With the new iTunes 8, Apple has added a new twist to its popular music player by incorporating a recommendation engine known as the genius feature. The so-called Genius feature will suggest playlists based on a selected song, using selections from within your library as well as suggesting other related music, available just a click away at the iTunes Music Store of course.
The Genius recommendation engine is not as sophisticated as Pandora, a leading service that provides musical recommendations, but it's sure conveinent to have it built right into iTunes. You give the Genius one song from your library, and it creates a playlist based on that selection. While it may have some limitations, it is fun to use.
Besides the neat addition of this smart, automatic playlist creation, iTunes 8 adds a new visualizer based on Robert Hodgin's awesome Magnetosphere. That's worth the download just by itself.
Some other new additons that come with iTunes is 8 is improved browsing functionality and the addition of HD TV shows to the iTunes store.
There's a new interface that now lets you view anything by graphic tiles, including albums, genres, composers, and TV shows. And if you don't like the Apple default icons, you can do a search for iTunes Genre icons and find lots of good ones to choose from. The Genius feature adds a new sidebar, though you can turn this off if you don't want to see these suggestions.
NBC made up with Apple and announced that they will be returning to iTunes, and many of their popular shows like Battlestar Galactica and Heroes will be available in HD. Shows in HD will cost $2.99 per episode.
All in all iTunes 8 seems like a solid upgrade. If you like eye-candy like the Magnetosphere visualizer and Pandora-like music recommendations, then go download this one right away.