BeamEcho

Do you wish a hive-minded collective could mold your cultural interests and guide you through the maelstrom that is the artistic soundscape? Doesn’t sound appealing, does it? Well it wouldn't be if it wasn’t designed by Apple—introducing Genius!!

So what is the mysterious new feature of iTunes known as Genius? Beneath the slick and promising name, Genius consists of two easily identifiable parts: The first, adds a window to the side of your iTunes library which is populated by music suggestions. These recommendations are based on music bought by listeners who have similar tastes to your own. This recommendation engine is akin to the suggestions you get when shopping Amazon and its purpose is to intelligently guide you through iTunes’ vast catalogue. The second, less intrusive part of Genius, is its function of compiling a new playlist based on simple criteria. Simply choosing a song will generate an entire playlist of your locally stored music, the mantra being; “songs that go great together.”

I toyed around with the new Genius feature moments after its release. I was impressed. What caught my attention and still keeps me interested in the technology is the unique claim: Genius will get better over time, as more people use it. I love this as a concept.

I tried giving Genius a second, third, fifth chance to see if it really is better after multiple uses. My first experience with the suggestion bar prompted me with the message, "we don’t know this music, so here are the top selling songs at the store." An American Idol album was recommended. In successive attempts I found suggestions seemed more intuitive. Its recommendations had a logic to them yet I still noticed several flaws. For one, a song which was already in my library would be suggested to me.

Another improvement that I would love to see is the ability to turn off certain bands from your results. Give me the ability to block them from my results much like I would an ex-girlfriend from Facebook. Let us give feedback. The toolbar is an improved version of the iTunes store browser.

I did have more success with the playlist feature. I selected a song and Genius actually spat back a decent list. I would, however, like to know what voodoo Apple conjured for this task. Is it based on other peoples playlists? Is it based on the volume and tempo of the songs? Did Steve Jobs personally make playlists for every combination imaginable? Again, I enjoy the feature but would like to hear what the science or logic is behind it.

So if you have an iTunes account and an internet connection you can have a Genius make you playlists.