The other day, I was desparate for a quick mix and decided to give genius mixes a second chance. Previously I had lamented about how I had been given multiple iterations of only 3 genre based mixes rather than a true 12 different mixes.
Much to my surprise, there has been a significant improvement in variety. Rather than 4 alternative and punk, 6 rock, and 2 metal mixes, I am now graced with:
- Emo based on Taking Back Sunday, The Academy Is…, and Jimmy Eat World
- Alternative Pop/Rock based on Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jack Johnson, and The Smashing Pumpkins
- Indie Rock based on Cobra Starship, Cartel, and The Killers
- Christian Rock (yeah that’s weird because I’m an atheist but has some of my favorite bands in it) based on Anberlin, Mae, and Relient K
- Adult Alternative Rock based on John Mayer, Coldplay, and The Fray
- Alt Metal based on System of a Down, Staind, and 30 Seconds to Mars
- Adult Alternative Pop based on Maroon 5, Eagle Eye Cherry, and Dido
- Power Pop based on Jack’s Mannequin, Fountains of Wayne, and Letters to Cleo
- Ska based on Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Real Big Fish, and Homegrown
- Mainstream Rock based on Tourmaline and Bruce Springsteen
- Classic Rock based on Three Dog Night and Creedence Clearwater Revival
- Nu Metal based on Linkin Park, Rage Against the Machine, and Papa Roach
I’m still disappointed that there is no default easy way to rate songs playing in a genius mix while listening to them, but I have found a work around for that as well. If you’re using the last.fm Scrobble plugin on a Mac and you have Growl installed, you will get a box in the upper right hand corner of your screen as each song starts and you can easily rate it there without having to leave the application you’re currently working in.
The idea behind Genius for App Store is that you’ll now get recommendations for new apps based on how often and how long you run your existing apps. If this feature worked well it could be very profitable for Apple and the app creators and very expensive for me.
A few weeks ago I shared my Essential iPhone Apps. Those essentials are based on the items I think I use the most often and get the most enjoyment out of use. Basically what I consider my essentials are what I’d want Genius to be basing it’s recommendations for additional apps on.
If you take a quick glance at the top of the Genius recommendations I’m getting you’ll see that the first five recommendations it has for me are not based on a single one of what I consider my essentials. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve even launched those apps more than a couple times each so I’m confused as to what it’s really basing those recommendations on.
I have to keep pressing “More Recommendations” and get about 50 suggestions down before it even gets to any recommendations based on my essentials or any apps I’d be interested in downloading. Not very genius. I hope it gets smarter over time.
Has Genius for App Store given you any great recommendations?
How’s the new Genius Mixes feature in iTunes 9 working out for you?
I think the idea is good in theory but majorly lacking in execution. First things first, why can’t you rate songs while playing them via a Genius Mix?
It’s pretty confusing that you won’t see Genius Mixes at all until you manually go to the “Store” menu and then choose “Update Genius”. It’s takes several minutes to update and then Genius Mixes will show up in your left sidebar.
I’m also not impressed with the fact that once your Genius Mixes are ready, you can’t see what music those mixes contain, what might be coming up as you play the mix, and can’t use the “Go to Current Song” option to view it in my library and see what else I might have from that artist.
The mixes themselves also boggle my mind. I got 4 alternative and punk mixes, 6 rock mixes, and 2 metal mixes.
Doesn’t it see that all the music it picked for those metal mixes is rated 1 or 2 stars? Doesn’t that imply I don’t like it? A genius should be able to figure out that’s music I don’t want to listen to.
Also, how does it make sense for “Alternative & Punk Mix 4″ to be based on Creedence Clearwater Revival. Wouldn’t they be more appropriate for a classic rock mix or at least one of my 6 regular rock mixes?
And since iTunes tracks the number of times you skip a song, I would like it to integrate that data into my Genius Mixes. Right now they kind of suck and I’m skipping a lot of songs.
At this point, I’m crossing my fingers that Genius Mixes get smarter over time and I’ll stick to the old fashioned Genius Playlists or Smart Playlists.
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