Get your Nickname back in iTunes reviews.

The other day I noticed that when I was leaving reviews on iTunes that my real name was showing up next to the review. I didn't like this, nor did I understand how this happened. I also noticed other people had nicknames.... not real names.

So what happened to me?

Well with iTunes 10, Apple introduced Ping. Ping likes to use your real name and post it everywhere. I had turned Ping on and forgotten about it. To get my nickname back, I discovered that by turning Ping off, my nickname came back.... and my real name went away.

So here are the steps:
1) in iTunes go to the store area.
2) in the upper right corner is your account name, click it and sign in.
3) click on the button to turn Ping off
4) notice now that the 'change nickname' button appears out of no where for you to edit your nickname.
5) at the time of this writing, if I click the DONE button, Ping magically turns back on. Apple... you sneaky bastards... So to get around this, just click back on the HOME icon at the top of the screen (next to the App, Movie, Podcast, etc.). This appears to fix this 'glitch'.

I don't really understand why Apple introduced Ping, or why I would care to share my music list with people. I just don't care that much about what other people listen to on their iPod. I care more about what Podcasts they like, but not their music. Just my humble opinion.