Genius!

I don’t think I’m alone in my belief that the iPod might be one of the greatest inventions since…well, ever.

In fact, I’m pretty much in love with my iPod, and I definitely couldn’t live without my tiny pink iPod shuffle (her name is Buffy and we work out together).

I’ve recently updated to iTunes 8.0 and I’m both fascinated and terrified. Seriously, it’s genius. No, I mean it! It’s Genius. And this Genius took one good look at my music library, and sized up everything I'm missing. Now it keeps a running list of the songs I "need" on a handy sidebar complete with icons tempting me to purchase the missing tunes for just 99 cents a pop. When your library is as lacking as mine (apparently) is, this could get expensive.

And what next? Is Genius going to start making fun of my tastes in music? I can see it now, a pop up message from Genius reading: “OMG hun, you really don’t wanna listen to that. Trust me.” (What can I say? My Genius is a trendy gay man whose opinion I’m powerless to ignore.) Or worse, it’ll be an audio file and I’ll hear the words spoken aloud as I double-click on Alanis Morissette, yet again.

And not only is Genius a know-it-all when it comes to what I should have in my music library, he also knows how to make a better mix tape than me. Shocking, I know. I once considered myself pretty talented in the art of mix tapes, but no, Genius puts me to shame. He starts with just one song (of my choosing) and then proceeds to create (in all of three seconds) a playlist so good it makes me wanna cry. Seriously.

It's Genius.