I’m guilty of not making the most of playlists and smart playlists on iTunes. I haven’t even gotten around to filling my iPhone with music. As it is, I’ve only got one full album and a few stray songs that don’t even have their album art added and all the ID3 tags filled. Tsk tsk. It’s all stuff that I’ll get around to eventually, but I could totally relate to Lore Sjoberg’s column on Wired entitled “Perils of joining an iPod nation“.

Most guides to Smart Playlists suggest you start by rating your own music. This makes me uncomfortable. Telling myself how much I like the music I chose and bought seems a little narcissistic. Normally I’m so self-absorbed that if you hug me hard you’re likely to get ego all over your sweater, but this is a bit much even for me. I feel as self-obsessed as a teenage ouroboros on Twitter.

Am I not cool enough to know what an ouroboros is? Anyway, have a read of the column, it’s right on the money. As a technology reviewer, I like to think of myself as very impartial to technology, but I freely admit it: I’m an Apple junkie. Despite having a 16GB iPhone and an 80GB 5.5G iPod (pre-Classic), I read Lore’s column and started thinking “Do I need a 160GB iPod classic?” Damn you Steve!

On that note, here’s a fascinating article on how Apple’s draconian management style has largely been responsible for its successes today. It’s a long story, but a great insight into the inner workings of Apple in general, and Steve Jobs in particular.