Redefining Apple's Genius
Sometimes, Apple does stuff that could be defined as Genius. Sometimes, not so much. Alex Kidman dissects the iTunes 8 Genius feature.
Apple's been making an awful lot of the word "Genius" lately. It had already subsumed the word to describe its help desk staff, which was as much a marketing ploy as any actual estimation of abilities. I will say that on the consumer side, offering actual hands-on technical support for nothing (well, except the travel fees to get to an Apple store) is pretty smart stuff.
There is an inherent risk there -- in that if the Genius at the Genius bar can't offer you a Genius solution, you're more likely to reach across the Genius Bar, grab his or her Genius throat and hurl them through the big Genius glass Apple sign (there's bound to be one somewhere nearby) than congratulate them on their lack of helping ability.
More recently, Apple's grabbed the term to describe the new functionality in iTunes 8 and the related range of recently launched iPods, as well as any updated iPhone or iPod Touch. That's a harder one to defend. Looking at a definition of genius, from, say, Dictionary.com, you get this:
"Extraordinary intellectual and creative power."
To put it simply, while I like Apple's stuff generally, I'm not sure that the new features meet that definition particularly well.
I like being an early adopter -- partly because it's my job, and partly, it would seem because I'm not a genius. I've undoubtedly lost full days of my life to early release software that didn't work quite as it was designed to do (and I'm speaking here of just about every software vendor on the planet, not just Apple) -- so when iTunes 8 rolled off the Cupertino factory floor, I installed it without delay.
Unlike many, I rather carefully read the terms and conditions for the Genius feature, but potential invasions of privacy don't particularly fuss me. It's more in the features that are touted as "Genius" themselves that I find myself conflicted.
Now, I'm sure whoever at the iTunes store division came up with the Genius sidebar is indeed being lauded as a Genius, possibly by Mr Jobs himself. After all, every time you play a song and the sidebar is enabled, you're essentially allowing Apple to serve you up a bunch of tiny advertisements for songs to buy from the iTunes store. Is that really Genius?
Well, from a user's endpoint, it could be useful. If it wasn't for the fact that a lot of the time, I've either chosen to play a song that iTunes doesn't recognise, so it just offers me up the latest top ten albums instead. Or (and this is seemingly more frequent), it offers me songs I already own. I'd hate to have a bad memory for this kind of thing, because that way lies buying music I already own, over and over again.
The issue with Genius is that, as it stands, it's just not that smart. Generally speaking, if your song of choice isn't already on the iTunes store, or is outside a pretty set list of genres -- classical fans, anyone with kid's music or comedy will find this out very quickly -- then the Genius will be acting at village idiot level.
Then there's the playlists that seemingly defy the Genius tag. There is something decidedly cute about being able to automatically build playlists that match the song you're currently listening to, but only when it works properly. Based on my own musical choices, I'm getting some playlists that work well to my mood... and some that really don't.
As an example, as I'm typing this, my iPhone's just started playing Elvis Presley's "Don't Cry Daddy". I hit the Genius button, curious to see what it would come up with. The first couple of choices seem to fit a mood -- "You've lost that lovin' feeling", "Is this Love" "Moody Blue". And then, out of seemingly nowhere, Prince's "Cream" and Duran Duran's "Notorious". To borrow an old Sesame Street song motif, one of these things is not like the other. While I like the songs, I can't help but feel that that's a couple of jarring inclusions, even if it does finish up with the superb "In The Ghetto".
Oh, and by the way, you don't have to congratulate me on my superb musical taste. I already know.
What do you think? Are the Genius features really smart, or really dumb?
Other Blog Entries written by Alex Kidman:
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