Apple has quietly released an update to Ping, its much-hyped social music network, making it compatible with users' existing libraries of music. 

When Apple introduced Ping, we noted that it showed a lot of promise, but that it had some major limitations, including a very limited selection of supported artists, limited social networking and the fact that it only supported music purchased through iTunes. 

By adding support for your existing library of music, Apple has addressed one major stumbling block to adoption of Ping. 

Here's what Apple has to say about the update:

iTunes 10.0.1 makes it easier to share your favorite music with your friends on Ping. You can now Like or Post about music right from your iTunes library. You can also easily see the recent activity of a selected artist in your library, or of all artists and friends you follow on Ping using the new Ping Sidebar.

This release also provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

• 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.

Does this update change your impression of Apple's new social music network?

James Lewin
Twitter @podcasting_news

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