Hey, Megan! Thanks for including one of our songs in the latest!

Ranking started as a way to keep track of songs I didn't like when listening to new stuff out and about on the iPod. I rank those with a 1 and then delete all the ones when I re-synch. Then I wanted a favorites playlist that auto updates, so I started one that would pull all 4&5 stars and started ranking those songs while on random play with the iPod. The it seemed logical to do something with 2 & 3. 2s are what I call cusp songs. I have that as an auto playlist also and everyso often give it a listen and decide if things move up to a 3 or get cut. 3 is the baseline for keeping a song. Some things don't get ranked like the rest: holiday music, relaxation stuff - and there are lots that do not get pulled to the favorites playlist: jazz, classical, children's, holiday.

The iTunes five-star ranking system is why God gave us five fingers....

Let's see - 0 stars are stuff I keep for completionist sake, or holiday songs, recordings of violin class, etc. 1 star means I find it "interesting." 2 stars means I like the song. 3 stars if I get an immediate, happy recognition when the song starts playing. 4 and 5 stars are my faves.

Then I get all overly-analytical about it, and think things like, "To maximize the usefulness of the ratings system, songs should be roughly evenly-distributed amongst the five possibilities (0-stars is a special case), and I only have about 700 5-star songs out of 14,000. I should take some of the best of the 4-star songs and make them 5-star."

msbelle's and tommy's posts made my head hurt.

I actually rate things on iTunes almost identically with Tommy, although I probably tend to overrate.

I actually rate things on iTunes almost identically with Tommy, although I probably tend to overrate.

Sort of like Netflix users.

Hey, Megan! Thanks for including one of our songs in the latest!

Soon you'll be right up there with Johnny Cash.

I figure, why do I own a song if I don't like it, so I don't mind that most of my ratings are a three. But then, I rate most things in the middle no matter what, so. (Like conference evaluations or whatever -- I'll give something I really liked 4 of 5.)

the reason I started the low rating to eliminate was I was adding lots and lots of music I had never listened to.

I must admit, when I rip CDs, I actually choose the songs I want to have, so I really don't have a lot that I don't like.

Anyone have any recs for instrumental guitar (or guitar plus) stuff, along the lines of the Foo Fighters "Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners" or some of the pieces from Deadwood or Carnivale ?

Um, that they might be willing to share on brawk?