iTunes Genius dead?

[logicstudiouser]

Maybe it is just me, but no tracks in my library released after August 2015 can generate a genius playlist, NONE and I have a large library that I frequently update.
Is iTunes Genius no longer updating? Is Apple killing it off?
Anyone else noticing this?

 

[Jamvan]

I've noticed the same thing. I assumed it was dying when they removed the ability to generate an "on-demand" Genius playlist from the contextual menu of a playing song but that assumption is beginning to look more and more like a reality with the lack of updates to the Genius database for new songs.

 

[logicstudiouser]

Ya, it sounds like this is a real problem, not an isolated incident.

It always helps to add your voice if you like the service: https://www.apple.com/feedback/

I made a post about this on reddit a few weeks ago and got some responses saying the same thing. In the mean time, I actually got this up to a senior mac advisor and they have opened a case about this issue. He wanted me to take screenshots of certain music files in my library of some newer songs that don't work with genius. I guess we will see what happens from that. Not expecting much, but it will be interesting to hear what they say.

 

[M. Gustave]

Genius is also completely absent from Apple Music in iOS. It's really inexplicable. The "radio station" feature doesn't duplicate it.

I remember when I first got my iPhone 4, Genius seemed truly 'magical'. It nailed the perfect "mix tape" every time. I liked the atom icon too.

 

[logicstudiouser]

We will see what happens with the case I opened. There has been radio silence for almost 2 weeks. I contacted by email a week ago to see if there was an update and haven't heard anything yet. Rather surprised there wasn't even a response. Will be contacting by phone about this.

 

[logicstudiouser]

Received an update - Apple engineers are apparently investigating this and have also been receiving reports from others about this.

Anyone else impacted by this, please visit Apple's feedback page: http://www.apple.com/feedback/ or report via. Apple support

The more feedback they can get from users, the better.

 

[Paco II]

It's removal from iOS still makes me think this is not just a bug/issue.

 

[M. Gustave]

It's removal from iOS still makes me think this is not just a bug/issue.

Yeah, I don't understand the comment that they're "looking into this". It's obviously been deprecated.

 

[Paco II]

I think Apple's music roadmap no longer includes features for personal collections. It's all about streaming subscriptions.

 

[logicstudiouser]

It's removal from iOS still makes me think this is not just a bug/issue.

Yeah, I don't understand the comment that they're "looking into this". It's obviously been deprecated.

You're right. The signals in iOS 10 don't look so great. It is possible they may not do anything, I am just reporting back on the feedback I received from the senior advisor.
I think of instances like when iTunes removed the sidebar, they did bring that back (somewhat) after lots of feedback. They do (sometimes) listen.

 

[Jamvan]

It appears Apple is listening...at least a little bit. The ability to start a Genius playlist from the currently playing song has been restored in iTunes 12.5.4. Click the elipsis after the song title, go to Genius >, choose "Start Genius". This pleases me to no end. THANK YOU!


Edit: Just to clarify, it appears that this option only appears for those songs in the Genius database. If it's not part of the database, the Genius option does not appear in the contextual menu. I honestly don't know if this is new behavior or not. I will say that it still appears newer albums are not being added to the Genius database yet as nothing added recently shows the Genius option.

 

[logicstudiouser]

It appears Apple is listening...at least a little bit. The ability to start a Genius playlist from the currently playing song has been restored in iTunes 12.5.4. Click the elipsis after the song title, go to Genius >, choose "Start Genius". This pleases me to no end. THANK YOU!


Edit: Just to clarify, it appears that this option only appears for those songs in the Genius database. If it's not part of the database, the Genius option does not appear in the contextual menu. I honestly don't know if this is new behavior or not. I will say that it still appears newer albums are not being added to the Genius database yet as nothing added recently shows the Genius option.

I would wait and see what happens in the next few months. I haven't been in contact recently, but as mentioned previously, they have acknowledged the problem and seem inclined to try and fix it.
Most of my interactions were by phone, but this was one email followup where they acknowledge the issue (last month).

 

[logicstudiouser]

TLDR: Genius issue still being investigated, send feedback to Apple if the issue impacts you. Free tier of Google Play has Genius equivalent feature that works well.

Just an update to my post, I did reach out to the Apple rep that emailed me back in December for an update and they said the issue was still being 'investigated'.
One slightly bizarre thing I have noticed in the last month, I have come across 2 new tracks (released in 2016) that haven't worked before with genius on my iPhone (iOS 6 with iTunes Match) that now work, but when I save the genius playlist and look in iTunes, it does shows up, but any new songs in the playlist are not visible in iTunes. If I try to create a Genius playlist for one of those two tracks in iTunes, it doesn't work, even after another update of Genius. Strange.

An interim solution, I recently upload my entire library for free with Google Play. The free tier works exactly like iTunes Match and the instant mix feature seems to work exceptionally well. Instant Mix is exactly like Genius except, you can't expand more than 25 at a time. There are also stations for your music library like Genius Mixes. And there is an iOS app for it, completely free.
This might be an appropriate alternative for now for anyone looking for Genius alternatives.

For any new readers of this thread that want to see Genius fix, please send feedback.

 

[Luststrolch]

I know this is a really old topic but I still have the same problems discriped in this topic. Does anyone of you guys have any information if Apple is going to expend their Database past 2016 for Genius or is this feature just dead?