re: Rating 5-star VS. Heart

I know this subject has probably talked about a lot in the forum even before the update (although I could not find anything due to the broken forum search functionality).

Before v2 (Software and Firmware) we all had a five star rating system in Zune, which enabled us to categorize the music. This five star rating system is present in every major media software, from iTunes & Windows Media Player (& Zune v1) to Windows Media Center for a reason: The music taste is - just like real life - not always black and white but with several shades in between..

To give you an example how I used the 5 Star rating:

5 Star -My hands down favorite songs I would not live without (currently about 100 of my 5000+ songs)
4 Star - Very good songs I would need on a flash based player
3-Star - Good Songs I do not need to hear everyday
2-Star - Songs I don't care much about but either are important music milestones or nice to hear once in a year
1-Star - Songs I need to delete from my collection
Unrated - Songs I need to rate according to the above scheme.

The Heart/broken Heart rating basically takes away any difference. I could live with a 4-Star rating (I would just combine 5 and 4) but what how to I differentiate between 3 Star and the higher rated songs (especially if I have a smaller flash based mp3 player)? And how to I flag songs I do not need in my collection if I can not tell the difference between 2 and 1-Star rated?

Is there ANY chance we can have the original rating system back? It does nit have to replace the heart system, just as an alternative the user can select? I understand that on a zune card or beaming a song to another person a heart system may seem easier (and could be kept) - but please do take in account personal music rating which is immensely important if you have more than a few tousand songs.

Anyway, thanks for listening!

P.S. By the way, I am using a workaround for autoplaylists and ratings - seem my entry in the tips & tricks forum section

I liked the 5-star rating system too, though I think there's actually a bigger issue than that to be discussed.  Let me know if I'm missing this on the new device software, but there historically has been no way to use the favor categories on the Zune, anyway.  The Zune software for the PC enabled you to do what you'd expect with this, but the Zune device failed me here.  I might get used to the heart/broken-heart if it helped me to access my favorite music on the device itself.

I must applaud your ability to write a calm response to this.  Unfortunately, my response is more like this: "You just destroyed a year of work and the way I use my music player without every warning me."  The five star system is not 'optional' in a music player for me - it's what makes it work.  And I have a 30GB Zune.  I can't fathom how someone with a 4GB or 8GB model and a life-sized music collection would cope.  I'll be looking into how to restore the old software, but I fear all my rating information is gone.

The real funny thing is that you can't really do anything with the heart/broken heart rating on the Zune device itself. Once you have maked a song wioth a heart there is no "heart playlist" where you would find it (just as tehre is no "broken heart playlist").
So currently it's useless anyway.
I just hope the Zune Team manages to give us the OPTION to choose the heart/5-star ourself (make the heart a default if you need). That would really ease my pain!

Hi, is there any indication that Microsoft is listening to the swarm of user feedback on this issue?

the heart system is like holding hands with your best friend who also happens to be of the same sex...........i hate it and it needs to go away.....i would never hold hands with my best friend that would just be werid....unless she was a hot chic which my best friend is not hot or a chic.

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Hold your breath someone is about to tell the greatest lie EVER!

The 5 star system was very useful in finding new music... the hearts thing is too black and white... love it, hate it, off and on, ones and zeros...

 

 

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I have altered your music, pray I do not alter them further! ZUNE

Yeah, the heart/broken heart system does kinda suck. Hopefully they'll read this and make a fix soon, so we can have the 5-star rating system. Cuz at this point, the only tracks that I will mark with a heart are my absolute favs and everything else just kinda sits there unrated. (But what's the difference anyway since, as previously stated, there is no heart or broken heart playlist available.)

Hmmm I would rather have the option for both.  The 5-star rating should be included because if anything it is standard across the board.  Everyone has it.  But on the flip side I should have the option of being able to use a heart system if I want because some people may prefer it.  Like me I like the heart system because I am way to indecisive for the 5 star system.  But each to their own and the option should exist not forced.

I use the 5 star rating system the exact same way as Krypton247 and yes a years worth of rating has disapeared, had I known or read this first I would not have updated the software.  The 5 star system cannot come back soon enough as far as I'm concerned.  I kept a playlist of 5 star rated songs that I would have to update every so often.  If anyone is listening it would be great to play rated songs as a standard playlist if that makes sense.  This is a much calmer posting than what I'm feeling at the moment.

Despite perfering the 5 star system, I'm glad that I don't have to double rate everything since the heart system reads/saves to ID3 tag's 5 star system.  However, I highly disagree with the broken heart being rated as 1-3 rather than 1-2, and maybe even change the heart to 3-5.

My personal system is:
Unrated - Haven't heard the song or have no opinion yet.
1. Hate the song
2. Don't hate it, but don't prefer to listen to it
3. Average song, similar to what somoene would call a "radio song"
4. Better than average
5. Top songs

I do this so when creating a smart play list (which, btw, I feel is a HUGE mistake to have taken out) I can make a 3 star and higher list of basically every decent song I like to hear.  It's like my big, catch-all play list for general background music.  Origionaly this 3 star and up list was my "sync list" for my Zune, so now that it's gone, I have to manually re-sort through 30,000ish songs.  It's basically made me give up on modifying my zune until some changes are made.  I know this is just me, but wanted to add my $0.02.

A lot of the features you removed were what made the Zune great.  I'd suggest having 2 maybe 3 modes for the software, beginner/intermediate/advaced that obviously enables more advanced features as you go up.  You had them created at one time, why just toss them to the wind.

 Krypton247 wrote:

To give you an example how I used the 5 Star rating:

5 Star -My hands down favorite songs I would not live without (currently about 100 of my 5000+ songs)
4 Star - Very good songs I would need on a flash based player
3-Star - Good Songs I do not need to hear everyday
2-Star - Songs I don't care much about but either are important music milestones or nice to hear once in a year
1-Star - Songs I need to delete from my collection
Unrated - Songs I need to rate according to the above scheme.

The Heart/broken Heart rating basically takes away any difference. I could live with a 4-Star rating (I would just combine 5 and 4) but what how to I differentiate between 3 Star and the higher rated songs (especially if I have a smaller flash based mp3 player)? And how to I flag songs I do not need in my collection if I can not tell the difference between 2 and 1-Star rated?

So simple, and yet so effective.

You sir, are wise beyond your years (however many that may be).