Gizmodo: itunes genius

Apple Adds iTunes 8 Functions to Apple TV

Elaine Chow — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:15:12 EDT

Looks like its Update Day at Apple—the company just released Apple TV 2.2, which users can access through the “update software” menu option in Settings. The software revamp now includes support for features introduced in iTunes 8.0, including video playlists, Genius playlists and HDTV show purchasing, and plugs a couple of security holes as well. How's it playing, kids? Any problems? [Macrumors]

Microsoft MixView Is Prettier, More Useful Version of iTunes' Genius

Elaine Chow — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:21:03 EDT

Not content with deploying their version of Apple's Genius tech support lackeys, Microsoft is now biting on the iTunes Genius song feature as well and the initial previews make it look... really awesome, actually. Wired got a sneak preview of the Zune 3.0 software, to be released on Sept. 16, and found it much more intuitive and encompassing than Apple's recommendation system.

The new feature, called MixView, puts a single album, artist or Zune user at the center of the screen and surrounds it with related items. This allows you to start on an artist and instantly find related bands. Double-clicking to any song plays you a 30-second sample, gives you a chance to buy the track or plays the full track if you're a Zune Pass subscriber.

MixView will be free to everyone, even if you don't own a Zune or subscribe to Zune Pass. Besides pulling reccs from their internet store, it will also apply its music aggregating prowess to your existing MP3 library. It'll be interesting to see how this really stands up to Genius come next week. [Wired]

Rumor: iTunes 8 Brings 'Genius', A Smart Music Grouping and Recommendation Engine

Jason Chen — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:00:58 EDT

It appears that some of Kevin Rose's predictions about iTunes 8 have been corroborated by other tipsters to MacRumors, which says that there's going to be a "Genius" feature that generates playlists containing songs that have similar qualities to other songs. MacRumors calls this unconfirmed because they didn't receive the tip from one of their trusted sources, apparently.

Other Kevin Rose predictions such as a "trippy" visualization with "planet like objects" and downloadable TV shows in HD haven't been confirmed, nor have previous rumors of an iTunes subscription service. But that differently-shaped iPod nano seems to be a lock. [MacRumors]