On Friday Apple released iTunes 10.0.1, fixing a few bugs, but above all updating the Ping musical social network introduced in iTunes 10.
Apple lists the following change in its release notes:
Addresses an issue where the picture quality of a video changes depending on whether the on-screen controls are visible.
Resolves an issue where iTunes may unexpectedly quit while interacting with album artwork viewed in a separate window.
Fixes a problem that affects the performance of some third-party visualizers.
Addresses an issue where the iTunes library and playlists appear empty.
Resolves an issue that created an incompatibility with some third-party shared libraries.
But the biggest change in this update is the addition of a Ping sidebar in iTunes. Taking the place of the previous Genius sidebar, the Ping sidebar is designed to offer constant access to Ping information, with real-time updates.
To display this sidebar, click the little sidebar button at the bottom-right of the iTunes window, or choose View -> Show Ping Sidebar. This menu command has the same keyboard shortcut as the now defunct Genius sidebar: Command-Shift-G.
When you display the Ping sidebar, you’ll see recent activity from friends and artists you follow. If you select a song, you’ll see additional information: in some cases, the song or album will display at the top of the sidebar; in others you’ll see information about the artist and posts they have made.
