OK there I was about to boot up iTunes when my Apple software updater informed me of iTunes 10 and something called Ping.

So as I usually I installed the latest version of iTunes that usually also includes a few bug updates etc and I was interested in what this “Ping” actually was.

The first thing I’ve noticed with the installation is the shiny new icon on my desktop for the latest version, after clicking and waiting for iTunes 10 to boot up I also noticed the option for “Ping” in then left hand of the screen.

I clicked it and was confronted with the option to turn Ping on, then update my profile etc.

Now supposedly this new addition to iTunes is meant to be a cross between Twitter and Facebook, it’s been described as “Social network for music” it allows us to follow artists and friends via iTunes and post recommendations and status updates!

If you are a fan of a certain band you’ll now get updates from them via “Ping”.

Now I’m not personally sure that I will be utilising this new option on iTunes 10 it seems a good idea, but I suppose its early days, so for now I’ve got Ping turned on just to see how it runs and if it’s of any use to help build my ever-growing list of downloaded albums.

Something else I noticed is that now the list view of your music includes the album artwork, but this is only available for albums where you have five or more tracks from the album.

This version of iTunes also seems to have a slight update when you sync your iPod, instead of the screen just telling you that it is syncing your iPod it now shows you a progress bar and which tracks and how many it is actually syncing, a nice touch as at least you know now how long it will take to sync your iPod after you have connected it and strangely it does seem faster syncing my iPod than the earlier version of iTunes.

I dare say there are some other updates and changes that I haven’t noticed yet and will do in time, but for now a question to those that have downloaded the latest version of Apples flagship.

If you’ve not got the new version yet then you can download it direct from Apple..

Are you using Ping and if you are what do you think of it?