does itunes see the rating data stored in the mp3?

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Level 1

6 points

does itunes see the rating data stored in the mp3?

i have tons of mp3s in my ituned library which i have ripped from my physical cd collection ad i have used Tag & Rename( http://www.softpointer.com/tr.htm) to edit the metadata in those mp3 files. I just recently discovered that in Tag & Rename, one of the available fields is a rating. so i set the rating field in a few files but noticed that this seems to have no effect on songs already imported into itunes.

is there a way to tell my files to re-sync with the metadata in the mp3 files to get the rating?

it just seems liek a cleaner simpler way to store the rating data inside the mp3 file itself rater thanrelying on the itunes library.

none, Windows Vista

Posted on Jan 17, 2008 4:38 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 17, 2008 5:04 AM in response to bdee1

iTunes does not read any ID3v2 tag for ratings. iTunes stores rating information in the iTunes Library database and nowhere else.

That said, did you use the POPM tag for the rating?

If so, I wrote a script that reads the MP3's POPM tag (which is a decimal value from 0 to 255) and translates that to an iTunes rating ( a value from 0 to 100).

Download the (free) program here:
http://home.comcast.net/~teridon73/itunesscripts/

Select the tracks in iTunes that you want to import the rating from. If you want to just test it out, select only one or two tracks.

Extract the zip and run "teridons itunesscripts.exe". In the new window that appears, select "mm rating_toitunes" and "Run selected script".

Again, you have to select the tracks in iTunes before you run the script.

NOTE: If the track already has an iTunes rating, it will be overwritten with whatever the POPM tag has.

I may receive financial compensation from my link (there is a PayPal donation button in my program).

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Answer 2

bdee1 Author

Level 1

6 points

Jan 17, 2008 5:12 AM in response to Robert Jacobson1

thanks for the reply - i appreciate you posting the link to your script but i was reallyhoping for somethgin a bit more automated. its really disapointing that itunes doesnt give the option to store ratings in the ID3 tag. i really would liek to just use itunes to set my ratings and have them stored right in the ID3 tag.

I just dont have the time to go through all my mp3s setting ratings in the ID3 and then have to manually sync them to itunes, and also have to sync them every time i add new music or want to change the rating on a song.

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Answer 3

Jan 17, 2008 5:20 AM in response to bdee1

What exactly is not automated enough about running a program?

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Answer 4

Jan 17, 2008 5:43 AM in response to Robert Jacobson1

Sorry, I read too quickly. I thought you already had rated all your songs using Tag & Rename...

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Answer 5

bdee1 Author

Level 1

6 points

Jan 17, 2008 6:21 AM in response to Robert Jacobson1

no problem - perhaps i misspoke tooo. either way - i rated some of my music with Tag & Rename as a test only to find that it had no bearign on the ratign shown in itunes.

your program would be great if i just wanted to do the ratings in tag & Rename and then sync up the ratings with itunes once. but i would like to be able to easily change ratings or rate new music without having to run additional programs.

now if i had a script similar to yours which would go in the other direction - sync itunes ratings to the ID3 Tags, and if i could get that script to run automatically each time itunes is closed or even once daily or something, that might work.

ultimately, the idea is to use itunes to manage my ratings and have that info synced back to the ID3 tags. because it seems like no matter what i do, every time i have to reformat my computer or reinstall itunes for whatever reason, i end up having to start from scratch with my itunes library. although, even if i lost my itunes library and had to re-import all my mp3s (with ratings stored in the ID3), would itunes pick up that rating info form the ID3s?

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Answer 6

Jan 17, 2008 10:21 AM in response to bdee1

Sorry if I'm a little off on the topic here.... but I saw one of your older posts about changing multiple videos to one video type ..... I downloaded your exe. and I tried to run that particular script and my command prompt screen flashes up and goes away quickly. I'm not able to follow your instructions because of that. Could you please help me? Thank you. -Laura

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Answer 7

Jan 17, 2008 11:19 AM in response to lamenendez

This forum needs PMs -- but you could email me too. You can get my email address by clicking the PayPal button inside my program or on my web page. You'll be taken to a paypal page; it will show my email address at the top of the page. (You don't have to donate to get my email address!)

Anyway, about your problem: I'm sorry it isn't working for you. I can get a better idea of the error if you run the program from the Command Prompt, i.e.:

1. Open a Command Prompt (Start..Programs...Accessories)
2. cd to the folder containing the program (e.g. "cd Desktop/teridons itunesscripts")
3. Run "itunes_scripts.exe" (i.e. type in "itunes_scripts.exe" and hit enter)

Select 18 (itunes_vidkind) from the list, and answer the questions as needed. If you get something that looks like an error message, post it here (or email it to me).

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