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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Applications > iTunes Genius ... not so smart

iTunes Genius ... not so smart
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Wiskedjak
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Join Date: Jun 2002
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Sep 10, 2008, 12:50 AM
 
It would appear that the music I listen to isn't mainstream enough for the Genius to effectively work. Instead, it suggests that I get some of the top songs in the iTMS ... quite the opposite of what I listen to.
     
eggman
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Sep 10, 2008, 01:04 AM
 
I don't pay any attention to the shilling it does in the right column... but the automatic playlist generation is pretty good, IMO. I think it helps to have a pretty large and diverse music library, but I'm finding it to be pretty smart about the mix.

OTOH, one really obvious omission is that it only "knows about" music in the iTunes catalog, which means that you can't create playlists based upon a Beatles song, for example... and no Beatles songs will appear in your playlists.
     
moep
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Sep 10, 2008, 02:06 AM
 
Yeah, it does have it’s flaws.
I created a playlist to match “Nude” by Radiohead yesterday found “Fistful of Steel“ by Rage against the Machine in the playlist… which is pretty much the exact oposite. Both tracks are from the iTMS and my library would have plenty of better fitting choices.

Oh well, maybe it’ll improve once more people use it. I’m not going to ditch my last.fm account for this though.
"The road to success is dotted with the most tempting parking spaces."
     
- - e r i k - -
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Sep 10, 2008, 04:54 AM
 
Ditch your last.fm account? I don't know about you, but I use last.fm for tracking my listening patterns and sharing it with the world. Recommendations I rarely pay attention to, although I do pay attention to the global charts every now and again. Last.fm is not Pandora, which is what iTunes Genius feature tries to be.

Sure Genius only can deal with iTunes database tracks now, but it also will get better over time as more people use it. My first testcase was a relatively obscure Norwegian track not available on my Australian iTunes store and it matched it with both Norwegian, Scandinavian and genre-related songs from my library. So we know it's not just limited to the country specific stores at least. Maybe it will even incorporate non-iTunes songs as people listen to them?

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moep
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Sep 10, 2008, 08:05 AM
 
Well, I frequently do use last.fm to discover new music and it works quite well for me. Mostly the “Recommended” and ”Neighborhood” radio stations.
I know that Pandora is way better in this aspect but unfortunately it isn’t available outside the US. I haven’t found a reliable way to listen to Pandora from Europe so so it’s all last.fm and favtape for me.
yes, I could pay for shell access in the US and tunnel pandora through that but I’m not going to pay for that.
"The road to success is dotted with the most tempting parking spaces."
     
macintologist
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Sep 10, 2008, 11:30 AM
 
I tried the Genius thing out briefly and my first impressions were very positive. I'll try it some more after work and see if it's as good as I initially thought.
     
TETENAL
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Sep 10, 2008, 11:38 AM
 
The Genius playlist seems to be quite good if it's available for a song. For a big part of my library it isn't, but maybe that will change over time as more people use this feature.

I'm not impressed with the Genius sidebar though. It's the same lame results that made the iTunes mini store useless.
     
   
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