Life in Smallville

Well, I have scoured the internet (read: spent 5 minutes on Google) trying to find a good "guide" to rating songs on iTunes, and haven't come up with much help.

Just a couple weeks ago, I got a new free iPod (yes, from one of those online 'Free iPod' deals. It worked for me. If you want one, click here.), so I have been spending a bit more time in iTunes organizing my files. One of the big things about iTunes is the Smart Playlists and the song ratings. There is no need for me to go into details here when you can read about it on the iTunes site, but it makes for much better music listening experience. SmartPlaylists.com has some pretty creative suggestions on different playlists to create and how to do so, if you are interested. I created a few myself:

• Love Songs. Not too difficult, just songs that have the word "Love" in the title.
• Rainy Day. Yup, you guessed it, songs that have the word "Rain" in the title.
• 13s. The thirteenth track of all discs.
• Top 13. The thirteen most popular songs in my collection. Only 5 star songs with the highest play count, limited to 13.
  

So, what's with this 13 thing? That's a different post - lets get back on track. I was looking everywhere for a suggestion on now to rate songs. In iTunes, a song can have a 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 star rating. There are different schools of thought regarding how songs should be rated (i.e. should a zero be a terrible song, or a zero just mean the song is unrated). Well, I think I have come up with a system. I wouldn't say I am married to it, so if you have other thoughts I might have missed, please post them. Here is the system:

• Let's start off with the easy one; a 5-star rating is for those songs you love. Those songs you could hear several times in a day (maybe even in a row), and not get tired of it. Those songs that, when it comes on the radio, you tell everyone in the car to shut up so you can listen to the whole song. A few of my 5-stars are "Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts, "Reason" by Hoobastank, and "Comfortable" by John Mayer.
  
• The fours are pretty easy to pick out as well. If you know what a five is, then a four is a song that you really like. If you heard it once a day, that would not be too much, and you like to listen to these songs more than others. Some of my fours are "Let Me Go" by 3 Doors Down, "We're Forgiven" by The Calling, and "Who Wouldn't Want to be Me" by Keith Urban.
  
• Now things are getting a bit more ambiguous, but not too bad. Since a 3 is between a 1 and a 5, it seems natural to rate just those average songs a 3. You could really go either way on it; if it came on the radio you would listen to it, but it might not be your first choice. "I've Got You Under my Skin" by Frank Sinatra and "Swallowed In the Sea" by Coldplay are a couple that hold the 3 star rating in my music catalog.
  
• With essentially only 2 categories left, we have a bit to cover. Are 2s "Not Bad" and 1s "Bad?" Then what about the songs that are in the music catalog that aren't either, but are just ... there; like some soundtrack tracks, or intros or outros? See, its not that easy. How I decided to handle these last two was to define the one stars, and then everything else was most likely a 2. Basically, 2s are songs that I have in my collection that I don't hate, but would most likely skip. I would listen to it on the radio if there was nothing better on any other station. "Tourniquet" by Evanescence and "Stay With Me" by Finch are examples of those songs.
  
• I pretty much defined this above, but songs with only 1 star are songs which I have in my library for whatever reason, but will most likely never listen to. These songs very well could get purged from my library if I need more space. Coming in here are "Hurricane" by Bush, "Mille cherubini in coro" by Andrea Bocelli, and many tracks from Braveheart and Gladiator.
  
• Obviously that leaves the Zero Stars. Pretty much anything that does not have a star, has not been rated ... obviously. So, either I have not gotten around to rating them, or haven't heard the song to know how well I like it.

Well, if you are a iTunes/iPod snob, or use a 5 star system for rating stuff, I hope this was helpful. If you aren't an iPod user, you can get a free one. Seriously. This worked for me and several people I know. Just click here and follow the steps. My suggestion? Fill out an offer that is a free trial, and just cancel the membership during the free trial to prevent charges on your credit card, and there ya go! Costs you nothing, and you get a free iPod ... makes sense to me.

Posted by supermn on Tuesday, January 03, 2006 at 5:23 PM | Permalink