Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Whatevs My iTunes Genius Is an Idiot
Posted by D Patrick Rodgers on Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 12:10 PM
Virtually every time I open iTunes, I'm prompted with a message. Something along the lines of "iTunes v8.0.3.45 now available for download. Download now?" Initially the changes were helpful, but now they're increasingly trivial and occasionally not even noticeable. The most blatant of these recent "improvements" is the nefarious Genius Sidebar.
Genius' intention is to provide the listener with unfamiliar albums or similar artists; it can also formulate playlists from your library based on a "seed" song. I first have to say that even if it were flawless, Genius doesn't do anything for me that All Music and Adam Gold don't do already. What's worse, it's done in a much more intrusive manner. Yes, I know I can make Genius go away, but I always find myself wanting to give the thing a chance. But when listening to Roy Orbison, my Genius recommended The Bangles, Journey, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna and Debbie Gibson. While I was enjoying Neutral Milk Hotel, my Genius thought I might want to check out The Decemberists or Okkervil River. Next thing I know, my Genius will be telling me to stab myself in the ears or park my car in the garage with the motor running.
Is there anyone who finds this thing beneficial? Am I overlooking some key feature that makes Genius badass? I'm afraid iTunes is swiftly becoming the Coors Light of music software, forever fearful of losing its footing, steeped in neurosis and self-doubt. I don't need a frost-brewed liner or a temperature sensitive label to enjoy a cold one. I liked you just the way you were.
But on an interesting side note, while listening to Wilco's A Ghost Is Born, Genius recommended the likes of one Missus Butterfly Boucher. So, you know. There's the local angle. Visual proof of Genius' iTardation after the jump.
O Rly?
You don't say.
Fail.
Comments (13)
Showing 1-13 of 13
The "Genius" addition was really the new playlist functionality which I really like. It works great for me as it pulls from my own library. I quickly hid the recommendations which is what you are posting about. They just put the "Genius" name on the Itunes store recommendations feature in older versions of itunes. I do agree with the too often updates, that could slow down a bit and I would be happy.
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I'm pretty sure the latest version of itunes caused my laptop to crash. of course, vista crashes if something gives it an even remotely funny look.
i'd say the NMH recommends are pretty straight on.
i think like most wizards and let-us-do-it-for-you features, this thing works much better for amateurs and folks who aren't quite as schooled in music. but for us music snobs, it's less than useless. chances are, it's not going to turn up a band i haven't heard of, and in a lot of cases, it hasn't heard of the bands i'm listening to.
before some poor fool wondering if there are any other bands that sound like that new group The Postal Service he just discovered, i imagine it has at least a little utility.
itunes, ipods, and apple in general can all bite a rod. you people should listen to yourselves. you're just frustrated because itunes doesnt have an embedded search engine so you can check to see if its alright to be seen listening to this or that particular band. if you want to actually listen to new music, as opposed to hoarding and managing it, go to pandora.com and close your damned itunes.
really? you're going to sit there and diss somebody for embracing iPods and iTunes and then turn around and act like Pandora is all punk rock? it's definitely better than genius, but i'd hardly say it's light years ahead.
the hipster insecurity card is a little weak. if you think rogers, gold, maloney, and the other writers of this blog don't know more about "uncool" music than we do about latest, hippest indie bands, have a beer with any one of us and see if we don't bore you to tears with any given submovement in the last 100 years of pop culture.
look, i had a pre-thanksgiving stomach dilation lunch at work and the comment turned out a little on the fussy side. so there.
i dont think pandora is the least bit punk, simply pragmatic and efficient. which is my beef with all things apple. too invasive, too bossy.
Comfortable? I'll have you know I'm exceedingly uncomfortable the majority of the time. Great sense of humor you got there, though.
Oh man, barf @ The Decemberists, Bright Eyes, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, & that asshole Surfin' Stevens. Worst recommendations ever.
All Genius is saying is that people who listen to NMH also tend to listen to The Decemberists. Wisdom of the crowds, y'know? Granted, these are the same crowds that just trampled a Walmart employee to death, so proceed with caution.
I hit on the genius bar when I was playing NMH and it started playing Fastball. That is brilliant!!
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