Since I first started using the iPod Genius feature to generate playlists, I've been wondering if it would show some sign of imagination, instead of simply plucking songs of the same genre to fill up the quota. Perhaps it was just a matter of giving Genius the right inspiration in the first place. If that's the case, I may have found the secret by giving it CAKE's classic cover of "I Will Survive" as the seed song. Here's what I got, in order and randomized.

As given:

1. "I Will Survive" - CAKE
2. "The Underdog" - Spoon
3. "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" - They Might Be Giants
4. "The Way" - Fastball
5. "Don't Look Back In Anger" - Oasis
6. "Casey Jones" - The Grateful Dead
7. "Two Princes" - Spin Doctors
8. "Wild World" - Cat Stevens
9. "Don't Stand So Close To Me" - The Police
10. "Romeo and Juliet" - DIre Straits

As played:

1. "I Will Survive" - CAKE
2. "Let My Love Open The Door" - Pete Townshend
3. "Don't Stand So Close To Me" - The Police
4. "Tell Him About It" - Billy Joel
5. "Wild World" - Cat Stevens
6. "Bad Moon Rising" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
7. "It's All Been Done" - Barenaked Ladies
8. "Born to Run" - Bruce Springsteen
9. "Money" - Pink Floyd"
10. "The Boxer" - Simon and Garfunkel

OK, so the broader spread of this playlist, which spans the gamut of rock from Elvis to the Decemberists, gets lost in the first ten songs to actually get played. But overall, it's at least bigger than a radio station playlist, and that counts as progress. Next up, we'll pull randomly from the four Genius lists so far and see if it really is a good way to fill up an iPod mini. See you next week.