iTunes 9 Genius Mixes: You don't need to be a genius to create 'em

I have to admit to an embarrassing situation Wednesday afternoon. While writing the iPhone OS 3.1 overview post, I got to the section about "Genius Mixes" and was totally boggled. I couldn't see any way to create them on the iPhone itself, and there was nothing I could see in iTunes 9 that would do the job.

Fortunately, there are some fairly bright people here at TUAW, and after a couple of quick exchanges in iChat, I had Genius Mixes working. If you don't have access to a Mac and iPhone brain trust like I do, you might also have problems setting up Genius Mixes, so I'm here to give you the rundown on how to do this. Read on for the rest of the details.
Step 1: Install iTunes 9 and iPhone OS 3.1

If you haven't installed either of these updates yet, you'll need to before you'll be able to use Genius Mixes. You can download the iTunes 9 update here, and you'll need to plug your iPhone into your Mac or Windows PC with iTunes open to get the iPhone OS 3.1 update.

Step 2: Turn on or update Genius

This step depends on whether or not you've used the Genius feature before. I never did; my tastes in music are such that I don't need anyone making suggestions about what I should listen to. Under the Store menu in iTunes 9, select Turn On Genius (see below) to turn on the feature. If you've already used Genius in the past, just select Update Genius from the same menu.

Of course, that doesn't do anything when you select Turn On Genius. They want you to click one more button, as seen on the screen below:

This is actually quite an important screen, since it describes how to use the different features. Genius Mixes appear on the left sidebar once you've turned on or updated Genius.

You'll have to agree to the terms of service, and once that's done, information about your Library is sent to Apple. When all is finally done, you're going to see a splash screen describing Genius, two new items in the left sidebar, and an active icon in the toolbar at the bottom of the iTunes window:

Step 3: Click on Genius Mixes to see what Apple has created

I had six Rock Mixes created, since most of the music in my iTunes library is rock. Now, how do I get these Genius Mixes to show up on my iPhone?

Step 4: Connect your iPhone and sync

When your iPhone shows up under Devices in the sidebar, click on it, then click on the Music tab. See the list of playlists below? There will be checkboxes for all of your Genius Mixes. To send those Genius Mixes to the iPhone, check the appropriate boxes, and then click the Apply button to sync them to your iPhone.

Step 5: Enjoy your Genius Mixes

The next time you launch the iPod app on your iPhone, you'll notice that a Genius button appears (see screenshot below). In this case, tapping on it displays my Genius Mixes. Flicking left or right on the iPhone display switches between the Genius Mixes, and it just takes a tap on the screen to start playing the mix. By the way, when you tap on the Genius Mix to begin playing it, there is some fun animation of the album covers.

I listened to several of my mixes and was pleased with how the music seemed to "go together." Genius Mixes are a fun way to have iTunes take the work out of making a mix of music for you, and as you can see, they're extremely easy to set up.

If you've set up Genius Mixes, we'd love to hear how they're working out for you. Leave a comment below.

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I have to admit to an embarrassing situation Wednesday afternoon. While writing the iPhone OS 3.1 overview post, I got to the section about...

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ccf

I like being able to create a Genius mix based on a song of my choosing -- sometimes you get a great mix, sometimes not so good, but at least you can edit the list. The Genius Mixes just doesn't work for me. I have an eclectic music library and it just doesn't do a good job of matching things in any way that I really enjoy.

I wish I could turn it off and get rid of the "Genius Mixes" icon in the sidebar taking up space.

December 09 2009 at 1:43 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Lucinda

Does anyone know why I only have 1 Genius mix (Indie Rock mix) in iTunes? I have over 1300 songs, so it's not like it doesn't have anything to choose from.

December 03 2009 at 6:12 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

SPM17

The Genius mixes are limited to 10-12 songs each :( I was anticipating at the very least 3 to 4 times that amount per mix. Any ideas on a quick fix?
My library consists of approx. 5500 songs, with 60 - 75% tagged..

October 18 2009 at 9:21 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Gina

my problem is that it wants me 2 erase my ipod n replace music in order to sync.. is there anyway to avoid this?

October 13 2009 at 8:54 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

mouchetm

Is there a way to get the track list from the Genius mixes? How often to the lists change? I have found that I really like the mixes

October 09 2009 at 12:33 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Timothy Parker

Ditto on the lack of support for older iPod devices.

I would love to be able to sync the Genius Mixes to my 80GB iPod Classic but no luck yet. I would even like to see them update the firmware on the older devices to support features like the Genius on-the-go that the newer iPods enjoy.

September 25 2009 at 2:11 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

wowandflutter

Running Vista with Itunes nine and 3.1 software on my Iphone 32GS....updated
Genius...and still no mixes appearing????

September 17 2009 at 9:05 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Levent

I'm loving the new Genius Mix feature. I have about 5,000 songs in my library and it created 12 distinct mixes for me.

I can imagine how real audiophiles could get annoyed by the inability to rate, view and change the mix playlist, and generally have more control over them, but I don't like to spend a lot of time working on my library so the simplicity is perfect for me. Maybe they could add an "Advanced" feature where you can have all sorts of fine-tuned control.

For me it would be perfect if I could just sync them to my ipod classic.

September 15 2009 at 9:55 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

William Gallagher

Thanks very much for this page: I was thoroughly confused trying to find how to switch Genius Mixes on and this made it straightforward.

William

September 14 2009 at 5:16 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Lilly

Is there any way to get them onto my 4th generation iPod nano?

September 13 2009 at 5:01 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply