Since Apple has added Ping to iTunes, I can’t seem to find the genius sidebar or a way to get recommendations for new songs I would like based on a song in my library. Did the feature get moved or removed?

Sort of moved, sort of merged—moverged? First make sure Genius is turned on—go to Store > Turn On Genius. Then the sidebar will show you some Genius information for the currently playing song—but it still has a Ping section up top. It’s just kind of a hybrid now. For example, you can show or hide the sidebar with View > Show Ping Sidebar, or Shift-Command-G. The menu bar menu calls it Ping, but the key combo is G for Genius. Sigh.

When you have Ping and Genius on, the sidebar shows both.

Anyway, to get it back to just Genius (or as close as we can see), you have to turn off Ping. Log in to your iTunes Store account, head to your account settings page, and click the button to turn off Ping. If you change your mind and turn it back on within 7 days, they’ll still have all your info saved. After that, it’s like you never Pinged at all.

Then go back to iTunes proper and turn the sidebar back on. If it comes up with just a Ping logo, check once again that Genius is on (Store > Turn On Genius), leave the sidebar open, and click the little Genius button impatiently until you see the familiar Genius information. And don’t commit the same head-slapping mistake I just did of wondering why I didn’t see Genius info right away—because I wasn’t playing a song. (Of course.)

If you boot Ping from your iTunes but keep Genius on, it gets the whole sidebar again.

iTunes still insists on showing you those Ping drop-downs next to your songs even when you have Ping off, but hopefully they’ll make Ping completely stoppable in a future update.

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