I love these things. I’m not a big Playlist builder and iTunes Genius Mixes are just what I need when I look up from coding and think “I need some music now!” Every now and then I stop and marvel / scratch my head at the interesting choices iTunes makes for my “Magic 12″ Genius Mixes from the fairly random accretion of digital music collected over the last decade. I have roughly similar collections on my three primary computers: Laptop (smallest, 20GB), MacPro (more, 30GB) and MediaServer (most, 80GB), but the Mix “Genres” vary in odd ways and do not represent what I would guess are the twelve biggest groupings of content.

On the MacPro (where I am sitting now) the Mixes are:

• Electric Blues Mix – Based on: T-Bone Walker, B.B. King, Lightnin’ Hopkins with Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, and Big Joe Williams & others.
• Electronica Mainstream Mix – Based on: Fatboy Slim, DJ Shadow, Chemical Brothers, & others.
• Classic R&B Mix – Based on: James Brown, Parliament, Bootsy Collins, & others.
• Adult Alternative Mix – Based on: Ani Difranco, Tom Waits, Poi Dog Pondering, & others.
• Brit Pop Mix – Based on: U2, R.E.M., Radiohead, & others.
• Punk Mix – Based on: Nirvana, Mojo Nixon, Alice In Chains, & others.
• Jazz Mix – Based on: Bill Evans, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, & others.
• Old School Rap Mix – Based on: Public Enemy, Digital Underground, Beastie Boys, & others.
• New Wave Mix – Based on: Blondie, Talking Heads, The B-52’s, & others. (Playing)
• Indie Rock Mix – Based on: Pixies, Breeders, They Might Be Giants, & others.
• Classic Rock Mix – Based on: Family, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, & others.
• Alternative Pop/Rock Mix – Based on: White Stripes, Porno for Pyros, Jane’s Addiction, & others.

OK, not unreasonable, but some things pop out. I have huge amounts of Blues, but at least half is acoustic – why Electronic Blues? I have lots of Electronica thanks to a mid-90’s fondness for Techno and lots suggestions from friend Bill Bumgarner, but the bulk is definitely NOT “Mainstream”. Adult Alternative? Shoot me now. At least it isn’t “Adult Contemporary”! While I definitely have the required Brit Pop and lots of Indie and Alternative Pop/Rock, you could roll all three together, add the New Wave and Punk and still have less songs than are in my Jazz collection. Why are they broken out like that while Jazz and Blues just get one Mix each?

Looking at the big media server (more than twice the content) the categories are oddly similar, but still oddly distributed: Jazz Mix, Classic R&B Mix, Electric Blues Mix, Classic Rock Mix, Indie Rock Mix, New Age Mix, Electronica Mainstream Mix, Classical Mix, Grunge Mix, Brit Pop Mix, Hip Hop/Rap Mix, Art & Experimental Rock Mix. OK, Classical mostly lives here, so makes sense it gets a Mix, but there was plenty on my MacPro dev box. I like the label of “Art & Experimental Rock” but I cannot think of much that is on the main server that isn’t also on my other systems. And if Alice In Chains and Nirvana fall under “Punk”, what is in Grunge?

There are some interesting quirks in the rest of the iTunes 9 Genius Mix implementation. It seems odd that I cannot see into a Genius Mix to see what music matches, nor can I change from Grid to List view. List view might have made capturing these lists less frustrating – Mix names and “based on” info only shows up as mouse-overs or for the currently playing Mix. Why the magic twelve Mixes? If I must be limited to twelve, I’d love to see a bigger list of possible MIxes and choose the twelve myself. In List view we could even have more than 12 to choose from! After some investigation, it seems the list of Mixes only changes after significant changes to the library and after “Genius Updates”. I’d love to have a “Refresh” button to request twelve new lists chosen by my friend DJ Genius…

What’s in YOUR Genius Mix list?