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What does Apple do with all the Genius data

bobsax

bobsax

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 22, 2008
106
2
The whole Genius thing has always bothered me. It seems like a sneeky way for Apple to look at your music library.( Getting album art was another ploy before Genius came around)
I wonder if it will evevtually bite us in the bottom.No doubt they'll use the information to charge us for something.
One thing I'm sure they discoverd is how many people with huge librarys didn't buy them at the iTunes store.

Any other ideas?
 
crimsontide165

crimsontide165

macrumors member
Feb 5, 2011
35
0
What??? Genius is solely to find music/apps similar to what you currently have. Your post makes no sense. So what if you didn't buy your music from Apple?
 
bobsax

bobsax

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 22, 2008
106
2
crimsontide165 said:
What??? Genius is solely to find music/apps similar to what you currently have. Your post makes no sense. So what if you didn't buy your music from Apple?
Click to expand...

My friend at Apple says they don't keep track of your personal songs but they store and use the songs for marketing.

Any intelligent comments?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Gav2k

Gav2k

macrumors G3
Jul 24, 2009
9,216
1,608
bobsax said:
My friend at Apple says they don't keep track of your personal songs but they store and use the songs for marketing.

Any intelligent comments?
Click to expand...

The legal ramifications in that are huge. Apple wouldn't bother there rs.

You have to remember things like iTunes Match where apple actually pay royalties on music I already own! Why would the need any of your stuff??

The Genius Bar does log device id's and error codes/crash logs.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Mal

Mal

macrumors 603
Jan 6, 2002
6,252
18
Orlando
bobsax said:
My friend at Apple says they don't keep track of your personal songs but they store and use the songs for marketing.

Any intelligent comments?
Click to expand...

Apple uses that information to give you recommendations of other things you might like to purchase. Since they're presenting them with an easy link to buy them, they increase the chances that you'll buy those items from them. Very simple, straightforward, and nothing secretive. It's also pretty much exactly what the other poster said to you, but since you'd rather insult them and break forum rules, you missed the fact that they are exactly correct.

jW
 
Last edited by a moderator:
bobsax

bobsax

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 22, 2008
106
2
I think we can all agree that apple looks very closely at it's iTunes music sales to see what's selling and what's not? (we're talking music here)
That's pretty valuable information for marketing types.
Now imagine being able to see all the music in your library that you didn't buy from the iTunes store?
Apple can now see what % of your library came from the iTunes store and what your real musical preferences are. Some folks may only buy things they can't get other places. For example, I only buy music from the iTunes store if I can't get a DRM version somewhere else like eMusic or Amazon.

People , I'm surprised I have to even mention this. It's obvious they look at and use this data.

Now, what else can they see?
Can they tell where you got the music? Do eMusic and Amazon have markers in there mp3s?
They probably don't look at your personal account (but who knows what we sign with the Apple agreement. Apple will not release just the new content in it's agreements so you are forced to read the whole thing every time it's changed).
 
Shrink

Shrink

macrumors G3
Feb 26, 2011
8,929
1,727
New England, USA
bobsax said:
My friend at Apple says they don't keep track of your personal songs but they store and use the songs for marketing.

Any intelligent comments?
Click to expand...

Duh, we no can make intelligent comments We not so smart as you.

We too dumb to know a insulting and condescending comment...duh...

:rolleyes:
 
bobsax

bobsax

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 22, 2008
106
2
Shrink said:
Duh, we no can make intelligent comments We not so smart as you.

We too dumb to know a insulting and condescending comment...duh...

:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
I was not trying to be condescending. I apologize if that's how I came off.:eek:
I was just a little irritated by the dismissal of my comments.
 
gnasher729

gnasher729

Suspended
Nov 25, 2005
17,980
5,565
bobsax said:
The whole Genius thing has always bothered me. It seems like a sneeky way for Apple to look at your music library.( Getting album art was another ploy before Genius came around)
I wonder if it will evevtually bite us in the bottom.No doubt they'll use the information to charge us for something.
One thing I'm sure they discoverd is how many people with huge librarys didn't buy them at the iTunes store.
Click to expand...

Since Steve Jobs himself, on stage, put a CD into a Mac and demonstrated how to import music into iTunes, I'm quite sure Apple knows that not all music comes from the iTunes store. Mine comes from CDs, some from LPs, lots from Amazon, lots of audio books from LibriVox, Lit2Go, and purchased elsewhere, some from other legitimate sources, well, and some come from iTunes. Maybe 15% nowadays.

Apple doesn't care. They don't make money from music, they make money from Macs, iPods, iPhones, iPads. And I think there is very, very little music around where Apple is the copyright holder, so I can't quite see how they could charge you for anything.


bobsax said:
My friend at Apple says they don't keep track of your personal songs but they store and use the songs for marketing.

Any intelligent comments?
Click to expand...

Your "friend at Apple"? Any Apple employee who would have knowledge of this wouldn't be talking to you about it.
 
bobsax

bobsax

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 22, 2008
106
2
gnasher729 said:
Since Steve Jobs himself, on stage, put a CD into a Mac and demonstrated how to import music into iTunes, I'm quite sure Apple knows that not all music comes from the iTunes store. Mine comes from CDs, some from LPs, lots from Amazon, lots of audio books from LibriVox, Lit2Go, and purchased elsewhere, some from other legitimate sources, well, and some come from iTunes. Maybe 15% nowadays.

Apple doesn't care. They don't make money from music, they make money from Macs, iPods, iPhones, iPads. And I think there is very, very little music around where Apple is the copyright holder, so I can't quite see how they could charge you for anything.

Your "friend at Apple"? Any Apple employee who would have knowledge of this wouldn't be talking to you about it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply gnasher

Of course Apple knows most of the music in iTunes isn't bought from them.
That is why they want to see your library. To know what you actually have as opposed to payed for in the iTunes store.
To the music industry that's golden information and if it showed that certain genres of music are more likely to be paid for then that would be a better investment. They'll assume that a certain percentage of ripped music is paid for. Leave that to the Actuaries.
That's just one thing, I'm sure there are other uses the industry would have for Genius data.
btw
I don't think it's SUPER TOP SECRET information that they do this :rolleyes:
 
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