ITunes 8 - a work of genius?
I was quite excited by the prospect of a new version of iTunes. I've been listening to music using my MacBook and Airtunes quite a lot of late so any improvements might be welcome. A new visualiser might be a fun distraction but the new Genius feature ought to help me filter out some of the less appealing albums in the library I share with my wife and son.
After kicking the tyres a bit it turns out that the new browsing features are definitely welcome - I was finding the cover flow view a bit awkward so having the tiled album view is handy. The new visualiser is pretty cool too, although some of the modes are clearly causing my low-end MB to struggle. Only time will tell whether it replaces Jellyfish as my fan botherer of choice but it's a nifty addition nonetheless.
As for Genius, I'll reserve final judgment on it until a bit later. Perhaps it'll take a while for iTunes to collate more usage data to be totally reliable? The lists I generated from it were generally close, but quite what "Genius" figured that Belinda Carlisle's "Circle in the Sand" belonged in a list based on Iron Maiden's "22 Acacia Avenue" is anyone's guess! Still, it's better than random or genre-based playlists and the occasional bit of serendipity could be nice. Perhaps it's reminding me that the Belinda album in question is also mine, after all?!
After kicking the tyres a bit it turns out that the new browsing features are definitely welcome - I was finding the cover flow view a bit awkward so having the tiled album view is handy. The new visualiser is pretty cool too, although some of the modes are clearly causing my low-end MB to struggle. Only time will tell whether it replaces Jellyfish as my fan botherer of choice but it's a nifty addition nonetheless.
As for Genius, I'll reserve final judgment on it until a bit later. Perhaps it'll take a while for iTunes to collate more usage data to be totally reliable? The lists I generated from it were generally close, but quite what "Genius" figured that Belinda Carlisle's "Circle in the Sand" belonged in a list based on Iron Maiden's "22 Acacia Avenue" is anyone's guess! Still, it's better than random or genre-based playlists and the occasional bit of serendipity could be nice. Perhaps it's reminding me that the Belinda album in question is also mine, after all?!
Labels: itunes
