Section 3.3. Ratings

3.3. Ratings

Although there's no way to give a song two thumbs up within iTunes, you can label each song in your collection with a star rating (one to five). Not only can you, too, now feel like a Rolling Stone record critic, but you can also use your personal rating system to spontaneously produce playlists of the hits, nothing but the hits.

To add a rating to a song in the Song list window, first make sure the My Rating field is turned on in the iTunes Options box ( -J). Then proceed as shown in Figure 3-4.

Once you've assigned ratings, you can sort your list by star rating (click the My Rating column title), create playlists of only your personal favorites, and so on.

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Tip: One the newer iPods, you can even rate songs on the go; your ratings will transfer back to iTunes. To rate a song on the iPod, start playing it and tap the Select button twice from the Now Playing screen. Use the scroll wheel to spin across the ghostly gray dots onscreen and transform them into the number of stars you feel the song deserves .

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Figure 3-4. Click inside the My Rating column. The position of your click determines how many stars you're giving. You can also add a rating by selecting a song, pressing -I to open its Get Info box, and then clicking the Options tab.
Ratings are helpful for snagging the best songs in your collection if you're making a Smart Playlist or using Party Shuffle.