tag:help.beatunes.com,2009-07-24:/discussions/plugin/1872-get-rid-of-hollow-star-ratingsbeaTunes: Discussion 2015-09-23T13:58:54Ztag:help.beatunes.com,2009-07-24:Comment/325379462014-04-13T13:23:35Z2014-04-13T13:23:35ZGet rid of hollow star ratings<div><p>I think I may have found a solution with a Windows based iTunes
script:<br>
<a href=
"http://samsoft.org.uk/iTunes/scripts.asp">http://samsoft.org.uk/iTunes/scripts.asp</a></p>
<p>The script "ClearTrackAutoRating" seemed to work on a small
playlist, and I am now in the process of applying it to my large
library. Fingers crossed.</p></div>samirdaviestag:help.beatunes.com,2009-07-24:Comment/325379462014-04-13T15:54:18Z2014-04-13T15:54:18ZGet rid of hollow star ratings<div><p>What do you mean with <em>hollow star ratings</em> and why do
you want to get rid of them?</p>
<p>-hendrik</p></div>hendriktag:help.beatunes.com,2009-07-24:Comment/325379462014-04-13T18:25:03Z2014-04-13T18:25:03ZGet rid of hollow star ratings<div><p>Hollow star ratings, or "empty star" ratings</p>
<p>As you are aware, iTunes compiles album rating on its own, based
on the avg rating of all songs. In some cases, it will also assign
this avg to rating for each (unrated) song, but will use "empty
stars" (instead of the regular ones) to signify that this was an
automated process. It is really really annoying. Google search
"itunes empty star", and you will have tons of stories of
frustrated users battling the stupidity of iTunes screwing up smart
playlists.</p>
<p>Here is an example:<br>
<a href=
"https://discussions.apple.com/message/20595429#20595429">https://discussions.apple.com/message/20595429#20595429</a></p>
<p>The script I used did the trick - it got rid of all of my hollow
stars.</p>
<p>The biggest problem for me was that when I would click on the
ratings column in iTunes (to group my library by rating), the empty
stars would be mixed in with the full stars. In my case, I wanted
to make a playlist based on songs I had rated for 3 stars. iTunes
would mix the hollow stars within, which would force me to have to
manually pick out the empty star songs.</p>
<p>After running the script - I am (so far) no longer burdened by a
stupid automated feature that Apple forces upon you. As far as I
know, there is no way to disable it, which is really really
stupid.</p></div>samirdaviestag:help.beatunes.com,2009-07-24:Comment/325379462014-04-13T19:14:09Z2014-04-13T19:14:09ZGet rid of hollow star ratings<div><p>The other major reason was because I have decided to rethink my
system of ratings, and thus needed to make batch changes.</p>
<p>My old system was:</p>
<p>5 - must have<br>
4 - awesome<br>
3 - medium<br>
2 - crap<br>
1 - something wrong with file</p>
<p>In short, I found that the 1 star rating was being wasted, as I
barely ever have encountered problem files. I found I was using the
4 too often, and when I would do a random sync of 4 star songs (on
my ipod), I would often have the feeling of "what was I thinking
when I rated this a 4".</p>
<p>As such, I have opted to use the following system:</p>
<p>5 - must have<br>
4 - awesome<br>
3 - perhaps<br>
2 - meh<br>
1 - really crap</p>
<p>Within iTunes, I selected all of my 2 star rated songs and
converted them to 1 star (hence the need to not select "empty star"
rated songs). I then changed 3 star to 2 star, and am now manually
sorting through (some stay 2, others get bumped to 3). Once this is
done, I will sort through my 4 star, and likely change some to
3.</p>
<p>In short - it is a pain in the butt, and will take some time to
do, but in the long run, will allow me to have good random mixes on
my iPod. I enjoy long distance cycling, which is when I want to
have a good selection of music going where I do not have to be
fiddling and skipping songs. When I am not cycling, and have free
hands, I mostly use iTunes "autofill" feature to load my ipod with
a mix of unrated music, which I rate over time.</p>
<p>Who knows - maybe 10 years from now (when everything is on the
cloud) I will finish sorting my way too large database!</p></div>samirdaviestag:help.beatunes.com,2009-07-24:Comment/325379462014-04-15T16:31:47Z2014-04-15T16:31:47ZGet rid of hollow star ratings<div><p>To answer your original question:</p>
<p>Out of the box, beaTunes does not offer a way to clear this
up.</p>
<p>However, if one wanted to write a plugin, that cleans this up,
one would write a <a href=
"http://www.beatunes.com/beatlet-librarybatchaction.html">Library
Batch Action</a> to check whether the rating was computed
automatically using <code>song.isRatingComputed()</code>
(documented in <a href=
"http://www.beatunes.com/apidocs/com/tagtraum/audiokern/AudioSong.html">
AudioSong</a>) and then reset the rating to <code>0</code> using
<code>song.setRating(0)</code>, if it was computed automatically, I
guess.</p>
<p>Hope this helps,</p>
<p>-hendrik</p></div>hendriktag:help.beatunes.com,2009-07-24:Comment/325379462015-09-07T16:51:51Z2015-09-07T16:51:51ZGet rid of hollow star ratings<div><p>Hendrik,</p>
<p>Is it possible you will include this library batch action in
future releases. I and many others could really use this. I have no
idea how to write this.</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>John</p></div>john.yulltag:help.beatunes.com,2009-07-24:Comment/325379462015-09-08T07:19:48Z2015-09-08T07:19:48ZGet rid of hollow star ratings<div><p>Sorry, this definitely won't be included in a release.<br>
Somebody simply has to write that <a href="https://www.beatunes.com/en/beatlet-librarybatchaction.html">LibraryBatchAction</a>
as a plugin.</p></div>hendriktag:help.beatunes.com,2009-07-24:Comment/325379462015-09-23T13:58:53Z2015-09-23T13:58:53ZGet rid of hollow star ratings<div><p>Perhaps <a href="http://help.beatunes.com/discussions/questions/4762-mass-album-rating-removal">
this discussion</a> solves the issue, as hollow/gray star ratings
for songs should be caused by album ratings.</p></div>hendrik