Microsoft gets right what Apple got wrong with Genius?

The announcement of the iTunes 8 Genius feature at Apple’s Let’s Rock event has been greeted generally favorably, even if Beatles fans can’t be told that pretty much every single band ever to follow borrowed at least some portion of their sound from them. But, did you know that Microsoft has a competing feature for their Zune thing? Did you know they were even still making that Zune thing? Well, apparently they are, and Jesus Diaz over at Gizmodo says it’s better than Genius.

Says Jesus:

They must be making popsicles in hell now, because Microsoft has come up with a much better way to expand your musical horizons than Apple iTunes 8′s Genius in their new Zune software: MixView. Not only is MixView much prettier and more fun than Genius—we already knew that—it’s also more useful, more informative, and it leverages the infamous social aspect of Zune in a beautiful way. In fact, it makes Genius look like a flat, gray, boring Windows application.

Ironically, to illustrate his point, Jesus uses images of some of the ugliest dudes in popular music ever:

At least Jack Johnson’s nowhere to be found.

Now, I haven’t used Genius much, so I can’t weigh in on either side of this argument. Apple’s not without its defenders, though, as evidenced in the comments area:

Your iTunes screenshot is not showing Genius. You’re showing the Genius side bar.

Aw, c’mon, let the Microsoft fanboys gloat a little. They don’t have much to go on as it is.

The big question is, who did they rip this off from?

That’s all well and good, I just hope Microsoft is able to get the word out to the three or four Zune owners still using the product.

Via [Gizmodo]