iPod Do you use song ratings?

[ChrisBrightwell]

There's one feature of the iTunes/iPod combo that, for more than 3 years, I have completely ignored: Song "Star" Ratings.

Am I the only one to completely ignore this?

I've recently considered going through each of my 650+ albums and adding star ratings to each song, but that's a lot of work for ~8,000 songs. Is it worth the hassle?

I don't listen to a lot of playlists, but I hear of smart playlists (such as Merlin Mann's "Lost Lovers" playlist) that I'd enjoy trying. The problem is that most smart playlists need star ratings for all those songs to be any good. Ugh.

So -- Who uses these ratings? Who doesn't? Why or why not?

Anyone else joining me on the fence?

 

[72930]

Not me...I have playlists to guess what I want to listen to (play count over 20, hasn't been played in over 2 weeks works great)

 

[Jaffa Cake]

I actually find them quite useful – I share an iTunes Library with Miss Jaffa Cake and really aren't keen on her Westlife, Will Young et al finding their way onto my iPod. So I rate all her stuff as one star (she doesn't mind ), and all my stuff two stars and higher. Using a smart playlist, I can then get iTunes to only transfer my music onto my iPod. Splendid!

 

[BoyBach]

I rate all of the songs as they form the basis of nearly all of my smart playlists. (Plus I'm really anal about these sort of things! )

Not me...I have playlists to guess what I want to listen to (play count over 20, hasn't been played in over 2 weeks works great)

Great idea for a playlist. Now all I need is name for it...

 

[bartelby]

no, far too many to make it worth while...

 

[OllyW]

No, I've never seen the need to bother.

I already know what I like, I don't need my computer to tell me

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

I just started recently, but not with songs. I have all six seasons of Scrubs in iTunes, and I want to keep my favorite 15-20 episodes on my iPhone. So as I watch them, I've been rating my favorite ones.

 

[~Shard~]

I have never used this feature either. My taste in music is too dynamic to apply a rating to certain songs.

Plus, I only listen to songs I like - if I were to rank a song with 1 star, why would it even be in my library?

 

[Le Big Mac]

I rate all of the songs as they form the basis of nearly all of my smart playlists. (Plus I'm really anal about these sort of things! )
.

Same here -- it was quicker to rate everything in my library than to create lots of separate playlists . . .

It's pretty easy to do if your hands are free--just rate 'em while you listen. If it's not good, give it one star or two, and skip to the next one.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Plus, I only listen to songs I like - if I were to rank a song with 1 star, why would it even be in my library?

Part of a complete album, nostalgic reasons, piss off the neighbours by playing really bad songs really loud, etc, etc...

I try to rate rate everything (but there's probably a few thousand non-rated songs in my Library, I'm constantly playing catch-up, you might say).

***** Excellent
****½ Almost there
**** Good
***½ Above average
*** Ok
**½ Might be OK (entry point for many smart playlists "my rating is better than **")
** Bearable
*½ Bad
* Really bad (excluded from most smart playlists "my rating is not *")
½ Not in use

 

[balamw]

I try to rate rate everything (but there's probably a few thousand non-rated songs in my Library, I'm constantly playing catch-up, you might say).

My system is much like Mitth's and is also driven to use for smart playlists designed to be listened to on shuffle:
1 star is for stuff that is so bad that it will be eliminated on the next library cleanup
2 stars are barely bearable, there's some redeeming quality to keep them in the library
3 stars are songs I could listen to once in a while, but are not favorites
4 stars are songs I really like, but might skip if I'm not in the mood
5 stars are songs I will more than likely listen to no matter what

B

 

[BoyBach]

Plus, I only listen to songs I like - if I were to rank a song with 1 star, why would it even be in my library?

I use the one-star rating to tag those annoying sub-one minute 'fillers' that appear on albums so that they don't appear on my playlists.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

I use the one-star rating for those annoying sub-one minute 'fillers' that appear on albums so that they don't appear on my playlists.

Those I simply uncheck...

 

[iBlue]

I do. (for smart playlists) sometimes I can't be bothered though, it's not a perfect system.

 

[BoyBach]

Those I simply uncheck...

It goes to show you do learn something new everyday!

 

[rockthecasbah]

Nope, it's a waste of time as far as I'm concerned. I know how much i like my music so why go through 30GB of music and rate it?

 

[Gen3tix]

I think I rated over half of my songs which took a pretty long time. I guess it's kind of useless though since I should know if i like the song or not, and I keep the good ones in a playlist that I listen to. Looks kind of cool though, to see a bunch of stars yea I'm easily amused.

 

[Eraserhead]

I do. (for smart playlists) sometimes I can't be bothered though, it's not a perfect system.

I'm exactly the same with my rating, unfortunately that isn't an option so I voted that I rate everything, as that's what I aim to do, and I rate the bad stuff too.

Those I simply uncheck...

I do that with my 1* songs too, as its stops them playing in shuffle.

 

[~Shard~]

Nope, it's a waste of time as far as I'm concerned. I know how much i like my music so why go through 30GB of music and rate it?

Yeah, that's pretty much the stage I'm at too.

Plus, my listening choices change from day to day depending what mood I'm in. Ratings don't. As a result, I don't want to arbitrarily listen to certain 5 star songs on certain days. Yes, I could also filter based on the genre I feel like listening to, and only hear the 5 star songs in that genre or something along those lines, but that's too unnecessarily complictaed for me. As mentioned above, I know what I like and can find it quite easily without having to rate songs, apply filters and such.

 

[milo]

Ratings are great for smart playlists, and you don't even have to rate all the songs for them to be useful.

There's probably a better way to do it, but here's my system so far:

1 iPod grabs all unrated songs, so new material starts out unrated and ends up on the ipod

2 Favorite songs get rated 5 stars. Smart playlists ensure that these are always on the ipod.

3 Songs that I never want to hear again on the ipod get one star, smart playlist leaves them off the ipod.

Everything else can either stay unrated or get ratings in the middle, which means that they end up on the ipod when they're randomly selected by smart playlists. Basically they're on the ipod sometimes. I guess if I wanted I could use the middle numbers for other things like on one ipod but not the other or similar things.

Simple and works well for me. What I like about it is that it serves as a way of promoting and demoting songs from the ipod itself since there's no way on an ipod to add songs to playlists (other than on-the-go) or remove them. When a really great or really terrible song comes on, it gets rated to make it permanently on or off the ipod, everything else usually I don't bother rating. I can control what's on the ipod while out listening to music, don't have to spend time sitting in front of iTunes going through a huge list.

 

[steamboat26]

I always rate my songs, its a great way to organize your music, and decide what music to put on your ipod when your library is larger than your ipod capacity.

 

[homeboy]

I rate all the hit songs. It really helps when I don't feel like creating a playlist and simply iTunes play the top rated tracks.

 

[siurpeeman]

i do. it helps me with my smart playlists.

 

[zap2]

Kind of...not for many

 

[Black Belt]

I suppose if I had a small iPod it might make some sense, maybe. But I have always gone for the Big Mama. And I Smartplaylist by artist so I can checkmark exactly what is going on and coming off my iPod.