Q: iTunes 12.4 How to "Start Genius" from currently playing song?

This last update they simply killed iTunes on many aspects. Genius is not working anymore, they want to push the users to use Apple Music | Create Stations (I don't use and don't plan to use Apple Music). So don't worry trying to figure it out, they simply removed it. The genius shuffle on this new release will simply shuffle whatever it wants, not taking in account what you are listening. I was listening to Metallica and asked for a Genius Shuffle then it started to play Carly Simon.

Now you also have to keep the Side Bar active (they removed the upper right button to change the view options) for you to change from Album to Artist or to Genre. And when you create a smart playlist, the music count is always giving the wrong count.

Summary, this last update, is clearly the worst update apple ever created for a product.

I want to use the previous version... I will remove the auto-update from my MAC, so these new CRAP they are delivering will not affect my apple experience at all.

Cheers,

Leandro Meinhardt

São Paulo - Brazil

Looks like Apple ruined another product, this time the one that I thought would always survive updates. iTunes no longer has a genius shuffle, something I used all the time. It was basically the best way I know of to listen to old and new tracks alike. I absolutely loved the genius shuffle.

It was unpredictable for the most part. I could start genius on a song I felt like hearing, and it would amazingly throw together a playlist that always worked. Let me repeat, the playlists always satisfied. Now it's gone, but not entirely.

Try and get your hands on an iPod classic, you know the awesome ones they stopped making that have 160GB hard drives. I can tell you that the "Start Genius" shuffle will still work on the iPod, but it seems like maybe it won't be able to work on any new files from here on out. That's just my speculation. Perhaps the genius shuffle will only work on any song before they removed it from iTunes.

For example, any song off the new Radiohead album on my iPod does not offer the "Start Genius" slider. You can easily start a genius playlist from any of the older songs, like Paranoid Android. So I am thinking all the new albums I just got on my iPod will not be able to create a genius playlist, probably due to Apple's end destroying, erasing, and worsening the infrastructure that ran the genius database. R.I.P. Genius Shuffle. Someone pinch me, this must be a dream.

There is a way to make it work, but it will never take in account the music you are listening as the first song of your genius. In the past, genius would start a playlist from the music you are listening. Now, to have the same result you need to go to Genius Suggestions and chose Save as Playlist... Then it will bring the following screen for you:

Here you can choose the number of song you want to have in your Genius List and even refresh - but you will always need to create a playlist from scratch, there is Generic Genius Playlist anymore. They add extra steps to a simple process - what was easier got complicated (Apple is becoming Microsoft).

Hope this helps,

Leandro Meinhardt

Another hidden menu option... Update Genius has also moved:

Here's something interesting: if you have an iOS device can actually do this via Apple's (outdated and broken) Remote app.

Here's how to do it:

1. After making sure your iTunes library is shared (via the preferences panel) go ahead and launch the Remote app on your iPhone/iPad.
2. Find the song you would like to start Genius from and press & hold for about a second or two (or probably force touch on the 6s. haven't tried)
3. From the popup menu that appears you can the then select "Start Genius" (if available for that song)
4. iTunes on your computer will then start playing the selected song with a genius generated song list in the Up Next menu just like in earlier versions.

What this means is that the functionality has not been removed, just hidden (or forgotten), which is slightly reassuring, since this might probably be added in the future via a third party app or script.

In the mean time you can just use the method described above as workaround.

Glad to have helped, Jamvan.

This update definitely seems a bit broken, as also some keyboard shortcuts have disappeared.

I also agree that the move from Genius to Station - even though at first may seem necessary in order to streamline the experience - was either not well thought through, or worse, deliberate; since this leaves people like myself, who don't have access to Apple music in their country, without any alternative.

Good idea to drop them some feedback; hope it gets through.

Yeah, this is terrible.  I implore everyone who came here via google (looking for, for example "start genius iTunes 12.4" or whatever) to a). use the feedback link above, and b). respond to this thread.  It's possible Apple doesn't really care, but that seems to be the only recourse we have.

It know that personally, I used Genius multiple times a day.  Fumbling with my phone isn't really a good solution.  This is the sort of thing that will [finally] break me from the Apple ecosystem.  If they're going to [attempt to] force me to use Apple Music, well, I might just go Samsung/Google/etc.

May I humbly suggest you let Apple know what you think about messing around with your beloved Genius from the latest release.

     http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

Buddy I had the same problem and I fix it this way

First I selected an album and on the bottom is this button that says "Show Related" I clicked it."

Then a second screen appears and this time there must be a button that says "Turn On Genius" I clicked on that button too.

after that iTunes shows you the guided tour of Genius.

well that worked for me I hope this would be helpful to anyone else

It's like the version of iOS that included Apple Music, it messed up the Create Genius Playlist having it left only accessible via Siri, which is a little disquieting... like is it or is it not a function?

One way to start Genius is to create a Genius Playlist. This option is somewhat hidden now. Select the song you wish to base your genius selection, then go to File -> New -> Genius Playlist.

Hope it helps!

Holy **** i didnt imagine the folks at apple would come up with such a ******** update of the genius functionality. i vote for them to change its name.