iTunes 8

The Apple event today has its announcement, revamped iPod Nano line, refreshed iPod Touch, capped iPod Classic (no more 160 GB iPod), and public concern on Steve's health that seen the Apple's stock slumped for a bit. As an end user who doesn't even have a Credit Card and a resident in one of a developing country a day away from the nation that begins it all, as excited as I was to the news (I had my eyes trained to 16 GB iPod Touch even though I'm totally satisfied with my fifth-G iPod Video 30 GB - and it still had around 5 GB of free space, anyway) the only thing that I could get my hands early on from the announcement is the release of iTunes 8 and I'm not ashamed at all that the first thing I did after I opened my MacBook at the office today is downloading the 50+ Megs of the update right away :)

I love the interface already. Previously, I've never really liked Cover Flow display but has learned to get used to it as opposed to the old-fashioned simple lists which I have been abandoned a very long time ago. Even so, I still disliked it. The new interface, as shown in the image above, is a pleasant welcome for the time being, whether it's going to last or no, only time will tell.

Quite probably the most celebrated new feature that comes with iTunes 8 is the Genius sidebar. Although given its nature, in an over-simplified terms, that Genius is a "Recommendation"-system that has been around for quite some time, in my opinion, the Genius sidebar manages to put this recommendation thingy in a personal level. First, it compiles my Library, sent the information to the iTunes Store (which required an Apple ID that requires a valid Credit Card - I don't have any, so I'm using my wife's) and after a while, depending on the size of your library and your Internet connection, you can start using the Genius bar.

The Genius sidebar worked as follows, first, choose a song and click a Genius button to create a playlist which the Genius thought could go well together. The early reports from the blogosphere has found some disagreement with the Genius' selection. In my opinion, you couldn't really expected that the Genius would work in a perfect harmony with your preference in music. After all, when it boils down to preference, you're talking about style, about personal sense, about the divergence in human genes, about the origin of life, about.. well, things that goes well beyond the machine's logical computation. But, of course, I had to try it for myself.

The first thing I try was one of Kelly Clarkson's song which in my library that mostly consists of 'hard' bands from the 90's could be considered as a minority. Surprisingly, the Genius did a pretty good job. The playlist, as you could see from the image below, suggested an acceptable harmony. It includes "The Unforgiven" from Metallica, "Don't Cry" from Guns 'N Roses although of course, the inclusion of "In Bloom" by Nirvana or "Brain Stew" from Green Day is actually questionable but all in all, it provides a good balance between the soft and the hard. So, yeah, no complaints here.


Next song that I'd like to try to "Genius"-ed is of course, my favorite song from Megadeth (Tornado of Souls). Now this song has a distinction as the single most played song in my library. In this respect, the Genius sidebar made some obvious choices. Alas, as the choices were made by algorithm it's actually more proper to call it an obvious choice with a "wow" attached to it. I mean, from my point of view, the playlist manages to include my next favorite song from Megadeth (Skin O' My Teeth), "Stream of Consciousness" from Dream Theater, "Locomotive" from Guns 'N Roses, and "The Call of Ktulu" from Metallica. It just "wow".


Based on this review and a couple of tries with Genius sidebar, my first impression on iTunes 8 is therefore, positive. Now if you'd excuse me, I'd like to try a few more.