Category: Technology Author : Duncan Riley Posted: September 11, 2008
Tags : Apple, iTunes, itunes genius, itunes8
I’ve been an Apple fan boy for nearly two years. In that time we’ve acquired 3 Macs (a Mac Pro, Macbook Pro and Macbook) two iPhones and an Apple TV. I purchased and love iWork, I use iLife for podcasts and photos, I use iTunes to manage our music, and I’ve even started renting movies and buying apps from the iTunes store. So I’m not an Apple hater, but no matter how much I try to love iTunes 8, I can’t. iTunes 8 with “Genius” is an epic failure. Where do I start?
Genius recommendations suck
Per the screenshot above, I own every single Crowded House album ever released, so by extension I have every single Crowded House single. And what does the Genius Sidebar suggest that I’m missing? Well, Crowded House standards such as Chocolate Cake, Mean to Me and Throw Your Arms Around Me. Maybe Apple doesn’t like Crowded House, but the same goes for other albums we own, with the Genius sidebar actually telling me that I’m missing songs that appear on the album!
Genius sidebar is a blatant sales tool, nothing else
I’m not against the concept of the Genius sidebar making recommendations, after all the idea has some merit, and if it actually worked it would be a good way of discovering singles. My problem is that it’s not a discovery tool, it’s a sales tool, and nothing else. Every recommended single is a link to buy the track on iTunes, further promoting the dominance of the iTunes store. Jobs wasn’t kidding when he said that Genius was about increasing sales!
Genius playlists seem randomly generated
They say that the Genius feature gets better with use, but a couple of days in, the Genius playlists still feel random. My playlists include Jazz next to Alternative and Pop/ Rock. Maybe it works better after you’ve spent $1000 on the iTunes store in singles?
At least there’s a visualizer
The only positive in the release is Apple’s inclusion of a visualizer in iTunes, so finally they’ve caught up with Windows Media Player…in 1998.
Conclusion
The convenience of using iTunes to manage media across our iPhones and the Apple TV means that I’ll probably stick with iTunes, but the Genius feature just got switched off. Apple has dropped the ball, switching to a sales push instead of focusing on the user experience first. Lets hope that greed hasn’t gone to their heads, and this is the beginning of a new Apple that looks more like the competition.
Update: there are also reports of iTunes 8 crashing Vista. Score that as another point on the EPIC FAIL path.
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Sep 11, 2008
I dunno. Putting Vista out of it's misery gives it bonus points in my book…
Sep 11, 2008
iTunes had a visualizer before version 8. I think the Genius is a great idea, it seems to work for me. The most important part is making sure your song metadata matches that of the iTunes store.
As blatant a sales tool, I like the Genius sidebar, I've found some great music I had never heard before.
Sep 11, 2008
@pat: Apple's stuff installs all sorts of nasties in Vista I don't want. Like MobileMe and signed drivers that should just work — the Apple promise.
@duncan: Apple is Evil for putting the genius hate on Crowded House.
Sep 11, 2008
Sometimes I think you're on crack Dunc,
Firstly – the sidebar is a replacement to the ministore. If you never used the ministore, you won't appreciate how good it is.
Now I'm a bit lost on why the Genius playlists have sucked for you. How much music do you own? Is it properly tagged? Have you been using the rating system in the past? In my opinion, Genius has significantly improved the usefulness of my iPod touch. Relying on my own playlists started to get stale and there is only so much I can stick on a 16 gig iPod (especially when 10 of those gigs are dedicated to podcasts and video). Now I find myself listening to more music – a quick reshuffle of my multiple Genius playlists brings me hours of good music.
Yeah, I sound like an Apple fanboy – but with with the stuff Apple has been producing, I wouldn't complain if I got a reach-around from Steve Jobs.
Oh, one more thing – 336 un-listened to podcasts? Dude, catch up
Sep 11, 2008
No.sorry you don't have every Crowded House single just becasue you have all the albums. There are many many versions of songs and 'b' sides that are not on the official release of each album. The piano version of People Are Like Suns and So Dramatic for example
Sep 12, 2008
I've yet to find any problems with iTunes 8 and Genius works pretty sweet on my Vista PC. :/
Sep 12, 2008
Just one thing – iTunes has had a visualizer since version 1
Sep 12, 2008
I dunno Duncan. It almost reads as if your met your own expectation it would fail. Genius isn't supposed to think for you and it doesn't proclaim to be AI. Like others have said, it seems to work well enough to find a new track or let you know when a new album is released.
As for Crowded House, it might might be Apple hating them as much as the label hating Apple. Not every label can be found on iTunes. Often it's because the label or the band doesn't want to be found there. Try the search bar and you'll find eight albums.
Best,
Rich
Sep 13, 2008
i agree with you 100% duncan. the “top songs you're missing” almost always shows songs i already have, and “recommendations” is nothing really but links to “buy.” who is going to just start clicking “buy” on random songs? at least link to something besides mostly useless itunes reviews. if apple isn't willing to make or allow more content for music, put links to the band's wikipedia page or myspace page at least.
apple hasn't been doing great lately, with mobileme, genius, iphone problems (even though i still love mine), and safari kind of lagging behind chrome, ie8, and firefox.
Oct 19, 2008
I think your expectations are a little bit too high. It works really fine for me.
Oct 27, 2008
I don't know why people are just thrashing Epic. I feel it's not that bad.
Nov 3, 2008
Man, I love Genius, and I'm quite a hard to please music listener type. I think the playlist feature specifically is amazing. If ever I'm in a certain mood, or have some people over, and I get Genius to base a playlist on a particular song(as you do), I find that the flow and the general mood of the playlists is really, really good. It definitely doesn't seem randomly generated to me. And it picks up on things like choosing tracks by bands that are in some way connected with the artist that the playlist is based on, and choosing the RIGHT tracks, which of course is more important. Also, I don't have a problem with the Genius 'store' sidebarm, even though it is a sales tool. Noone is forcing you to buy the music, and, actually, I've found out about some pretty good artists and bands that way. Personally, I think Genius is WAY better than Pandora…it seems more attuned to specific music tastes, and nuances in taste…anyway, that's my 2 cents
Jun 5, 2009
I'm a bit lost on why the Genius playlists have sucked for you. How much music do you own? Is it properly tagged? Have you been using the rating system in the past? In my opinion, Genius has significantly improved the usefulness of my iPod touch. Relying on my own playlists started to get stale and there is only so much I can stick on a 16 gig iPod.
Jun 7, 2009
It almost reads as if your met your own expectation it would fail. Genius isn't supposed to think for you and it doesn't proclaim to be AI. Like others have said, it seems to work well enough to find a new track or let you know when a new album is released.