11-09-2007, 03:33 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,053
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Does Anyone Pick "Like It" for Zune's Rating System?
“Earlier this week, Zune product manager Cesar Menendez confirmed on his Zune Insider blog that Microsoft will introduce a new rating system for songs. Instead of the five star system that's been in place on iTunes, Zune, the Windows Media Player, and just about every other music software from the beginning of time, Zune is moving to a simple binary system. If you like a song, it gets a heart. If you don't, it gets a broken heart.” – Matt Rosoft, Crave
I understand that some people use the rating system extensively. I don’t, personally. I have always wondered what the point was. On Yahoo, if I rate music, they gave me music suggestions. But it was always very difficult for me to decide. Is this song a 3 star or a 4 star? What about a 5 star? And why would I ever want to rate a song 2 stars over 1 star? I don’t want to hear songs that are 2 stars any more than 1 star. I think Ceaser explains Microsoft’s reasoning very well.
“And when we asked users if they would rate content using the existing system, 90% said that they wouldn’t. So we had to figure out a way to implement a rating system that users both understood and would be likely to use. We tested several different variations, and in the end users gravitated towards the heart/broken heart system, as it put track ratings into more human terms. Hence, the new rating system.” – Ceaser Menendez, Zune Insider
With all due respect to those of you who painstakingly rate your music, you are in the minority it would appear. While I have different degrees of liking my music (some I love, some I just like), it all boils down to if I like it at all, its on my Zune. If I don’t like it, I take it off. I think this is a big deal being made over nothing. If you’re using the ratings to filter your music, it’s just as easy to create playlists to do the same thing.
I’ve seen people who say they use the rating system to create playlists that differentiate between genres. The most common example is soundtracks. I’m a big fan of anime soundtracks myself and I understand the desire to listen to music like that separate from the rock that I have. But the solution is pretty simple. I have an "Anime Soundtrack" playlist to solve that problem. I don’t understand the need to rate music like that differently when you have playlists for it.
I think Microsoft got this right. The people complaining right now are the people who relied on the old system. But most people don’t care to get that granular. It’s a waste of time when I’m at work and a track comes up to try and give every song a rating out of 5. I don’t want to sit there every time I hear something I like and ponder the merits of how many stars I should give it. If I like it, that’s all I need to know.
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11-09-2007, 04:47 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 52
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The people complaining are using the current system for something else besides rating. That is why they are mad.
I LIKE THE NEW SYSTEM. Simple, clean and straighforward.
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11-09-2007, 05:08 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,053
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That's the trend I noticed too. "I use the rating system to flag songs that are my wife's so I don't delete them from the PC" "I flag songs that are x genre" and so on.
Just use the built in playlists and song flagging (is song flagging still in Zune 2G?) for that. I personally look forward to having a simple rating system. For all the people who claim 5 stars is the de facto standard for everything I'd say the most famous rating system is Siskel & Ebert's "Two Thumbs Up".
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11-09-2007, 07:45 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 270
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I like that they simplified the system, however, yes or no is too simple. I wish they at least had 3 choices.
And to everyone who says that there are 3 choices Yes, no or no rating...how do you differentiate a no rating from songs you just have not rated yet?
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11-09-2007, 07:49 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 270
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David Tucker
For all the people who claim 5 stars is the de facto standard for everything I'd say the most famous rating system is Siskel & Ebert's "Two Thumbs Up".
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Yes, but that was 3 ratings: two up, two down, one up one down (actually there was a fourth depending on who was up and down.) I think 3 levels would be perfect.
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11-09-2007, 07:52 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 94
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All I want is consistency as to how the ratings are displayed on Zune, Media Center and on Extenders like XBox.
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11-09-2007, 10:26 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ale_ers
Yes, but that was 3 ratings: two up, two down, one up one down (actually there was a fourth depending on who was up and down.) I think 3 levels would be perfect.
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Don't forget "Two thumbs way up(down)". That makes 5 levels.
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11-10-2007, 01:10 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 167
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I did too think that rating music was a waste of time; too much music to go through each and rate (much like Windows Photo Gallery allows you to rate pictures, I just find that too useless). But, then after I started listening to playlists I created, I kinda thought that having the songs within the playlist organized in an order would have been nice. So that's how I began to rate some of my music, so I guess it is kind of useful. Nevertheless, no matter how unimportant to most people the rating system is, I agree with most people on two arguments they're making:- If it's just a "like it" or "hate it" kind of deal, why would you even have a "hate it" category? I understand why some websites employ that kind of system, but that's because you're just commenting on it, it's not on your computer already. So, unless you download a lot music and sync it to your MP3 without much attention, and you happen to listen to the music and find a song you don't like and would want to delete it next time, then that would make sense. But how many people actually do that, not many enough to change the whole system I would say.
- USArcher made a great point; this is going to cause a great deal of inconsistency between Zune, Windows Explorer, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center, and the Xbox. What are they going to display if the meta data for the song is "love it" or "hate it"?
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11-10-2007, 01:34 AM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,053
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alber1690
If it's just a "like it" or "hate it" kind of deal, why would you even have a "hate it" category? I understand why some websites employ that kind of system, but that's because you're just commenting on it, it's not on your computer already. So, unless you download a lot music and sync it to your MP3 without much attention, and you happen to listen to the music and find a song you don't like and would want to delete it next time, then that would make sense. But how many people actually do that, not many enough to change the whole system I would say.
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That's exactly what I do and I don't understand why people wouldn't do this. If you have the Zune Pass, what better way to discover music? I'm sure I have tracks I still haven't heard yet as I can sit down on any given night and just decide I'm going to add 5 albums. I probably won't listen to them that moment as I don't have time to sit around for a couple hours and parse through all the new music before adding it to my device. I listen to a sample and if it sounds good I add the whole library from that artist. Then I might find I hate half their music when I hear it the next day at work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alber1690
USArcher made a great point; this is going to cause a great deal of inconsistency between Zune, Windows Explorer, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center, and the Xbox. What are they going to display if the meta data for the song is "love it" or "hate it"?
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It might. I'm still not sure what the huge deal is...its just the music's rating scale.
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11-10-2007, 04:00 AM
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Editorial Contributor
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 5,411
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What I find irritating is the continual asault on my freedom. We have a great new way of living life and you need to conform to it. We like it, so everyone else must. I'll not go into the multitude of user options that have been eliminated from WM. What the heck would be wrong with giving the user a choice, a drop down box asking, hey, you can use the great new binary bleeding heart system, the 5 star one you are used to, or pick a scale of 1-10 if you like.
So what if users are using the rating system for something else, like seperating the wife's music from mine, setting up 8M player vs 80M player lists, and other clever implementations. Fact is you have trashed these options and are forcing folks to succumb to your views of how it should be done. Bet I don't even get a choice as to whether I want to upgrade or not. 
They asked users how it should be? Heart, cracked heart? What was the focus group, 13 year old girls?
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