iTunes has a "Genius"? Yes, and he's funny!

[Michael Kaiser]

What does the JSBX,The Teen Kings, The Yardbirds, and Rosemary Clooney have in common?

iTunes "Genius"!

Yes. They are are included in a "personalized" playlist that that little Steven Hawking of iTunes built just for me!!

I honestly don't know why I authorized the little Einstein to pillage through my collection - being the highly paranoid guy I am... But, I did. Now I'm getting my kicks (no pun intended... Oh wait, yes it was) with these goofy playlists it makes.

Luckily, my music collection rules so I don't care what it plays... I'm guaranteed to dig it. But this "genius" don't know diddly abooot playlists.

Have you used it?
What do ya think; true genius, or lamebrain?

[Grrtch]

sounds like Pandora pulls it off better, even dishes up tunes you don't have and may not already know, a much more swell feature...

now they have Pandora for iphones... what more could ya ask fer? cool surprises on a totally commercial free radio station tweaked up just the way you like it... now THAT's genuis!

[Maribel]

I agree! I listen to my pandora radio station in my car and it's awesome. I even got to hear some records that I don't own and want to buy in the future. I gave my friends the Don't Press Your Luck LP and didn't get a chance to listen to it. I heard it in Pandora :)

[swt]

"Genius" is worthless. Just tried it on the song that was playing on my iTunes (Charlie Feathers' "Dig Myself a Hole" ) and it said it didn't recognize the track. If it doesn't recognize Charlie Feathers, I don't recognize Genius.

I do love shuffle mode though. Use it on my iPod and iTunes all the time. The Cramps goes into Fela Kuti, goes into Johnny Paycheck goes into Miles Davis. Only way to fly.

[kopper]

I saw that when I updated to the latest version of iTunes, but I didn't enable it... hadn't had enough time to look into what it actually does.

So some of you are singin' the praises of Pandora, but does it play PODCASTS???

[Grrtch]

no podcasts on Pandora, but for those of who do podcast, it's a good source to learn about stuff new to us. that is -- as long as the artists and/or label bother to send them their releases. Norton does. I hope more labels follow their lead.

but unlike our podcasts, Pandora doesn't at all talk about what you're listening to... say if you download an episode of Hanging On For Mercy (some of y'all just don't know what yer missin'!) I dish up something like record talk at a party. I dunno about you guys, but I thrive on that... I like to know the context from where that the song came. Pandora lacks that human touch... and folkses, thass sumptin the podcasts got in abundance! cha . . .

[swt]

Bingo! Technology is bitchen, but I prefer to have fellow humanoids pointing the way to good music.

Grrtch said:

... I dunno about you guys, but I thrive on that... I like to know the context from where that the song came. Pandora lacks that human touch... and folkses, thass sumptin the podcasts got in abundance! cha . . .

[Howie Pyro]

i'm just trying to figure out how to get rid of it...everytime i do it keeps coming back...i'm afraid it might kill me in my sleep...

[Michael]

Is there any other way to listen to Pandora in the car besides iPhone? I would love to get into this, but I'm po, and iPhone is out of reach.