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Star Ratings - workarounds or time to move on?

T

The Weatherman

macrumors member
Sep 13, 2016
93
273
Jessica Lares said:
Cesium now has a star rating widget. :)
Click to expand...

Jessica Lares said:
Yeah, it does.

But if you're going to do that, you could just get the "Music Rating Widget" instead.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that all these alternatives would become totally useless if Apple decides to nuke the star rating system from both iTunes and iOS which unfortunately sounds like the logical next step...

So it's more than ever the time to send them feedback / sign the petition if you didn't do it already!
Only us consumers can make them change their mind!
 
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Jessica Lares

Jessica Lares

macrumors G3
Oct 31, 2009
9,612
1,057
Near Dallas, Texas, USA
mkaen said:
Thanks for the suggestion. Didn't realize these won't work with iCloud music library. I assume it's the same for cesium?
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I've heard.

The Weatherman said:
Keep in mind that all these alternatives would become totally useless if Apple decides to nuke the star rating system from both iTunes and iOS which unfortunately sounds like the logical next step...

So it's more than ever the time to send them feedback / sign the petition if you didn't do it already!
Only us consumers can make them change their mind!
Click to expand...

I sent them feedback.

Considering we lost Genius Mixes in iOS 7 and they're still in iTunes, I think the star ratings are going to stay around.
 
M

mkaen

macrumors regular
Jun 7, 2011
149
61
The Weatherman said:
Keep in mind that all these alternatives would become totally useless if Apple decides to nuke the star rating system from both iTunes and iOS which unfortunately sounds like the logical next step...

So it's more than ever the time to send them feedback / sign the petition if you didn't do it already!
Only us consumers can make them change their mind!
Click to expand...
Send feedback but not iPhone feedback. Should be Apple Music feedback, as clearly they're in charge of the vision and future of the Music app on iOS.
 
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Cmd-Z

Cmd-Z

macrumors 6502a
Nov 14, 2014
594
666
Coyote, CA
Maybe this morning's story which implies collaboration limitations is why one hand (iTunes) is not talking to the other (Apple Music) and the star rating system fell through the cracks, I hope.

https://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/06/apple-services-moving-together-infinite-loop/

But, just like Mail and Calendars which I've replaced with Outlook and Calendars5, I've replaced the default Music app by a 3rd party solution which is superior (Marvis). I suspect that Apple's approach has been to just make the standard iOS apps "good enough" knowing that someone else can create a more effective solution for those who need more, and now that's what's happened to Music.
 
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IronWaffle

IronWaffle

macrumors 6502
Sep 9, 2008
456
2,173
Washington, DC (Cradle of the Best & of the Worst)
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C

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,461
Cmd-Z said:
Oh well, at least we can hide stock apps now in iOS 10 ... almost as an admission that "yeah, they suck".
Click to expand...
Not sure it really means anything like that as much as simply going in to appease people who keep on asking about this kind of thing.
 
J

JoltinJoe

macrumors member
Aug 6, 2009
84
0
ggarnold said:
First, I want to acknowledge that star ratings are not for everyone. If you are okay with two indicators for music tracks (Loved, Disliked) then this topic is not for you.

I have spent many years building my music library (15+ years, 15,326 songs, 9,382 rated). Star ratings have been the key way to differentiate between how well I like different tracks. At a simple level, 3+ indicates that I like a track, two or less means I don't like it. This level of thinking works well for the loved/disliked.

However I prefer to go further to track what I "like" and "don’t like"….

1 Star is reserved for short intros or songs I absolutely hate (1%)
2 Stars are songs I don't really like (but may be okay for a general artist/genre shuffle) (36%)
3 Stars means I generally like a song (37%)
4 Stars means the song is among the best on a given album (22%)
5 Stars means the song is among my favorite of all time (3%)
Unrated - never got to or didn't form an opinion and okay with not including in playlists

The most important aspect of these ratings is their use in iTunes Smart Playlists. Smart Playlists are invaluable for someone with lots of songs to manage. By simply adjusting a star rating, I can affect which playlist a song fits into. Genres and star ratings help me build great playlists for whatever my mood.

So, with iOS 10, I have lost the ability to use star ratings to automatically affect my playlists from my iOS devices.

Workarounds/Alternatives:
  • Use Siri to change ratings. Siri recognizes rating commands. For example I will say "Siri, rate this song three stars." This works for now, but only in private situations (in car on the way to work).
  • Use iTunes to change ratings. Requires my Macbook, so only practical while at work or home.
  • Change my smart playlists to use two settings (loved/disliked) plus "not set". I would have to give up the ability to differentiate between "pretty good", "great" and "all time fav" status.
  • Manually move tracks in and out of playlists. This would be a ton of work on an ongoing basis and is not practical at all.
  • Find another music library system for iOS devices that works like iTunes used to. Seems unlikely but something could be out there.
  • Explore alternatives such as Google Music, Spotify, Amazon. None have the star ratings feature last I checked. But maybe I'll save money, be more platform agnostic, or I'll find new features (ex. Amazon Echo integration).
I have submitted my feedback to Apple but hoping to hear more from the fans on this board.

Do you use star ratings? Are your use cases similar to mine? What are you going to do without the ratings capabilities? Any ideas for workarounds or alternatives?
Click to expand...

I haven't read all of the posts in this thread, yet. I have about 10,000 songs and do use star ratings (half star ratings, at that). I guess I didn't know that iOS ever had the capability to rate the song. I use a "Recently Played" smart playlist on iTunes to retroactively rate/re-rate each recently played song.

Probably not the elegant solution you've been looking for. And you probably have already thought about it, if you are at this point in your iTunes career. Hope you are able to find something that works for you. I can appreciate how much work it was to maintain that vast library.
 
G

ggarnold

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 26, 2012
33
20
Knowlege Bomb said:
Albums that have intros/short sound bytes in between tend to sound better when it's all present when listening straight through but are not so great when out of context (hope that makes sense).
Click to expand...

This. The short intros or small bridge tracks are nice to have when listening to an album as a whole. But I don't want them showing up in any shuffled playlists.
 
M

mkaen

macrumors regular
Jun 7, 2011
149
61
So disappointing. Keep sending feedback...

Are there any 3rd party music replacements that let you do star ratings AND work with iCloud Music Library?
 
Richardgm

Richardgm

macrumors 6502a
Aug 1, 2008
969
720
Hallelujah
 

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