My Life Begins Today v.8.0

I know that it's all just a brilliant device to make me subconsciously want to spend more and more money on things I likely don't need, but damn it.


I am in love with iTunes v. 8.0.




Like disturbingly in love. More disturbing than it would be in general just to connect with an online media service. This goes way beyond that. I'm already scribbling down my possible married names.

Mr. Timothy iTunes.

Mr. Timothy 8.0.

Dr. Raul Magnificent.



Here's the thing. I'm not really one of those cats who worships at the altar of Steve Jobs.




I'm actually about six years behind on most rudimentary and essential technological advances.

But have you seen what iTunes' new "Genius" mode is capable of?

Beautiful, horrible greatness.


The whole thing is a little 1984 (the book; not the year that Frankie Goes To Hollywood taught us how to love). Basically, you let Apple inspect your iTunes library, and then it instantly knows you better than you ever remotely have.


Just click on one song and it instantly tells you all of the albums or songs by that artist that you need to own. (And, conveniently, it has links to instantly purchase all of them.)


Just by playing a Radiohead song, it immediately told me about a dozen random B-sides I've never ever heard. It's the sort of thing that will immediately torch the bank accounts of die-hard collectors and the obsessive compulsive, alike.


And even better: By clicking on one song, you can ask it to build a playlist around it. Here's the kicker: Those playlists are effing amazing.


It takes songs that you already have. Songs probably hidden in albums you haphazardly ripped from a friend seven months ago and never got around to listening to. And it makes a playlist that's both relevant in the artists it chooses and almost dead-on when it comes to matching something about that song.


So basically, I've been spending the past 183 minutes randomly seeing what playlists build around some of my favorite songs. For example, here's what I got when I entered...

Brand New's "Sowing Season":


1. Straylight Run "Existentialism On Prom Night"

2. Minus The Bear "Pachuca Sunrise (Alias remix)"

3. Pinback "Good To Sea"

4. Cursive "The Recluse"

5. Jimmy Eat World "Big Casino"

6. Saosin "It's Far Better To Learn"

7. Placebo "Infra-Red (live)"

8. Alkaline Trio "Mercy Me"

9. Circa Survive "The Difference Between Medicine And Poison Is In The Dose"

10. Thrice "Firebreather"



I could never make that playlist on my own. In theory, I could. But I really couldn't.


Now I don't have to wonder how I feel anymore.

iTunes will tell me.


Finally.


Put in your favorite song and see what it comes up with.

Lemme know the top 10 it spits back.


I don't know who gets to vote for the Nobel Peace Prize, but if they could hear the playlist I just got for Jawbox's "Savory," they'd be on board.