Creating Genius Playlists

In this lesson for iTunes on the Mac, we look at how we create a Genius Playlist. A Genius Playlist is a playlist created by Apple based on Apple’s algorithms based on a song you select. Apple will also highlight songs from the iTunes store in the playlist.

Turning Genius Playlist On
The first thing you’ll need to do is turn Genius on. When you do this, Apple will look at your library, and it will then be able to add songs from your library to a list it creates. This is a free service from Apple. To turn it on, you go to File in the menu bar. Then go to Library, a submenu will pop up, select Turn on Genius. When you do this, you’ll get a screen that shows in iTunes highlighting what Genius is.

Creating a Genius Playlist
To create a Genius Playlist, you first select the song you want the playlist to be based on. Then you go to File in the menu bar. Select New, and then you’ll see an option for Genius Playlist. Elect this and Apple will create a playlist based off of what you selected. This playlist will be comprised of music from your library, but it also may include songs from iTunes that are available for purchase.

Updating Genius
The more music you have in your library, the better the results will be. If you’ve added more music to your library, what you may want to do is update Apple Genius. Basically, you want to let Apple know you’ve added more music. To do this, you go back to the menu bar and select File. From there you select Library, you’ll see an option for Update Genius. Just select this and iTunes will update Apple with what you have.

See this Lesson in Action
If you want to see this lesson in action, take a look at the video above.