More Details on iTunes 9's Social Media Integration?

[MacRumors]

Boy Genius Report provides additional information on the rumored updates to iTunes 9 initially reported over the weekend, which included the addition of Blu-ray support and the ability to organize iPhone applications, as well as some form of social networking integration.

The same source who provided the initial information gave additional details on the social networking integration, describing that it "seems to be part of a bigger social networking push by Apple" and that the application would be a separate application from iTunes, merging multiple social networking services into a single interface. This social networking application would allow users to share music and update their status on multiple networks at once.

- The social networking integration that we reported iTunes 9 would have seems to be part of a bigger social networking push by Apple. We've been informed that Apple has plans to tie iTunes 9 into a "Social" application that they plan to release in the future. It was said that the application (separate from iTunes) will be similar to Yahoo's OneConnect offering and consolidate all your social networking services. (iPhone application? Desktop app? Wasn't clarified to us).

- The application will allow you to broadcast what music you're currently listening to, allow you to share your music with people on your network, connect with your friend's friends (no clue on that one), and update all of your statuses at the same time. ITunes 9 will let you broadcast music statuses as well.

Regarding iPhone application organization, multiple options will reportedly be available to let users sort applications "alphabetically, by genre, date added, and of course, custom arrangement."


Article Link: More Details on iTunes 9's Social Media Integration?

 

[K3mp]

That sounds ok. I don't really care about what song people are listening to though.

 

[bluedog3401]

As long as they don't call their sharing music with your friends "squirting". Sheesh, there's something Microsoft got wrong.

 

[RMo]

The article also says, "again, this isn’t confirmed and some of it seems a little far-fetched, but let’s see what happens here. It’s going to get interesting."

I think they hit the mark on the "far-fetched" part, but that's just me.

Edit: PS - You can pretty much already broadcast your iTunes songs as statuses with iChat, Adium, and other programs (including some for Windows). And you can already "share" your music with yourself via library sharing, but I'm not sure that Apple would want to let you share it with friends (for legal concerns--you have to read enough "don't use this except for yourself" warnings when you share your own library as is). Far-fetched, indeed.

 

[KingYaba]

That sounds ok. I don't really care about what song people are listening to though.

It's just like sharing pictures of your pet. Only you care.

 

[Akzel]

Call me a grumpy old man, but all I wanted was a bloat-free, snappier iTunes. :\

 

[mavis]

Call me a grumpy old man, but all I wanted was a bloat-free, snappier iTunes. :\

NP. It's a standalone app ...

 

[thrice]

I'd love a feature that adjusted app placement based on how frequently I opened apps. Kind like a smart app organization thing. All the apps I use the most would be on the front page all the time and it would adjust over time. Might help to determine what stays on the phone and what gets booted off.

 

[Sky Blue]

That sounds horrible

 

[Vincenzok]

Hopefully this doesn't spell the end of the Last.Fm app on the Iphone.....

 

[macintel4me]

It's reasonable to conclude that your iTunes user account could become a competitor to an Open ID like service. The difference being the Open ID doesn't have credit card information associated with it. Hmmmm....

 

[Kelmon]

Sounds like one of those things you have to see to "get". Roll on September, is all that I can say on the subject.

 

[zw-gator]

That sounds horrible

I agree...I'm not buying any of these rumoured iTunes updates.

Who really wants social media integration in iTunes? More bloat? No thanks

And what Mac has a Blue Ray drive?

If iTunes was going to support Blu Ray, the Mac line-up would have to be updated and Blu Ray support would be been announced at the WWDC 2009.

 

[FSMBP]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of this social network trend that everyone's moving to. On Facebook, I update my status if I want people to know what I'm listening to - sometimes I don't care to share it.

And if it's a standalone app, that would be great - another app I don't have to open.

 

[Truffy]

As long as it's a separate app that I can switch off/delete I really don't care. But I don't want iTunes to get more bloated with even more pointless features than it has already. And I don't want social networking shoved down my throat, especially if it can get me on the wrong side of the RIAA's ****** stick, albeit unknowingly.

 

[TheSpaz]

It's just like sharing pictures of your pet. Only you care.

...or telling someone a dream you had last night (unless it's x-rated of course ).

 

[Fluffy Bunny]

Also, in BGR comments there are some good points about this being a fake. In the screenshot with the About screen, there is no shadow around the About screen and in the upper left corner of the about screen there is a square pixel at the "rounded" edge. Basically what it would look like if I used my photoshopping skills.

 

[Aurial]

Hmmmm, this Social Network thingy sounds a bit to me like a sort of Synergy type thing, as seen on the Palm Pre.

This is something that Apple is getting left behind with in the iPhone OS in my opinion. My brother has just got an HTC Hero, and Android does a similar thing. It's very cool and useful. I see Nokia are doing similar things with the N97 also.

Of course it's all supposition at this point, but if they introduced a service to amalgamate all your social networking accounts this seems like it could be the next step?

 

[TheSpaz]

Everyone here that is saying it's stupid and dumb today will be praising it when Apple announces it. Happens every time.

 

[t0mat0]

I'd rather have the Sensor support that iSpaz said was hiding in 8.2

Least if it's iTunes 9, once rewritten and updated, it'll be iTunes X, in line with Quicktime's version.
SOmething like MusicPlasma, for a tablet, with Cocktail might be cool - Genius Take Two in a way. Apple, like Google, is building a great set of data showing preferences, likes, dislikes, and associations for music and video purchases. If they could open that out a bit feature wise, that might give get more sales.

 

[TheSpaz]

I'd rather have the Sensor support that iSpaz said was hiding in 8.2

Least if it's iTunes 9, once rewritten and updated, it'll be iTunes X, in line with Quicktime's version.
SOmething like MusicPlasma, for a tablet, with Cocktail might be cool - Genius Take Two in a way. Apple, like Google, is building a great set of data showing preferences, likes, dislikes, and associations for music and video purchases. If they could open that out a bit feature wise, that might give get more sales.

I was thinking about this just a few days ago... when is Apple going to re-write iTunes in Cocoa? Isn't iTunes mostly Carbon still (since it was ported from Mac OS 9)? I thought they were phasing out Carbon and converting everything to Cocoa... am I wrong?

 

[Shookster]

Also, in BGR comments there are some good points about this being a fake. In the screenshot with the About screen, there is no shadow around the About screen and in the upper left corner of the about screen there is a square pixel at the "rounded" edge. Basically what it would look like if I used my photoshopping skills.

Yep, and that "9" looks far too big. Those photos are definitely fake.

 

[Cynicalone]

last.fm integration would be a wonderful thing.

 

[yoshinatsu]

Couldn't care less about Facebook & Twitter intergration, and this whole "social" thingie, although native Last.fm support, as it appears on those screenshots, would have been nice.
It's a useful service, unlike the social networking.

 

[NAG]

This isn't surprising if true. Part of the survey they gave to mobileme subscribers included reference to social networking.

I don't really care about this feature myself. Maybe if they included something like that Netflix theater that the xbox has.

I was thinking about this just a few days ago... when is Apple going to re-write iTunes in Cocoa? Isn't iTunes mostly Carbon still (since it was ported from Mac OS 9)? I thought they were phasing out Carbon and converting everything to Cocoa... am I wrong?

They've been doing it kind of slowly. Despite what a lot of people think there is no real magical advantage to having a cocoa app over a carbon app other than 64bit if your app is something like photoshop and the fact that carbon is going to be depreciated someday.