Tag Archives: music

iTunes Ping’s Latest Problem: Spam

iTunes Ping is apparently full of spam, yet another hiccup in Apple’s road to establishing a legitimate social network. As Sophos notes on its blog, a barrage of spam links are hitting the music-themed social network. Many of these links are to offers promising free iPad, iPhone or iPod touch devices. Apple released iTunes 10 and iTunes Ping earlier this week and the rollout has been a little bit rocky.
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Hey, iTunes Ping: What About the Bands?

Update: Commenter Bruce Hoffman contacted TuneCore about this issue and received this response: “Thanks for writing! Not only will Ping have ‘People’ accounts, but it will also have ‘Artist’ accounts that allow musicians to upload and create their own pages featuring their pictures, videos, tour-dates, music recommendations and a lot more. We were fortunate enough to speak with Apple today to begin working on getting the first TuneCore Artists Ping accounts set up. We will be able to get more and more TuneCore Artists set up over the next weeks as Apple works to authenticate and set up Ping Artist accounts for the millions of artists within iTunes.” Plenty of criticism has already been directed towards the new social network that’s baked into iTunes 10 — Ping — with an emphasis on the user (not to mention rumblings about a fleeting Facebook integration ). But there’s one contingent of users no one has really mentioned yet: the bands , many of which are still unable to get in on the action as of this afternoon. Immediately after hearing about Ping yesterday, I sent out a flurry of e-mails to band friends, urging them to, “Get on this now!” Everyone was stoked, ready to replace their MySpace pages with revenue-making destinations on the brand new iTunes social network
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Ping Not Available to You? You’re Not the Only One

While introducing Ping , Apple’s new music-centric social network, CEOSteve Jobs mentioned that it would immediately reach a userbase of 160 million people in 23 countries. Sounds impressive, until you remember that 23 countries actually isn’t that big of a number; and if you’re in a country such as Chile, the Czech Republic, Croatia or India, then Ping — just like the music store component of iTunes — is simply not available. The users in most countries around the world are used to products and features not being available to them – receiving money through PayPal or buying music through iTunes doesn’t work for me, for example – but Ping is different. It’s supposed to be a social network; its competitors, Last.FM and MySpace , are available in most countries in the world
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Competition Responds to Apple TV and Ping

Apple made a lot of announcements today, from the new Apple TV to the Ping social network for music built into iTunes 10. Because Apple is entering some new market segments (or, in the case of Ping, some new markets, period) Apple is now a direct competitor to a number of other companies already in the social music and streaming content space. Boxee , Rdio and Roku have all issued statements in response to Apple’s latest moves and what, if anything, it means for the future of those startups. Apple is describing Ping as a social network for music.
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Foursquare and MTV Team up for First-Ever Cause-Related Badge: STD Testing

“STD testing center” seems like number three on a list of “Embarrassing Places to Check in on Foursquare,” but this September, MTV and the geo-location service are aiming to quash that stigma by offering a badge to all those who get tested as part of MTV’s GYT: Get Yourself Tested campaign. The GYT campaign marks a milestone for Foursquare , which has never offered a cause-related badge before. MTV launched GYT in April of 2009 as part of a partnership with Kaiser Family Foundation titled “It’s Your (Sex) Life.” The initiative seeks to help young people become more aware of how common STDs are — according to MTV, one in two people will contract an STD by age 25. For more info on getting tested and staying healthy, you can head on over to MTV’s “It’s Your (Sex) Life” page .
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iTunes to Double Song Sample Length [REPORT]

Are you frustrated by the fact that song samples on iTunes are only 30 seconds in length, which is often hardly enough time to get a true taste of the song? If so, you’re in luck: according to CNET , which cites multiple sources with knowledge of the matter, Apple plans to extend the length of song samples to a far more enjoyable one minute. Apple declined to comment, but it’s quite possible that it will announce the change at a music-related event tomorrow . Apple is also rumored to unveil a new iPod touch at the event, while a launch of a 99-cent TV show rental program, as well as a relaunch of Apple TV under the new iTV name, are also a possibility. More About: apple , ipod , itunes , music For more Apple coverage: Follow Mashable Apple on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Apple channel Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad
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Michael Jackson Is Nokia’s Most-Downloaded Musician

Never mind the Beiber; here’s the King of Pop. He’s posthumously beat out every recording artist to become the most-downloaded musician of all time, based on sales data from Nokia. According to data collected by Nokia’s Ovi music store, Michael Jackson has surpassed Elvis Presley, Lady Gaga and a horde of the world’s most popular recording artists to achieve this title. Some speculate Jackson’s death last year and tributes surrounding what would have been the singer’s 52nd birthday this week to a surge in sales. In a release, musicologist Geoff Roberts noted Jackson’s perennial popularity, saying, “Michael Jackson has always been a pop music legend.
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How to Create the Ultimate Exercise Playlist [Exercise]

Studies show that the rhythmic speed of your music influences your athletic performance. Here's how to use that information to create the ultimate playlist for your workout. More
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Arcade Fire’s Experimental New Video Shows What’s Possible with HTML5

Watch out MTV, the music video has just got a new gold standard. Indie band Arcade Fire has released a vid for the song “We Used to Wait” off of their new album, The Suburbs , and it’s basically one big ball of HTML5/Google Maps/musical goodness. The video was announced today on the Official Google Blog , which details exactly what elements went into its creation. Dubbed “The Wilderness Downtown” (an undertaking created by writer/director Chris Milk ) the video is a new kind of musical experience, reminiscent of — but much more advanced than — hypertext storytelling of old.
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