Rating music

zag2me · 2006-09-18, 11:34

This is a pretty simple one, but it makes browsing music much more fun and provides scope for some interesting views of your music collection.

Basically all that is needed is a db field that holds a rating out of 5. Then when a user browses to a song, then can "rate" the tune out of 5. This can be done using the keyboard or the up and down keys on the remote.

A nice way to show this would be some graphical stars in a column.

Here is an example screenshot of how meedio used to do it.

The possiblilites of this are endless with this kind of rating system, imagine things like

- Play top rated songs
- Share ratings with other users
- Play only songs above 4 rating from each album
- Play all U2 songs with top ratings
- Charts and playlists based on ratings
- Cool Visual effects like the ones shown above on now playing and

JoeDalton · 2006-09-18, 13:02

As far as I know this feature is already available in MP.
If you press F9 when having a song selected, there is an option to rate the song in the menu that pops up.

You can also view the ratings by selecting a different view...

Joe

zag2me · 2006-09-18, 13:19

Then I guess the problem that needs to be solved is how to show it in the same kind of way as the screenshot

Just a skin issue then?

piranha · 2006-09-18, 14:05

It would be lovely if those ratings would be saved in ID3 tag AND database, that way your collection will never go out of sync.
One thing that bothers me that if you loose the database for any reason, you loose all the data that was changed. Therefore things like Number of plays, Ratings, Last date played etc should be always saved in both places.

zag2me · 2006-09-18, 14:14

I dont think anyone really wants media portal messing with id3 tags if you think about it.

As the dev's have said before, can you imagine a bug that ruined all your mp3s! Writing to id3 tags can be very dangerous especially as all people collections are different. Or maybe if media portal wrote to the id3 and all your sfv, md5's got broken.

The database field is fine for me. Maybe the backing up of the music database can be improved to stop this happening in the first place.

James · 2006-09-18, 14:28

I would be happy for MP to manage the MP3 tags of my music, as long as its well tested

piranha · 2006-09-18, 14:31

Well, once you rate all your songs and the music database gets wiped because of "a bug" I don't think you will be happy camper.
And if the bug will be there when writing to ID3, it will affect a file or two. And I always thought that bugs are there to be fixed, instead of not developing the functionality because I am afraid of "bugs".

Damn, if the screen goes black during watching TV I may get scared and get a heart attack. Maybe I better not use MP, because it may have a bug which will black out a screen during watching TV.

Anyway.. Bugs don't scare me, it's a matter of fixing them and an option to switch it on or off for those who don't want to keep ID3 tags in sync.
Having missing data is what worries me, especially if you put a lot of effort into putting this data in.

jawbroken · 2006-09-18, 14:43

I don't know about you (and I have no idea what your exaggeration above was about) but I would much rather lose superfluous information like ratings and number of times played than, you know, my actual music collection. That is why caution is being advocated when modifying mp3 files. You may say "Oh, I don't mind if it breaks a few of my mp3s" but I would guess you are in the minority. If someone downloaded MediaPortal and it corrupted their music files then I would imagine they would go out of their way in the future to tell people not to use it, etc. A few people with a bad experience like that could really work against an open source software project that relies pretty much entirely on word of mouth.

So it is not that people don't want to modify mp3 files at all, just the risks need to be weighed against the rewards as many people are protective of their music collections (and rightfully so).

piranha · 2006-09-18, 14:49

I am just against assuming there will be bug, and when the fear of bugs stops development of something being so functional.

Bugs are there to be tested, found and fixed. Then in stable release of software there is no place for them anymore. Simple as that. Stopping development to advoid bugs simply makes no sense for me. That way no software would EVER be developed and we'd be back to counting beads instead of using powerfull computers.

jawbroken · 2006-09-18, 15:31

Yes, but it is not about stopping development. It is about not implementing a feature that is ALREADY implemented in the database and that works perfectly well for storing metadata about all types of media, rather than trying to shove the information in all variety of file formats, etc. If you are concerned about losing this information then simply creating a regular backup of your database folder will work fine.

Personally I would very much prefer to keep application specific data out of media files that are for general use, especially when the chance of corruption of media is factored in.

That is just my opinion, however.

2006-09-18, 11:34	#1 (permalink)
zag2me Portal Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Age: 29 Posts: 198 Thanks: 5 Thanked 9 Times in 6 Posts Country:	Rating music This is a pretty simple one, but it makes browsing music much more fun and provides scope for some interesting views of your music collection. Basically all that is needed is a db field that holds a rating out of 5. Then when a user browses to a song, then can "rate" the tune out of 5. This can be done using the keyboard or the up and down keys on the remote. A nice way to show this would be some graphical stars in a column. Here is an example screenshot of how meedio used to do it. The possiblilites of this are endless with this kind of rating system, imagine things like - Play top rated songs - Share ratings with other users - Play only songs above 4 rating from each album - Play all U2 songs with top ratings - Charts and playlists based on ratings - Cool Visual effects like the ones shown above on now playing and

2006-09-18, 14:31	#7 (permalink)
piranha MP Donator Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 340 Thanks: 15 Thanked 10 Times in 10 Posts My System	Well, once you rate all your songs and the music database gets wiped because of "a bug" I don't think you will be happy camper. And if the bug will be there when writing to ID3, it will affect a file or two. And I always thought that bugs are there to be fixed, instead of not developing the functionality because I am afraid of "bugs". Damn, if the screen goes black during watching TV I may get scared and get a heart attack. Maybe I better not use MP, because it may have a bug which will black out a screen during watching TV. Anyway.. Bugs don't scare me, it's a matter of fixing them and an option to switch it on or off for those who don't want to keep ID3 tags in sync. Having missing data is what worries me, especially if you put a lot of effort into putting this data in. Last edited by piranha; 2006-09-18 at 14:34.

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2006-09-18, 13:02	#2 (permalink)
JoeDalton Retired Team Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Belgium Age: 40 Posts: 425 Thanks: 1 Thanked 17 Times in 5 Posts My System	As far as I know this feature is already available in MP. If you press F9 when having a song selected, there is an option to rate the song in the menu that pops up. You can also view the ratings by selecting a different view... Joe

2006-09-18, 13:19	#3 (permalink)
zag2me Portal Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Age: 29 Posts: 198 Thanks: 5 Thanked 9 Times in 6 Posts Country:	Then I guess the problem that needs to be solved is how to show it in the same kind of way as the screenshot Just a skin issue then?

2006-09-18, 14:05	#4 (permalink)
piranha MP Donator Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 340 Thanks: 15 Thanked 10 Times in 10 Posts My System	It would be lovely if those ratings would be saved in ID3 tag AND database, that way your collection will never go out of sync. One thing that bothers me that if you loose the database for any reason, you loose all the data that was changed. Therefore things like Number of plays, Ratings, Last date played etc should be always saved in both places.

2006-09-18, 14:14	#5 (permalink)
zag2me Portal Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Age: 29 Posts: 198 Thanks: 5 Thanked 9 Times in 6 Posts Country:	I dont think anyone really wants media portal messing with id3 tags if you think about it. As the dev's have said before, can you imagine a bug that ruined all your mp3s! Writing to id3 tags can be very dangerous especially as all people collections are different. Or maybe if media portal wrote to the id3 and all your sfv, md5's got broken. The database field is fine for me. Maybe the backing up of the music database can be improved to stop this happening in the first place.

2006-09-18, 14:28	#6 (permalink)
James Portal Developer Join Date: May 2005 Location: Switzerland Posts: 1,348 Thanks: 4 Thanked 55 Times in 34 Posts	I would be happy for MP to manage the MP3 tags of my music, as long as its well tested

2006-09-18, 14:43	#8 (permalink)
jawbroken Portal Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Melbourne, Australia Age: 22 Posts: 707 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts My System	I don't know about you (and I have no idea what your exaggeration above was about) but I would much rather lose superfluous information like ratings and number of times played than, you know, my actual music collection. That is why caution is being advocated when modifying mp3 files. You may say "Oh, I don't mind if it breaks a few of my mp3s" but I would guess you are in the minority. If someone downloaded MediaPortal and it corrupted their music files then I would imagine they would go out of their way in the future to tell people not to use it, etc. A few people with a bad experience like that could really work against an open source software project that relies pretty much entirely on word of mouth. So it is not that people don't want to modify mp3 files at all, just the risks need to be weighed against the rewards as many people are protective of their music collections (and rightfully so).

2006-09-18, 14:49	#9 (permalink)
piranha MP Donator Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 340 Thanks: 15 Thanked 10 Times in 10 Posts My System	I am just against assuming there will be bug, and when the fear of bugs stops development of something being so functional. Bugs are there to be tested, found and fixed. Then in stable release of software there is no place for them anymore. Simple as that. Stopping development to advoid bugs simply makes no sense for me. That way no software would EVER be developed and we'd be back to counting beads instead of using powerfull computers.

2006-09-18, 15:31	#10 (permalink)
jawbroken Portal Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Melbourne, Australia Age: 22 Posts: 707 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts My System	Yes, but it is not about stopping development. It is about not implementing a feature that is ALREADY implemented in the database and that works perfectly well for storing metadata about all types of media, rather than trying to shove the information in all variety of file formats, etc. If you are concerned about losing this information then simply creating a regular backup of your database folder will work fine. Personally I would very much prefer to keep application specific data out of media files that are for general use, especially when the chance of corruption of media is factored in. That is just my opinion, however.