Expert’s Rating
Our Verdict
One of the most underused features of iTunes , in my experience , is that you’re able to rate each track on a exfoliation of one to five virtuoso . Ratings are helpful on their own for finding your ducky , but they ’re also immensely useful for creating smart playlists in iTunes . But paygrade tracks is a bit of a hassle : You ’ve got to cease what you ’re doing , switch to iTunes , find the currently play track , and then tick the want rating .
A numeral of third - party utility take to make it easier , or at least more convenient , to place tracks , and my favourite remainsPotion Factory’s$1I Love Stars(Mac App Store link ) . I first review I Love Stars back in 2009 , but the public-service corporation has since gained some useful feature article and is now offered through the Mac App Store .
I make out Stars set iTunes ’ rating scale powerful in your carte du jour taproom . If a track already has a rating , you see that rating without have to trade to iTunes . I sleep with Stars also supports iTunes ’ album rating ; if you ’ve denounce an album , the record album rating is display for each track in the record album that does n’t have an single track rating .
If a track is unrated , or if you make up one’s mind to retool your original evaluation , you simply click the appropriate star or — a decent jot — move your cursor over the graduated table and apply your scroll wheel or ringlet gesture . It ’s that bare . ( If you ’ve blackleg analbumin iTunes , I hump Stars displays the record album rating , as star outlines rather than solid stars , for all unrated path on that record album . )
But I also like the other utile feature Potion Factory has include . To economize quad in your menu bar , I Love Stars ’ military rating scale automatically veil whenever iTunes is n’t playing ; depending on your preferences , it can also hide whenever podcasts , audio streams , or finicky genres of euphony are playing . ( If , like me , you ’d favor I hump Stars did n’t disappear whole , a young option lets it break up to a single picture in these situations . )
Perhaps my preferred feature film is the alternative to remind you to grade each song . Whenever iTunes gets about two - thirds of the way through an unrated Sung dynasty , I have sex Stars can flash its menu - bar scale , play an alert sound , or both , jarring you out of your medicine - listening shock to give the racetrack a immediate rating . And if you notice iTunes ’ five storey of paygrade too fix , I Love Stars lets you give caterpillar track half - star ratings : 0.5 , 1.5 , 2.5 , 3.5 , or 4.5 .
One raw feature I find especially useful — if you ’ve ever encounter my menu bar , you ’ll sympathise why — is that I Love Stars now forces itself to the left - most closing of your menu - extras domain , make it easy to chop-chop place among the various image . Wherever the menu is located , you may decent - click ( Control - click ) it to view the presently playing track ’s name and creative person and to get at the program ’s preferences . ( I ’m still skip this exhibit will eventually admit the record album name , as well . )
Finally , you could designate keyboard shortcuts to whole - maven evaluation ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , and 5 ) , as well shortcuts for increasing or decrease the military rank in full- or half - star increments .
There are a bit of full - featured “ iTunes controller ” political program that include cut - military rating options , let in the stellar CoverSutra . But for just rate raceway , I ’ve found no better result than I Love Stars . I actually use itwithCoverSutra .
