How to Create a Genius Playlist on Your iPhone or iPod Touch

Genius is a feature of iTunes that allows you to create "smart" playlists. iTunes will analyze your songs and figure out which songs go well together. When you pick a song and hit the Genius icon, they will create a playlist of similar songs.

Besides creating playlists within your computer's iTunes, you can also create them directly on your iPhone or iPod Touch! Here's how:

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• iPhone or iPod Touch
• iTunes 8.0 or above

1. 

   The first step is to turn on Genius within your computer's iTunes. Select the iTunes store on the left side of iTunes and then go to the top menu of iTunes and select "Store". There will be an option in the store menu to "Turn on Genius".
   
   A screen will appear asking you to "Turn On Genius". It will ask you to sign in and agree to the license agreement. It will then enable Genius for your iTunes.

2. 

   Sync your iPhone and you will be ready to create Genius playlists on it! Go to your iPod application and pick a song that you really like.

3. 

   When you tap the screen one time, you will see the process bar to show how far you are into the song. Beneath it, you will see the Genius icon (like atoms flying around). Press the Genius button.

4. 

   If you see a message saying that your Genius playlists are not enabled, go back to Step 1 and make sure that Genius is enabled as directed. Next sync your phone again and you should be good to go.

5. 

   If, when you pressed your Genius icon, you see a screen like the one attached with Genius at the top, you have created new playlist. You have 3 options.
   
   You can press "Refresh" if you have changed music on your iPhone and want the app to go check for new songs.
   
   You can press "New" if you want to start over with a new song.
   
   You can press "Save", your playlist will be saved along with all of your other playlists with the name being the name of the song that you chose to create the playlist. Press "Save" now.

6. 

   You will now see your Playlists (if not, you can select "Playlists" at the bottom of iTunes). Genius will be at the top of the list. This playlist will contain the most recent Genius playlist that you created, even if you didn't save it.
   
   All of your playlists that were created through the Genius feature will be marked with the Genius icon here.

7. Enjoy playing with your Genius playlists. If you have lots of music on your iPhone or iPod Touch, it might help you rediscover music that you don't listen to very often.

Tips & Warnings

• Some songs might not be able to create lists because Genius cannot find enough similar songs.
• After you sync your Genius created playlist to iTunes, you will have to go to iTunes on your computer to delete it. Sync again and it will be gone.
• If you disable Genius in your iTunes on your computer, it will delete your Genius playlists in iTunes and they will also be deleted from your iPhone when you sync next.

[georgelarson]

on 5/8/2009 Very interesting information. Thanks.

[kristara]

on 5/8/2009 Another one of your articles I am saving! I will definitely be using it to create a genius Playlist on my iPod. 5*