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Access the New Genius Mix on your iPod Touch/iPhone (iTunes 9)
By greg | September 11, 2009
Apple recently released iTunes 9 on 9/9/09. Whoa… that’s like… wow… a lot of 9′s, man. This update has spawned quite a few mixed reactions ranging from “this is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen, and it crashes all the time” to “Finally! An iTunes with the features that I need!” I personally fall more to the positive side, though I’m by no means in love with the new look.
One of my favorite new features of iTunes 9 (and also the 3.1 iPhone/iPod Touch OS update) is the new Genius Mix feature. Apple enhanced their Genius technology, and now iTunes conveniently (and automatically) creates genre specific playlists from your library. I’m all for laziness automation 
Note: Some people have said they’ve experienced difficulties getting this “Genius Mixes” feature. To have it appear, open iTunes and go to Store->Update Genius. If this process hangs (doesn’t work), go to your home folder->Library (~/Library) and find the folder called “Cookies.” Simply move this to your Desktop or delete it. Go back to iTunes->Store->Update Genius. This did the trick for me.
Connecting your iPod/iPhone and syncing it will allow you to access these generated playlists anywhere. The trick is just figuring out where exactly they’re hidden. Follow the steps below to find (and setup easy access to) the Genius Mixes on your iPod Touch or iPhone (note: you must have the new 3.1 OS. Also, frankyboy informed me -via a comment- that this will not work if you manually manage your iPod. If I find a “workaround,” I will let you know. Feel free to contact me if you have a solution):
Go to “More” (bottom-right)
Touch “Edit” in the top-left.
You should see this screen (or something similar).
Drag “Genius” to the dock, and highlight the icon you want to replace.
Touch the “Genius” icon and SHA-BAM! Genius Mixes.
I’m not sure why Apple chose to bury their new “genius” feature in a somewhat cryptic location… You’ll have to save the question for them. Hope this helps!
Related posts:
- Beginner’s Guide for the iPod Touch/iPhone: Tips and Tricks
- Apple Conference – iPhone 4 OS – April 8, 2010
- GimmeSomeTune – Free iTunes companion
- iSlate, iTablet, iPad? iSuspect a Letdown (for me)
- Advanced iTunes: Smart Playlists & Scripts
- iPad – My Continued Thoughts
Topics: Apple, iPod Touch | 29 Comments »
September 11th, 2009 at 4:36 am
Apparently the genius mixes don’t work if you manually manage your music though. Do you manually manage or do you sync your iPod to your iTunes library?
September 11th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Ah… that would make sense. I do indeed sync my iPod to my library. I will add this to my post.
I used to manually manage, but I have all of my music on my machine (no machine jumping for me
). It just made sense to sync and get all the “statistics” such as play counts in iTunes (for smart playlists).
September 14th, 2009 at 12:26 am
The new Genius Mix feature is really pretty amazing. I found myself listening to music I normally would never have synced over to my iPod. For those having problem because they manually manage their music, I got around that issue by simply creating a playlist of my own called “iPod Touch” and the only music I used to want going to the touch I placed into that playlist. Allowed me to select albums and songs to sync to the iPod easily without having to manually manage it that much.
But now that the Genius Mix feature is there I may not even have to do that any more.
Finally something the computer does on it’s own that I don’t hate.
September 14th, 2009 at 12:57 am
Thanks for the comment, Tim.
I am definitely a Genius Mix fan and would recommend syncing either your entire library or sync using the playlist technique Tim stated above if you’re one of those crazy “manual managers.”
September 16th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
All you need to do to sync Genius Mixes manually is check the ‘Select playlists, artists and genres’ checkbox under the Sync tab of your iPod and manually choose which Genius Mixes you want pushing across.
September 16th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
dude i have a problem i can saw the genius mix i do the things how do you do i have to do and this not apear what can i do i have the software 3.1.1 and the ginius mix is not there
September 17th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Wooooooooooooow!!!
You do know about iTunes well,eh!! I’m very impressed and thanks for letting me know how to check out that new feature as I’ve been struggling to find it out!!! xD
September 19th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
September 19th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
i need help with the genius mixes. i have an ipod touch 2nd gen. with the software 3.1.1 and i went to the tab that says more on my ipod and genius mixes isnt there! i already sync. the ipod to my itunes and i still dont have it. i have checked in my itunes “manually manage music and videos” is that the same as someone said dat if i manually manage my music?
September 19th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
it wouldnt work?
September 19th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
i got it working now
September 24th, 2009 at 11:23 am
This Reli helped dude thnx soooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 28th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
There’s a work around for old Ipods…
November 6th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
The only reason I still manually sync is that my 90g library is bigger than my 80g ipod. Sigh…time to upgrade again. meanwhile I’ll try Alistair’s tip
November 10th, 2009 at 10:33 am
I have the same problem as Alejandro had,
so I’m trying to fix it first before I leave another comment here.
thanks, anyway
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:40 pm
my library is 100 times larger than my ipod(as everyone’s will be as they acquire more music.) i can’t believe apple didn’t account for this common scenario before releasing genius. so how 2 play genius mix?
December 10th, 2009 at 12:10 am
how do you get it on the iPod nano?!
December 10th, 2009 at 12:10 am
how do you get it on the iPod nano?
December 18th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Hey man
I’am from chile, and i was just looking for this info. But the thing is that when i touch “More”, then “Edit” the Genius icon doesn’t appears!
My ipod touch is a 3rd Generation ipod tocuh.
Please let me know what is wrong or what should i do!!
January 3rd, 2010 at 6:57 am
This doesnt work on the iPod touch 3G 8GB please help me!
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:14 pm
@Cris & @Ricky
Both of you look to be having an issue with the 3G iPod Touch. Cris, have you found a solution to this by any chance?
I don’t have a 3G Touch to mess around with, so if you followed the instructions I have listed and couldn’t get it to work, it’d seem that something changed with the latest generation.
I’ll post here if I hear/read anything. You may try posting on the Apple forums.
February 7th, 2010 at 7:57 am
soo doesn’t this work on older ipods?
i’m loving the genius mixes but it sucks if i can’t get them on my ipod!
February 12th, 2010 at 1:33 am
cooooolllllll!whhhhheeewww!!!!!
February 25th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
all you have to do is just letting all your music from itunes transferred to your ipod, so you must not choose the option to manually manage music
the genius works fine on my 8Gb iPod touch
thank god i don’t have large music library as simpsonsmovieblew does. good luck, pal!
March 6th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
I have an ipod 3g 8gb and i know it may sound stupid but…what is a “home folder”?im asking this bc my genius mix icon doesnt appear, thanx in advance,
March 30th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
[...] to get Genius Mixes on an iPhone or iPod Touch, you need to dig deep into menu options to drag the Genius icon onto the dock. With the iPad, it’s easily available [...]
April 9th, 2010 at 12:03 am
I got the genius feature on my iPod 3rd generation. You pull up iTunes, there on the sidebar you click on devices. Click on the music tab and check off the genius mix box. All you do is hit Apply and it should be on there.
April 14th, 2010 at 11:19 am
Is it necessary that only the songs bought from Apple Store can be used in Genuis Mix?
if it is, how can i do to solve it?
July 20th, 2010 at 11:43 pm
Oh my gosh! Thank you SOOOOO much. I missed my Genius Mixes for soooo long.
Haha. You’re a life saver :] 