iTunes 8 - My opinion of Genius mode

[MSIC]

Well after around a week or so of the Genius option, i finally turned it on & let it scan and upload my stuff to Apple. Some might say that's a stretch too far already! LOL!
However.... it's quite good actually.

On the one hand it's suggesting a whole bunch of tunes that i have but have never really paid much attention to, and i'm finding hidden gems that i didnt know i had.

It is also suggesting some itunes tracks to buy, and yes it is a bit of a marketing gimick thing, however that also has been quite interesting, again i'm finding some quite obscure stuff (well, for me at least with my seeming middle-of-the-road tastes! And i thought i was broad minded!).

I'm impressed, and i have to admit that i've dedicating quite a bit of time trying to get my head around the various algorithms that must be at play here.
It looks like some of it must be based on playlists that people have made, and probably in part based on ratings given (perhaps by me, probably by others too). Looks like clever stuff.
Well done the bods at apple, someone's done their homework and it's all good so far.

[directhex]

it's a bit also-ran

i had the function in Banshee for linux months ago

[MSIC]

Really? I've heard interesting things about Banshee but never installed it so far. Might give it a go.
I have to say (with absolutely no basis in fact whatsoever) i'd be very surprised if Banshee is as sophisticated as iTunes appears to be so far.
Worth a look though.

[TheAnimus]

can't help but feel this technology is better placed in something like pandora, or even musicovery.

[directhex]

http://hop.at/mirage/

all the Mel Cepstrum Frequency Coefficients money can buy!

[TheAnimus]

don't you think this technology is better suited to a 'customised radio' rather than relying on you already having it in your library?

As it stands the only time i'm out of range from my 3.5G data speeds (ment to be 7.2mbits, but most i've clocked is 2.something) is when i'm on the tube. Having something that autoatmically downloaded tracks from a hudge library i pay a monthly subscription for? Thats surely where stuff like this will be?

[directhex]

don't you think this technology is better suited to a 'customised radio' rather than relying on you already having it in your library?

i saw a clever website which did just that once, but i, um, forgot the url

[autopilot]

It's OK actually, i agree. Its not going to set the the world on fire but a nice option - especially when playlists can be generated on the iPod themselves.

It's nothing new though, the Squeezebox has supported a system called MusicIP that does the same thing for a couple of years. MusicIP (used to be called Music Magic) does an acoustical analysis of each track on your PC and matches tracks up. Works surprisingly well.

[TheAnimus]

i saw a clever website which did just that once, but i, um, forgot the url

I don't know if your taking the piss, if you are i'll blame my cold for not letting me get it but:

www.pandora.com <-- US only now
www.musicovery.com intresting take on the music genotyping.

[directhex]

musicovery, that was it

[floppybootstomp]

I noticed that when I upgraded i-Tunes.

My first reaction was 'I'll tell them better suggestions'

But that's just me

[chilled]

It seems to recommend songs I already have which is utterly pointless. Hopefully they'll refine it as iTunes can easily figure out that I have them in my library.

[autopilot]

It seems to recommend songs I already have which is utterly pointless. Hopefully they'll refine it as iTunes can easily figure out that I have them in my library.

i think your missing the point. The best thing about it is creating playlists for the music you own. The other thing is recommending new stuff from itunes store, but i ignore that.

As for personalised radio, dont forget last.fm.

[chilled]

i think your missing the point. The best thing about it is creating playlists for the music you own. The other thing is recommending new stuff from itunes store, but i ignore that.

Ah I've only found the latter so far, but only used itunes once after v8 came out, so I'll keep an eye out for auto playlists now.

[meerkat]

Hm, I guess it's nice to be able to put in 'stuff on my computer that sounds like this song', if you're in a particular mood. Yet the interface is cluttered, counterintuitive and overly skewed to the iTunes store. iTunes is full of these lovely bolted-on extras, with little thought, perhaps contributing to the insane 60+mb filesize...

For recommendations, I just use Last.fm's "Music like [Artist]" web radio.

[Blaineoliver]

It kept making my itunes freeze when i selected various songs, so i turned it off, thought the idea was 'genius' forgive the pun. But implementation sucked.