There has been a lot of speculation recently about an impending update to iTunes. Version 8.0, among other things, is supposed to finally bring a recommendation engine to the digital media player application. While that's interesting from a music discovery perspective, it is even more interesting to consider what this could mean in terms of an iTunes+iPhone based social networking experience.
iTunes (launched 2001) and the iTunes music store (launched 2003) have come a long way since they were first launched. The application has gone through various iterations, gaining significant features such as podcasts (2005), videos (2007), games, and applications (2008) along the way. In the process, selling billions of songs, millions of movies, and over 10 million applications in the first week of the app store's launch. Needless to say Apple has built an experience that with all it's parts combined is unparalleled in both its features and the breadth of its catalog of content.
While most of that is common knowledge, what most people overlook is the glaring lack of any community aspect to iTunes. There are millions of people, many of them with similar tastes, flocking to the same destination every day, yet they never interact with each other... because they can't. If Kevin Rose is to be believed, however, (as discussed on TWiT 157) that all is about to change with iTunes 8.0.
He says, '... the one thing I hear about iTunes 8.0 is that it's gonna do something along the lines of, um, looking at your music, and, uh, kind of recommendations based on certain things.' In other words, the next version of iTunes will monitor your media purchasing and consuming habits and correlate them with everyone else using the system to figure out which songs you will probably like but haven't bought/listened to. If you're a fan of collaborative filtering systems or internet radio (Pandora, Last.fm, etc), you're probably familiar with the idea already and that iTunes may be considering implementing this doesn't come as a surprise (I found myself wondering why this wasn't introduced 2-3 years ago).
While this feature itself isn't social and can be implemented entirely on the back end, the implementation required for that functionality is so close to a networked experience (monitoring of habits and correlation across users) that they might as well take a small next step and add a visible social layer with which those users can interact. In fact, if you look at the results from a 2006 iTunes survey, you will see the people want to be able to see what people with similar interests and tastes (i.e. friends) are purchasing and consuming, so they can experiment with and pick from the same selection. More specifically, consumers want:
What's also interesting about this approach is that it reaches the exact opposite conclusions of EMR's UK social networking study [PDF]. The study implies that social networks will be the content distribution channels of tomorrow, but the relationship may actually work better in the other direction. With the addition of networking and recommendation features to iTunes, the application could become the most efficient, most engaging, stickiest (always-on), and most profitable social network almost overnight.
But Apple's social networking potential doesn't end there. Remember Microsoft's 'welcome to the social' campaign that centered around the launch of its Zune digital media player? If you don't, you're not alone. The goal behind the campaign, 'to create a shared, social experience that will be shaped by the collective imagination of consumers and will inspire discovery of new music and artists,' was actually a formidable one. Unfortunately an inferior device, coupled with disasterous software integration made the campaign a $100 million failure.
Enter Apple.
With a formidable install base, great hardware and one of the most versatile mobile operating systems around, the iPhone is ready to herald in the future of mobile social networking. Furthermore, with 3G/EDGE/WiFi/GPS capabilities, the iPhone is a great tool for both networking as well as wirelessly sharing digital media like the Zune promised (but failed miserably at). Not only does the device work seamlessly with the iTunes software, but Apple's DRM is more consistent and perhaps more forgiving that Microsoft's (which was partly responsible for crippling the Zune's ambitions).
With a firm grasp on the software side with iTunes and on the hardware side with the iPhone, Apple is in good shape. Their killer app, however, could end up being the cloud. Apple already operates MobileMe (previously .Mac) which faciliates the management of contacts, calendars (events), email, photos, and any other files or digital media. Admittedly the service has been an utter failure since launch, but Apple has acknowledge the failure and is on the path to fix its shortcomings.
The previously discussed iTunes social networking and collaborative filtering (recommendations) system, coupled with the iPhone's versatile wireless communication and media sharing capabilities, topped off with media and information management (and sharing) in the cloud, the combo is no doubt ready to be our digital life (and relationship) manager. The only limitation of the network, however, (and it will be a deal breaker for many) is that unlike every other social network today, the experience will come at a steep cost. Knowing Apple though, I have no doubt it will be an experience worth the cost (especially considering what they had to deal with at the MobileMe launch).
This is a guest post by Muhammad Saleem, a social media consultant and a top-ranked community member on multiple social news sites. You can follow Muhammad on Twitter.
Comments
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Nice post
Posted by: Toga AC | August 27, 2008 8:23 PM
Great article. I can really see these social/sharing features with the rumored iTunes Unlimited subscription. Sending or sharing a playlist would automatically download and add the songs into your iTunes library (or iPhone/Touch over Wifi, iPhone 3G over 3G) if you accept the playlist. No need for the cloud. Other possible scenarios with an unlimited, all you can eat subscription, like concerts & live shows would also be candidates for social features.
Posted by: brian | August 27, 2008 8:29 PM
great post,,i just found this website,,,
Posted by: Daniel Peci | August 28, 2008 2:38 AM
I thought iTunes already had a recommendation engine with their "Just For You" sections. Or is that based solely on Apples "recommendations" and not the purchasing habits of other users? Also, with user reviews and shared playlists, isn't there already a good amount of "social" on iTunes.
Oh and as far as using the iPhone to wirelessly share music, 1) battery life is bad enough for 3G users already, and 2) the record companies are already boycotting iTunes in some ways, forcing them to sell DRMed music while allowing others to sell unfettered copies. If Apple were to build in functionality for copyright infringement on a huge scale like that, you'd pretty quickly see the store depopulated of most of its content, not to mention the impending lawsuits.
Posted by: David Crotty | August 28, 2008 7:44 AM
David, the 'just for you' is based strictly on song purchases.
Posted by: Muhammad Saleem | August 28, 2008 8:49 AM
thanks.
Posted by: izmir evden eve | August 28, 2008 11:24 AM
As the article mentioned, the Zune does all this already, and since the new firmware update and new hardware, does it with a better interface and a better device. Having a subscription service like the Zune Pass makes sharing music an actually functional thing, where iTunes will never be able to get over that hurdle.
Posted by: CP | August 28, 2008 11:25 AM
About. Bloody. Time.
Although, maybe you'll agree ...the recommendation engine functionality is not nearly as useful as it would be on a service like Pandora where you can experience new music in its entirety, with no cost or effort. I don't know about the rest of you, but I just wont buy new music based on a 15-30 second clip. EVER. Nor will I take the time to listen to lots of clips looking for new music. It's just not satisfying. I don't think I'm alone in that. The world still needs services like Pandora to feed consumerism at the end of the long tail.
Does anyone else agree?
Posted by: Steffan Antonas
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August 28, 2008 12:10 PM
Nice, concise, and well written.
But the problem I see is that people will still be developing their musical taste from the radio, so this will just be one more way for people to end up listening to the same crap.
The social networking is cool, if thats your gig. I'd prefer not to be a part of that. Obviously I'm in the minority in that aspect. But having the additional usability is a good thing for the device.
On the Pandora front, I don't see it being taken off my phone by any iTunes update. My device may only have the capacity of 16gb, but Pandora gives me limitless tunes, basically configurable commercial free radio.
Back to the point, nice article, a pleasure to read.
Posted by: J | August 28, 2008 1:12 PM
I'd love to see this feature built in, and can't believe they haven't done it yet. Sometimes I get on and want to buy new music for my library, but browsing through the store, you always get stuck looking at whatever's popular (Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus) and it's hard to find stuff that is in line with your own tastes.
There's a lot of good 3rd party apps, but they really need this feature built right in.
Posted by: Movie Comics | August 28, 2008 1:21 PM
I suspect that Pandora is about to be shut down by licensing fees. So, the new networking features via iTunes will be well loved.
Very nicely written and clear.
Posted by: Mike Williamson | August 28, 2008 2:23 PM
A few points:
Posted by: Adam | August 28, 2008 2:30 PM
What about FLAC support!
Posted by: Nak | August 28, 2008 2:52 PM
I liked how this article had no basis in reality whatsoever. I'm sure you're totally stoked about the new touch screen iMacs that Apple hasn't made too.
Posted by: rdas7 | August 28, 2008 6:25 PM
I'm looking forward to seeing what iTunes does in the way of going social.
Will they have a friend's list and how will you interact with those friends?
Only time will tell but the Apple boys know how to build a following and have loyal 'worshippers'.
Posted by: alexander alaric | August 29, 2008 9:35 AM
Great article - BUT I'm not into this sort of thing. What do you mean at some great cost? A charge to us or at Apple's expense. I assume the later, as I would not down load 8.0 to get charges placed against me, since I do not plan on using this "social" service.
Thanks for the heads-up article.
Posted by: Fred | September 4, 2008 4:31 AM
If iTunes could actually improve on the likes of Last.fm, make its memory footprint smaller, and include some other interesting features as well... I would praise it to high heaven.
Posted by: web design | September 12, 2008 7:15 PM