They must be making popsicles in hell now, because Microsoft has come up with a much better way to expand your musical horizons than Apple iTunes 8's Genius in their new Zune software: MixView. Not only is MixView much prettier and more fun than Genius—we already knew that—it's also more useful, more informative, and it leverages the infamous social aspect of Zune in a beautiful way. In fact, it makes Genius look like a flat, gray, boring Windows application.

MixView shows music you may find interesting based on a playing song in a graphical way. It also shows the relations graphically. Take this shot of Billy Joel's Piano Man:

At a simple glance, you can see albums that are related to this song. The interface invites you to explore, seeing artists influenced by this artist, artists who influenced this artist, and similar albums by the same artist. You learn this quickly because when your cursor flies over, a translucent bubble tells you more about it: "Richard Marx influenced by Billy Joel" or "Frankie Valli influenced Billy Joel." On the top you can see Billy Joel's The Strangers, while on the bottom you can see James Taylor's Sweet Baby James, which is a related album.

In the black boxes you can see the names of the top listeners of the song. If you put your mouse on top, a small list of the Zune user's favorites appears, allowing you to go and explore his or her library in depth. All of this happening fast, giving instantaneous responses to all your actions.

Now, compare this simple buy beautiful and powerful user interface with this:

I rest my case. While the list is simple, even with the Coverflow effect on to make it visually more palatable it's definitely not as engaging as Microsoft's solution. In fact, it is more confusing and overwhelming. If the purpose of Genius is to invite you to expand your musical horizons—like Apple says—this is definitely not the right way to entice listeners to do so. In addition to that, not only Genius looks like an accounting application—and completely out of sync with what you can find on your own iPod touch—but Genius recommends songs that you already have just because they are in a "Best of" album.

While Zune's MixView doesn't have any really new features—other web services offer similar things—what's new is how perfectly they have implemented the whole thing, how good, elegant, and simple it looks. Quite simply: MixView is what Apple should have done from the very beginning with Genius. And I don't even have a Zune. Would this make me switch to Zune? I like my iPhone and the rest of iTunes too much to switch because of a single feature. But if Apple doesn't wake up and smell the coffee—iTunes is still basically the same concept it was back in 2001—they may find themselves as a runner-up in the software music player user interface front. [Thanks OMG! Ponies!]

Seinfeld will get $10 million to star in the presumably funny commercials, which is quite a good chunk of cash compared to the low fare that John Hodgman (Mr. PC) and Justin Long (Mr. Please someone slap that guy) must be getting for their long series of TV, internet and print ads. Let's hope they are better than the Apple ones. Somehow, I feel a connection happening between Jerry and Bill. And perhaps a romantic comedy on the wings. [WSJ]

Before we start, know that this is not all Microsoft's fault. I gave the cabbie the wrong address at one point, and this was my first time on campus. Had I arrived on schedule, the night before, I could have gotten a lift by Microsoft shuttle to my final destination, too. Also, Microsoft's beautiful redmond HQ is gorgeous and sprawling and a testament to the company's size and power, so it is also a lot more territory to cover. And the people? They were so nice and ultimately the key to me finding my path again. But there are a few things I know they could do a lot better. I got lost on my own accord, but finding my way back to the right place was a user experience nightmare.

The driver who took me from the airport dropped me off at building 32 instead of 99. That was my error. Getting back on course was really hard, though. When I got to building 32, I was confronted with a few very confusing things. First of all the road signs for each building are very very small. And each building itself is only labeled by a building number and street address which are impossible to read from a car. Too small, and low contrast to the windows.

I got to the door and it was labelled push/pull. Confused? Actually, the signs were both in etched glass, and even though one was reversed and on the other side, my brain read both and farted before I tried both ways and got inside.

The receptionist called my contact person and had me sign in. I left out my contact person's name on the sheet and she made me fill it out again. Fine. Then I heard the guy next to me signing in with the second receptionist. (Yes, two at one station.) He registered yesterday, but the lady said the system wipes all visitor records after a day. He had to fill out his form a second time. Dumb.

Just then, an alarm went off. Instead of a normal hall, this particular building had pretty blue gates, as in a modern subway. One person went in right after another without swiping his own badge, and the whole place sounded like a bomb shelter.

Next thing I realize is that I'm at the wrong building. That's my fault. So I talk to the receptionist and she says a shuttle number 755 should be coming to drive me over. And makes me do a sign out. I get outside, and the bus comes. And drives right by me and one other Microsofty trying to get a ride.

Turns out the geeky developer who missed the bus happened to be going to the same place. She was late too. "Look, if I don't get some help, I am going to get lost again. Mind if I just follow you?"

Five minutes later, we caught the next shuttle, and made a path through campus. But honestly, every building looked the same and the roads were winding through these beautifully manicured gardens with tall pine trees. The signs to buildings on the side of the road are small and the signs on the buildings themselves are white font on mirrored/glass windows. And small so you can't read them from a car on the curb. If the developer didn't tell me where to get off, I'd have been lost.

But one hour from my initial drop off, I got to the right building. And when I got to the Conference Center I went into the front door and asked to register at Techfest 2008 as a member of the press.

Then the receptionist here told me I had to go outside, take a right turn and go to the doors on the side of the building. The first two doors were locked, but the third opened.

I guess it was my lucky day.

Two days later, I found myself at Apple's Cupertino Campus. Now, I've been here, before, but I've also never been lost. Why? Four reasons: The signs are frigging huge for each of the buildings, and the parking lot is always right next to whatever building you are trying to get to, there's always a person to direct you around to the right place, and most obviously, Apple Campus is built on a ring (hence the name Infinite Loop). If you get lost on a ring, you are an idiot.

Now this might come as a bit of unfair bashing, but this was just one person's experience. It's not meant to be anything but that. If you're going to draw any conclusions, look at the photos and the maps from Redmond and Cupertino and come up with your own.

UPDATE: Apple's campus extends beyond the infinite loop campus, and is expanding, so its not going to be that easy to get around in the future. Again, this isn't supposed to be science. Read the headline.