iPod A plea for help to anyone who cares about ratings and who understands folders.

[kavika411]

Thank you very much for reading this. I will be as concise as possible. I upgraded to Leopard two nights ago. The upgrade was successful. However, Leopard lost (for lack of a better word) the one and only "user" I used pre-Leopard. Yesterday, I spent 92 minutes on the phone with Apple support and 45 minutes with an in-store Genius trying to fix everything. I am still having a host of issues which - to my novice eye - seem to relate to "permission" issues. But the purpose of this post is narrower than that...

I have spent about six months carefully rating approximately 3,500. Now, the ratings are gone. Can anyone teach me, in layman's language, EXACTLY where ratings are located, what the folder(s) is titled, and anything I can do to "teach" iTunes where the ratings are. (Screen shots are very, very welcome and appreciated.) Ratings are very important to me, and I don't want to lose the work I've already done.

I can't thank you enough in advance if you can help me.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

iTunes ratings are stored, along with all the other iTunes-specific data, in the iTunes Library file. This can be found in your Music folder, which is inside your home folder (the one with a picture of a house as its icon).

If you happen to have a backup of your iTunes Library file with ratings intact, prior to your Leopard upgrade (you did make a backup, right?) restoring them is easy:

1. If you have any purchased music from the iTunes Store, deauthorize your computer. This can be done from iTunes's Advanced menu.
2. Quit iTunes.
3. Replace the iTunes Library file with the old one you backed up.
4. Open iTunes, and wait for it to update its Library.
5. Re-authorize your computer (if necessary).

 

[kavika411]

Thank you, wrldwzrd89, for your lengthy reply. Very appreciative. To answer your question - no, I did not back up my computer before the Leopard install, and I am an absolute fool for not doing so. I have no one to blame but myself for that. I just got so excited when I got a copy of Leopard that I didn't think about it.