Mac 101: Save a Genius playlist in iTunes

The feature of iTunes 8 that Apple wants to you notice is called "Genius." Basically, it generates playlists, either from your songs or the iTunes Store, based upon a track selected from your library. In this post, we'll look at creating and saving a Genius playlist on your Mac.

First, select the target track in your library. I wanted to generate a playlist for work, so I selected a mellow track by Band of Horses. Next, click the Genius button (with the

icon) in the lower right-hand corner of the iTunes window.

Presto! Your playlist is created. But there's still room for tweaking. At the top of the window, you'll see the track upon which your new playlist is based. Next to that, a drop-down menu lets you select the number of songs to include. Choose from 25, 50, 75 or 100.

Finally, you can exclude an individual song by deselecting the gray checkbox next to its title. When you're happy with the result, click "Save Playlist" in the upper right-hand corner.

Your new playlist will now appear with the others, named for the original target song.

View Tags

Source: http://www.tuaw.com/category/mac-101/

Categories

iTS iTunes Mac 101

The feature of iTunes 8 that Apple wants to you notice is called "Genius." Basically, it generates playlists, either from your songs or the...

Add a Comment

Sign in »

10 Comments

Filter by:

Mike

In tunes to delete a genius play list, first go into the play list under "Playlists" select all the songs and click delete. Then you can right click on the playlist name and say delete

after you sync they remove from your ipod

September 23 2008 at 7:02 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

simplynutty

@bebopredux That's a huge Library! Is that just music or does it include movies?

So far I'm a fan of Genius as well. It would be cool if I could somehow use Genius to weed out songs I don't like, listen to often etc.

September 14 2008 at 3:36 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

greg

I have to say that even a skeptic like me loves Genius so far. I have a 450GB library and it took a good 2 days to get the Genius function uploaded and then sent to me. IMO, it works very well and is bound to only get better.

Steve was absolutely correct when he said that it would help us "rediscover" our music library. I now have 10 different Genius playlists and they are spot on. I am really rediscovering my music. I think the bigger the library the more this is the case. It is with me anyway.

So, mark me down as impressed. iTunes 8 is the best yet and I've been there from the beginning.

September 12 2008 at 8:42 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

pangelav

Once a genius playlist is made, how do you delete it? I mistakenly deleted just the first song from the playlist and now it won't let me delete the list although it's still playable (it begins at their second suggested song). The other Genius playlists were easy to delete as long as that first song was still in the list.

September 12 2008 at 7:45 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to pangelav's comment

dan

I'm having a similar problem. Anybody come up with a solution?
I wonder if "opting out" would fix it...

September 18 2008 at 1:59 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Rick

Is this supposed to be a tip. It's all pretty self explanatory once you boot up iTunes 8.

September 12 2008 at 6:22 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jason

How did you generate the Genius/spinning atoms character (last line of the 2nd paragraph)? Is there a keyboard shortcut for that character? I love it!

September 12 2008 at 6:16 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

3 replies to Jason's comment

Buy an ad here