Genius Feature Coming to Older iPod Classics

[MacRumors]

Crave.cnet.co.uk has posted a brief look at the new iPod Classic (120GB) that was released at Apple's media event yesterday. Like the new iPod Nano, the new Classic incorporates on-the-go Genius playlists. According to Apple representatives, the company will be releasing a software update to bring Genius playlists to existing iPod classics:

Apple representatives at the event yesterday told us, however, that a free software upgrade will be adding the Genius feature to existing iPod classics.

While only the iPod Classics are specifically mentioned, we would expect that the previous iPod Nanos would also get a similar update.

Genius playlists were introduced yesterday and provide a Pandora-like music recommendation system where similar songs in your library are grouped automatically in a playlist.

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[heads up]

i wonder if this could also been done on the older ipod videos?
that would be sweet!

i'm actually surprised how well the genius feature works. i have a lot of artists that aren't available on the itunes store, but it still does a great job with them.

[iGary]

WHY CAN'T I GET THIS ON MY IPHONE?!

[Breegy]

Am I the only one not terribly excited about this Genius feature?

When I listen to bands, I listen to one or two great bands of one genre and all the similiar ones aren't really interesting to me.

For example, Flogging Molly. I love Flogging Molly, but I never cared too much for Dropkick Murphys. I can think of examples like this for several other specific genres as well. One or two bands catch my interest but the rest that are pretty much the same aren't too enjoyable to me.

Regardless of that, the Genius feature still isn't too exciting...

[SkippyThorson]

Originally Posted by heads up

i wonder if this could also been done on the older ipod videos?
that would be sweet!

YES!!!

[arn]

Originally Posted by iGary

WHY CAN'T I GET THIS ON MY IPHONE?!

It's coming on Friday.

arn

[kornyboy]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5C1 Safari/525.20)

Originally Posted by iGary

WHY CAN'T I GET THIS ON MY IPHONE?!

They said that the 2.1 firmware will be available on Friday and you will get the genius playlists in that.

[TEG]

Originally Posted by iGary

WHY CAN'T I GET THIS ON MY IPHONE?!

It is coming with 2.1, more than likely.

TEG

[heads up]

Originally Posted by Breegy

Am I the only one not terribly excited about this Genius feature?

When I listen to bands, I listen to one or two great bands of one genre and all the similiar ones aren't really interesting to me.

For example, Flogging Molly. I love Flogging Molly, but I never cared too much for Dropkick Murphys. I can think of examples like this for several other specific genres as well. One or two bands catch my interest but the rest that are pretty much the same aren't too enjoyable to me.

Regardless of that, the Genius feature still isn't too exciting...

why would you have the the dropkick murphys on your computer if you don't like them?

[nemaslov]

I am still so upet that they actually decreased the capacity of a product for the very first time. The iPod classic!!!

Now I have commented on several of the other posts about this. They should have kept the slightly thicker 160GB and not released a 120. That is a big reduction.

Please don't rant about how could anyone fill an iPod with that much music but there are many who want to have big collections with them at second houses, studios, hotels, workplaces and so on. We want to play these thought stereos and don't care about a slim body. We are not running with these. If we were we'd go Nano! We want to choose from our huge collections when we are away from out computers. You never know what you feel like playing a week later on the road.

I truely hope they keep at least one Classic for those like me and expand withe an HD is available to go 24 or more. Those who have music at lossless and have huge collections would this. For many of us it is NOT about video or movies but music.

[Breegy]

Originally Posted by heads up

why would you have the the dropkick murphys on your computer if you don't like them?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what the Genius feature does...

I thought it not only filled in blank spaces of the music you already have, say you're missing a song out of an album, but that it also recomended other music like what you already have. (like similiar artists)

If I am wrong, then what I said about other music doesn't make sense.

But still, that's not something that's very exciting regardless. It seems to be like its being made out to be a big deal. It just fills some holes. Cool app, but not something amazing.

[sminman]

Awesome!!!!

I love the Genius Playlist feature in the new iTunes. I also love some of the recommendations that it makes to buy, they are some great songs that I never knew about.

This Genius Playlist feature will be the ultimate party accessory and I'm glad to know that it is coming to the older iPod Classics!!!

Way to go Apple!

[iTunesFreak5454]

How has Genius been working for you guys?

At the moment, I find that Genius isn't working with many of my songs. I think that's probably because the database is still "new".

[ThinkBrilliant]

The Genius Feature is totally unpredictable when you get started. It won't get to know your tastes until you let it run for a few weeks. This can be more likened to Artificial Intelligence than a proprietary algorithmic solution that Apple developed. Or a nice combination of both.

But, the more you teach it, and let it work for you, the better it'll get. (like any good employee)

[Breegy]

Originally Posted by iTunesFreak5454

How has Genius been working for you guys?

At the moment, I find that Genius isn't working with many of my songs. I think that's probably because the database is still "new".

I think it might only work with songs that you buy from iTunes... At least that's what I heard somewhere. Does anyone know if this is true? Because if it is, this feature is even more pointless...

[Apple Ink]

Originally Posted by arn

It's coming on Friday.

arn

And according to this report it'll probably be 2.1.1 rather than 2.1!

[KingofAwesome]

I wish they hadn't left the 5/5.5G iPods out in the cold with all these updates. Does the coverflow and new UI just require a faster chip? Did they use much different hardware in the classics?

It doesn't matter to me anymore, as my 5G was stolen, but it seems that the 5G was when things really REALLY took off for iPod and Apple should give those users (many of whom bought it as their first Apple product) a little more love.

[sprice25]

that is good to see new features spread accross the previous generation product lines. The more familiar customers are with the genius feature, the more music they will buy! Way to go apple!

[arn]

Originally Posted by Breegy

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what the Genius feature does...

You are misunderstanding what Genius does.

Pick a song you like. Click on genius. And it will create a playlist of similar music from your music library. So, you should like all the songs. And it gives you a good way to rediscover music you own.

(note, on itunes it also recommends new songs to buy, but that's not the main feature)

arn

[TEG]

Originally Posted by nemaslov

I am still so upet that they actually decreased the capacity of a product for the very first time. The iPod classic!!!

Now I have commented on several of the other posts about this. They should have kept the slightly thicker 160GB and not released a 120. That is a big reduction.

Please don't rant about how could anyone fill an iPod with that much music but there are many who want to have big collections with them at second houses, studios, hotels, workplaces and so on. We want to play these thought stereos and don't care about a slim body. We are not running with these. If we were we'd go Nano! We want to choose from our huge collections when we are away from out computers. You never know what you feel like playing a week later on the road.

I truely hope the keep at least one Classic for those like me. Those who have music at lossless and have huge collections. For many of us it is NOT about video or movies but music.

They did not decrease the capacity of the Classic. They eliminated the two platter 160GB and boosted the 80GB to 120GB. When a 160GB or larger capacity is available on a single platter, then they will update the Classic again. Also, they found that sales of the 160GB were at not nearly the level they expected, so they chose to eliminate two platter iPods.

TEG

[maccam]

Eh.. nice. Not really excited about, it's nice to know that apple didn't forget about us.

I think we'll also see software for the new headphones (voice recording).

[FangRock]

This is great news. I've got a 160 classic which I'm thinking about putting on ebay now they are so rare!

[iTunesFreak5454]

Originally Posted by Breegy

I think it might only work with songs that you buy from iTunes... At least that's what I heard somewhere. Does anyone know if this is true? Because if it is, this feature is even more pointless...

No. That's how it's able to start working now. But now that everyone will be submitting songs to it, it'll expand from it's base knowledge, which initially only took from iTunes purchases. It had to start somewhere. Now it'll grow beyond that with real data.

[KingofAwesome]

Originally Posted by Breegy

I think it might only work with songs that you buy from iTunes... At least that's what I heard somewhere. Does anyone know if this is true? Because if it is, this feature is even more pointless...

No, it works on all your music. I did notice I couldn't get any results from a Beatles song, though, so it may be limited to songs that are available in ITS.

But then that could change now that the public is using it.

I got good results on a test last night - indie rock worked, jazz worked well (staying within the same sub-genre of jazz, i.e. Weather Report did not prompt any Duke Ellington), and one of Les Claypool's bands worked surprisingly well, giving me his other bands, Mr. Bungle, Frank Zappa, etc.

[Small White Car]

Originally Posted by arn

You are misunderstanding what Genius does.

Pick a song you like. Click on genius. And it will create a playlist of similar music from your music library. So, you should like all the songs. And it gives you a good way to rediscover music you own.

(note, on itunes it also recommends new songs to buy, but that's not the main feature)

arn

Breegy, as you said, it DOES suggest music on the store you don't own. So you weren't wrong, exactly. But what arn is describing here is the primary function. The store-suggestion part is a minor bit, off to the side.