Two ways to make iTunes better: Half-star ratings

Because I have nothing better to talk about, here is another tutorial, this time involving my favorite music player: iTunes.

The first thing I'll talk about isn't supported by iTunes by default, but it is something that is relatively easy to enable. I'm talking about half-star ratings. Let's take a look at iTunes to see exactly what I'm talking about.

As you can see, I have some songs rated 4.5 and 3.5. If you've read any of my concert reviews, you'll know that I love my half scores. Sometimes a song isn't quite perfect, but is still better than a 4, which is why I'll rate a song 4.5.

Here is how to turn this feature on in roughly five steps.


First you want to make sure iTunes is NOT open. This is important.

1. Look for a file called iTunesPrefs.xml on your PC.

For Windows 7 and Vista, it should be located at C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes

For Windows XP, it should be located at C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes 

Obviously you will need to change "username" to whatever your PC log-in username is (for example, mine is Trunks).

2. Find iTunesPrefs.xml and open it in Notepad. 

3. Look for:

<key>User Preferences</key>
<dict> 

(you can use ctrl + f on your keyboard to quick search)

4. Under <dict> press enter and copy and paste this:

<key>allow-half-stars</key>
<data>
dHJ1ZQ==
</data>

5. Then save and close. 

Open up iTunes and it should now allow you to rate songs with half-stars. To do so, click on the the whole number that is closest to the number you want to rate and drag it to the right. For example, if you want to rate a song 3.5 stars, click on the 3rd star, don't let go, and just move your mouse to the right and it should change from 3 to 3.5 stars.

Just in case you were confused about any of that, here is a video of me doing the above steps (watch in 720p using the enlarged player on Youtube for the best quality).



Next time I'll talk about what smart playlists can do for you.