Shawn Blanc published an article on iTunes 8′s Genius feature. Not everyone likes it, but I sure do, and that’s because it accommodates the way I listen to music.
I don’t sort music by album, artist or rating. I sort music by mood. Specifically, I listen to music that compliments or enhances my mood. Until now, that’s meant lot of skipping around or compiling time-consuming playlists. With Genius enabled, I simply select a representative song and click a button. iTunes (or my iPhone) does the rest.
For example, I listen to mellow music while I’m working. One of my favorite tracks is Björk’s Vökuró, and the playlist that Genius created* for me based upon it is great: Portishead, Boards of Canada, Thievery Corporation, Radiohead.
Conversely, the Genius playlist I started with Van Halen’s Panama is just as good: Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Smashing Pumpkins, The Cult. As Shawn mentions, it gets better as more people use it. I’ve also noticed that results are better with large iTunes libraries.
Michael Mistretta complained that Genius “…will simply be used to sell you more music.” Perhaps, but that’s not what I’ve gotten out of it. Truthfully, I think Complete My Album is more of a cash grab.
I was glad to see Shawn’s article, because I think Genius gets less press than it deserves. It’s a huge feature.
*Here’s that playlist in iTunes as an iMix (I don’t make anything off of it).
