What is Genius really for
It’s strange that nobody has yet analized the reasoning behind Apple’s new Genius feature. The official version is that Genius will recommend you music you may like based on what you are already listening to, and can create playlists of similar music to the one you are currently playing on iTunes or your iPod. This in itself is great, but – I was already getting recommendations for similar music to that I purchased on the iTunes Store.
The Genius license agreement reads thus:
When you opt-in to the Genius feature by checking the box below, Apple will, from time to time, automatically collect information that can be used to identify media in your iTunes library on this computer, such as your play history and play lists. This includes media purchased through iTunes and media obtained from other sources. This information will be stored anonymously and not associated with your name or iTunes account.
On a first look, it seems that Apple collects your iTunes music collection information, regardless of the source (iTunes Store or ripped CDs, for example), and sends it annonymously to Apple’s servers, where the Genius algorithms do the magic. However, the next line on the agreement is this:
When you use the Genius feature, Apple will use this information and the contents of your iTunes library, as well as other information, to give personalized recommendations to you.
Now…they just said that all Genius collected data is stored anonymously, and not associated to my name or iTunes account, but now I will get personalized recommendations based on this very data – how does this actually work? How is the output of the Genius algorithm sent to me, if the input data is not matched to my iTunes account? It seems at least a bit weird. Tinfoil hats on standby.
On a grander scale, Genius is…well…genius! Apple is now going to collect statistics on what millions of people have ripped or downloaded from P2P networks for free. They can use this data to put pressure on studios – for example, say they see particular songs being sold more on iTunes than downloaded or ripped, they could ask the studio for a bigger cut of the revenue. They can also use this data to orient the music store content based on what people are listening to most.
I set this up just yesterday (when the update came out), and I was concerned that Apple could the information it gathered from iTunes to potentially have pirating users (anonymously) prosecuted. The agreement seemed mostly harmless, but do you think that this could be a possibility of sharing iTunes information with Apple?
I seriously doubt Apple would do such a thing, considering how anti-DRM Steve Jobs himself is, having publicly spoken against it. What they do is gather a TON of statistics about what people are listening outside what they have bought from Apple on the iTunes Store. This statistical data alone could be worth a sizable amount of money, apart from providing Apple with strategic information that its competitors do not have.