Evidence of a Facebook Music Service Surfaces

by Ben Parr

References to a product called “Vibes” have been found in Facebook’s code, and it could be related to the company’s rumored music service.

The social network launched its Skype-powered video chat service on Wednesday. Part of the process of getting started with the one-on-one video communication product is downloading and installing a programon the desktop.

Eagle-eyed software engineer and researcher Jeff Rose was curious about what he was installing and how it interacts with Skype, so he decided to look into the code of the desktop app. In it, he found that the installer supports not one but two applications. One is called “Peep,” which is related to the video chat client, and one is called “Vibes,” which is apparently related to a music downloading app.

Here’s the code in question:


if (paramString.equals("com.facebook.peep"))
return this.window.getMember("VideoChatPlugin");
if (paramString.equals("com.facebook.vibes")) {
return this.window.getMember("MusicDownloadDialog");
}

It seems clear that Facebook has something related to music downloading up its sleeve. Could it be an app for downloading your music and uploading it to the cloud? Could it be powered by Spotify? Or could it just be code that refers to a defunct or discarded product?

Don’t bet on Facebook’s music app being called “Facebook Vibes,” though. There’s a reason why Facebook’s video chat product isn’t called “Facebook Peep.” Still, we know Facebook has a music product coming soon, and now we believe it will do more than simply play your favorite tunes.

What do you think Facebook has up its sleeve?

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