To Ping or not to Ping?

For those of you who have not yet been introduced Ping, it's a social network experience for iTunes.  That means, you can share your musical interactions with followers in much the same way that you would share tweets, statuses and even Netflix activity. 

So, yes, I'm signed up with Ping and even participating a little, but I have to admit that I'm not so sure about it. This may surprise some of you, but I think that my music preferences are just too personal to share with the world.  "What?!?!" you might shout. "Aren't you on Facebook with, like, 4 different group pages, 4 separate twitter accounts and more blogs than you can even connect to your Google Buzz???" 

Okay, the answer to all of that is "Yes, but..."

Yes, but to me music is the most intimate external medium for sharing emotions.  It's poetry with rhythm.  It's a mood wrapped in an audible shell, sex through sound waves.  I believe that the mix-tape (or nowadays CD) is the most inspiring love note that you can present someone.  It says, "When I hear this, I think of you."  Creates memories.  Builds you up.  Breaks you down.  I deleted half the songs from my iPod when my love and I broke up.  I still can't listen to most of them.  I've replaced them with songs about determination, good-will and how awesome I am.  How can I possibly share that in bursts of "like" and rating with stars and comments about what I just purchased and why?  The more information I give you about why I'm listening to what I'm listening to, the more I let you straight into my heart - and that, my friends, is a reserved space.

In short, it may seem odd that I blog and tweet and paint and would share any one of those things with anybody who cared enough to follow, but I'm uncomfortable with Ping.  For now, I *am* using Ping, but I use it very deliberately and with caution.  How about you?