iTunes 8 came out today, and as with anything new I installed it as soon as I heard about it. The big new feature about it is the Genius Bar, which collects information about the music you listen to and then recommends songs from the iTunes Store. It was described as “a great new way to make it easier to spend money.” After iTunes initialized the library, it scanned my music. It makes its recommendations based on not only what you have, but what you actually listen to – how many of us have thousands of songs but only listen to a couple hundred or so? My first thought was that my musical tastes are all over the map. Some of the songs I listen to don’t even appear on a map. I’m talking rock to pop to hip-hop to comedy. I can’t wait to see what this Genius thing comes up with. I grab the remote and hit Play.
First song that comes up is something by ABBA.
Picture me diving for the remote in slow motion, saying, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo…..” Too late, the damage is done. I hit the Forward button to skip ahead to… Achy Breaky Heart. (Where in the Nine Hells did THAT one come from???) Skip ahead again… Spike Jones. Better… but… now my Genius Bar is full of recommendations by ABBA, along with Frida and Agnetha Falskog (the two female leads from ABBA who went solo.) Oh wait, there’s… Olivia Newton-John? The Carpenters?? Skip ahead again… Ah finally, something by KISS. Now the bar lists Joan Jett and the Blackhearts… and the Pet Shop Boys. Okay, I have ONE song by them. What about all the Ozzy stuff? I have ALL of his CD’s in MP3 format. No recommendations for the new one I didn’t get yet? You choose The Pointer Sisters over Pat Benatar?
Perhaps “Genius” is too strong a term. I propose “Idiot Savant.” Only, without that pesky “Savant” part.