While there’s been some grousing about the accuracy of iTunes 8’s new Genius feature, I’m getting a kick out of playing with it. Sure, it’s not always spot-on (though Apple says that will change over time as their database grows and the matching AI improves), but that lends a certain entertainment value to the playlists it generates. When it works, though, it’s slick.
Here’s a playlist my iPod just put together (pulling only from songs that happened to be loaded at the time), seeding off of Tony Bennett’s take on “Steppin’ Out With My Baby”:
- Tony Bennett, “Steppin’ Out With My Baby”
- Frank Sinatra, “Nice ‘n’ Easy”
- Bobby Darin, “More”
- Johnny Mathis, “Chances Are”
- Dean Martin, “You Belong to Me”
- Fred Astaire, “The Way You Look Tonight”
- The Andrews Sisters, “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”
- Marilyn Monroe, “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend”
- Billie Holiday, “All of Me”
- Perry Como, “Magic Moments”
- Louis Armstrong, “West End Blues”
- Louis Jordan, “Let the Good Times Roll”
- Benny Goodman, “Swingtime in the Rockies”
- Frank Sinatra, “Witchcraft”
- The Glenn Miller Orchestra, “At Last”
- Bobby Darin, “Hello, Dolly!”
- Billie Holiday, “Spreadin’ Rhythm Around (Remix)”
- Tony Bennett, “(I Left My Heart In) San Francisco”
- Dean Martin, “That’s Amore”
- Louis Armstrong, “Ain’t Misbehavin'”
- Duke Ellington, “Take the A-Train”
- Judy Garland, “The Man That Got Away”
- The Andrews Sisters, “Rum and Coca-Cola”
- Billie Holiday, “God Bless the Child”
- Frank Sinatra, “You Make Me Feel So Young”
Not bad at all, I’d say.
(I also love that I just happened to have the songs on my iPod to build that kind of playlist. It’s semi-randomly loaded, so there’s often no real telling what might be on there at any given time. Hmmm…it may be about time to do another “here’s how I organize my music” post….)