rate all my iPod music

To complete this goal I tried to rate songs as I listened to them, rate new additions to my collection as soon as I could and I would also periodically go through unrated songs in my library and rate everything I could.

I only rated pop/rock/folk stuff. I created a ‘top rated’ smartlist that included these genres and excluded my classical, world, etc. in order to have a playlist of the music I truly enjoy.

It was definitely worth it. I ‘rediscovered’ a lot of music I had forgotten I owned and I’ve added to my music collection based on those discoveries.

I find that I listen to a far greater range and variety of music now than I did back in my ‘cd changer’ days. Viva la iTunes! ;-)

I installed a new hard drive last week for my MP3s. I was running out of space on my old one. Now I have even more space and can add more music (which I will then have to rate).

I worked a contract last week and blazed through 200 songs in two days. I need to find a way to rate lots of songs when I’m not working at an office.

I’m working steadily on this goal. When I’m not rating songs on my iPod, I’m rating them directly in iTunes. I’m always pleasantly gobsmacked when I run across music that I really love, but I haven’t listened to in a long time. I’m glad to be adding some of my old favourites to my ‘Top Rated’ list.

Also, I discovered that I can edit the ‘My Top Rated’ smartlist to not include yoga music (New Age, World, etc.). I want to rate my yoga music, but not have it included in ‘My Top Rated’ (I prefer that playlist to be Rock/Pop selections). I’ve started rating my yoga music now. I’m going to put those songs in their own ‘Yoga Top Rated’ playlist eventually.

I put this project on hold for awhile because I wasn’t in the mood to rate anything. But I started a short-term temp contract – the keywords here are ‘repetitive work’ and ‘brainless.’ Today, I sat and did my data entry while simultaneously rating songs on my iPod. I listened to and rated …wait for it…83 songs! Wow! Tomorrow, I’ll have another full-day to rate songs (can I break my record? can I break the 100 song barrier? stay tuned…). There are 500 songs in my to-be-rated folder right now. It would be fun to get through all of them by the end of March. Hmm….

My latest contract was much more people/telephone oriented than my last, so I didn’t listen to my iPod as much. I’ve rated some songs while listening at home, but I’m not moving through them at nearly the rate I was before. Now that I’m back to the ‘self-employed life’ perhaps I’ll get back into the ratings game…

I’ve finally come to the point that I can look in my music library and see more rated songs than unrated. I’ve started scanning through, adding the unrated ones to my daily playlist. I’m working a date entry contract right now, which makes it easy to listen to music and rate it all day. I’ve been going through about 100+ songs a day!

I’m finally making some progress with this goal! I was glancing through my ‘music library’ and noticed that many of the songs are already rated. In fact, I’m now pursing the library to find the ones that haven’t been finished yet. I’m not rating any of the classical or instrumental soundtracks – just the rock, vocal, jazz, etc.

A few things have made working on this goal easier: the party shuffle function in iTunes – I put some unrated music in a playlist, then select that playlist in ‘party shuffle.’ As I listen randomly, I rate the music, and periodically remove the rated songs from the playlist. I also rate songs while listening to my iPod (by pushing the round button twice, using the wheel to select the rating).

I’ve been working a contract doing computer work in an office and I listen to music at work, pausing every so often to rate the songs I’ve just listened to. Lately, I’ve been rating 100+ songs per day!

This has been an ongoing project. So far, I’ve rated several hundred songs. The advantage to doing this, is that I can create playlists based on my most favourite music. It also allows me to become more familiar with my collection.