I have heard that Windows 11 no longer supports the ability to
create or edit star ratings for music files.

I use these extensively throughout my music collection,
especially for building auto playlists.

If this is indeed the case, without a workaround, I would be
reluctant to move from Win 10.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK
chris@cdixon.me.uk @ChrisJDixon1

Plant amazing Acers.

On 4/20/2023 3:47:57 AM, Chris J Dixon wrote:
> I have heard that Windows 11 no longer supports the ability to
> create or edit star ratings for music files.
>
> I use these extensively throughout my music collection,
> especially for building auto playlists.
>
> If this is indeed the case, without a workaround, I would be
> reluctant to move from Win 10.
>
> Chris

So, there's a bit to unpack here. To directly answer your question, Windows 11
*does* allow for ratings to be added within the 'properties' window; I just tried
it without much incident. In addition, Windows Media Player (WMP12 based, dubbed
'legacy') still supports star ratings, though they do not seem to replicate
between the WMP library and the file system.

To put a finer point on it, it is unclear whether you're depending on star
ratings at a file system level (the only thing the OS would be involved with
allowing) or within some sort of library/database system. WMP, iTunes, Winamp
(5.x, this new Spotify clone is laughable), Clementine/Strawberry, Subsonic, and
a ton of other music players support ratings and auto playlists. On the flip side
though, I cannot think of a player which looks at the file system ratings as a
source for rating information upon import.

So, I know I am a bit late to the party here (such is the nature of Usenet, after
all), but there appears to be a critical piece of information missing. If you are
using a player that handles ratings with its own database, Win 11 will not change
that in any meaningful way. If you are using the file system, where Windows 11
still seems to have 'Ratings' as a selectable field at the moment, this does not
appear to be a removed function of the OS, though I am not sure what connects the
file system ratings to the player.

voyager55 wrote:

>On 4/20/2023 3:47:57 AM, Chris J Dixon wrote:
>> I have heard that Windows 11 no longer supports the ability to
>> create or edit star ratings for music files.
>>
>> I use these extensively throughout my music collection,
>> especially for building auto playlists.
>>
>> If this is indeed the case, without a workaround, I would be
>> reluctant to move from Win 10.
>
>So, there's a bit to unpack here. To directly answer your question, Windows 11
>*does* allow for ratings to be added within the 'properties' window; I just tried
>it without much incident. In addition, Windows Media Player (WMP12 based, dubbed
>'legacy') still supports star ratings, though they do not seem to replicate
>between the WMP library and the file system.
>
>To put a finer point on it, it is unclear whether you're depending on star
>ratings at a file system level (the only thing the OS would be involved with
>allowing) or within some sort of library/database system. WMP, iTunes, Winamp
>(5.x, this new Spotify clone is laughable), Clementine/Strawberry, Subsonic, and
>a ton of other music players support ratings and auto playlists. On the flip side
>though, I cannot think of a player which looks at the file system ratings as a
>source for rating information upon import.
>
>So, I know I am a bit late to the party here (such is the nature of Usenet, after
>all), but there appears to be a critical piece of information missing. If you are
>using a player that handles ratings with its own database, Win 11 will not change
>that in any meaningful way. If you are using the file system, where Windows 11
>still seems to have 'Ratings' as a selectable field at the moment, this does not
>appear to be a removed function of the OS, though I am not sure what connects the
>file system ratings to the player.

OK, thanks for the response, time is not of the essence for this
topic.

I originally (a few Windows versions ago) started applying the
star ratings using Windows Media Player, on a personalised user
basis, but soon found that this was fatally flawed, as it
depended upon its own system, maintained in a proprietary
database that was prone to corruption, and which, upon
regeneration, forgot what you had told it.

I than changed to the global method, which used a rating field in
the file parameters, which appears to be recognised by both Media
Player and Media Monkey. I use them to create auto-playlists,
whose criteria usually include my star rating.

If this facility is maintained, then all is well.

I had this response on another group

Adrian Claspers wrote:

>https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2022/03/02/announcing-windows-11-insider-preview-build-22567/
>
>"[File Explorer]
> Star rating supported files (for example mp4 files) should work
>again now."
>
>
>This is an article from March 2, 2022
>
>I'm not sure if it has made it to release.

As a complete aside, do any of the auto-playlists allow "exclude"
criteria? I haven't come across any so far.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK
chris@cdixon.me.uk @ChrisJDixon1

Plant amazing Acers.