that searches yielded no results.
The Facebook Connect feature now seems to have disappeared from Ping, with many users not even realizing it was ever there. The flurry of activity has generated some confusion in the Apple media, especially after All Things Digital chatted with Steve Jobs about the lack of Facebook integration before people realized that the functionality was in fact partially present.
And Facebook is nowhere on Ping too. Currently, there is no linking, sharing or participation of any kind with Facebook - or Twitter or MySpace either - on Ping, which will work only on the iTunes software on computers, iPhones and iPods.
When I asked Jobs about that, he said Apple had indeed held talks with Facebook about a variety of unspecified partnerships related to Ping, but the discussions had gone nowhere.
The reason, according to Jobs: Facebook wanted "onerous terms that we could not agree to."
I played with the ping thing a bit last night before going to bed. It asks if you want to auto share tunes you recently rated/purchased or manually pick. I think it was a 10 or 12 songs. I said manually. Then you type in a search box. I was thinking it was from your library. But it seems a couple indie albums of friends are also in iTunes (good for them!). When I got to Beatles, the choices were rather slim. That confirmed it. It seems to only let you pick from the iTunes store. I clicked cancel, and went to bed.
Beatles is sorta a specific case with Apple though.
So,
Apple-Facebook Controversy Over Ping Rooted in API Usage, Feature May Return
Earlier today, we reported on confusion surrounding the brief appearance of Facebook Connect functionality in iTunes 10's "Ping" social networking feature that initially appeared to allow users to find friends by checking their Facebook contacts. The feature quickly disappeared from Ping without explanation from Apple.
All Things Digital now follows up with a report claiming that the disappearance is due to Apple's unauthorized usage of the Facebook Connect application programming interfaces (APIs) after the two companies failed to reach a deal regarding access.
...
According to the report, Facebook and Apple remain in discussions about bringing Facebook Connect connectivity to Ping, so it may make a reappearance at some point in the future.
According to the report, Facebook and Apple remain in discussions about bringing Facebook Connect connectivity to Ping, so it may make a reappearance at some point in the future.
Maybe they can do it through LiveJournal.
t /bitch
This is pretty neat. 28 HTML5 Features, Tips, and Techniques you Must Know: [link]
There's some cool stuff coming our way.
Completely random first-world whine....
Remember back when 128 kbps was considered "CD-quality" for mp3s? Of course nowadays, stuff you get from iTunes and eMusic is usually 256 kbps, and I usually rip stuff at about 190 kbps with variable bit rate.
Anyway, now when one of my 128 kbps mp3s comes up in a random playlist, I can immediately tell by the inferior sound quality. And then I get sad.
I can't tell the difference between 128 kbps and anything higher, so I'm good. Ignorance is bliss!
Although now I want to actually do a real test and rip a song to 128 and 256 and see if, with the same song, I can actually tell which one is the higher bit rate.
Although now I want to actually do a real test and rip a song to 128 and 256 and see if, with the same song, I can actually tell which one is the higher bit rate.
Try it with good headphones or speakers.
Also, the more "complex" a song is, the more you might notice the difference. An mp3 of someone singing acapella would probably sound fine at 128 kbps, but the more instruments you add, the more you might notice a drop in quality.
eta: I think my hearing is more sensitive than most people's. Like I immediately notice if a cat walks in front of a speaker.
