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Ratings system, and two new play modes
jhlurie - 3-11-2003 at 08:39 PM

I'm gonna recreate this feature request I made before the hacker came and chewed everything up.

A 100 point ratings system for songs.

This gives much more "wiggle room" than a 5 star system, although in turn it has the weakness that most people will probably be hesitant to use the lower rating range and score things too highly. But thats human nature, and could perhaps be overcome if the algorthym which plays songs based on rating is user adjustable.

Along with that you would need a "ratings" mode, where songs are played based on rating instead of popularity, and also probably some kind of hybrid mode where popularity AND rating are calculated together (similar to how LAUNCH.com does it).

Keep up the great work!


jhlurie - 3-16-2003 at 07:49 PM

If a ratings system is added, one neat thing would be if a song could be rated without having to enter the full edit mode. There should be a way to rate while the song is playing, from the "Now Playing" interface.

Also, there should be a way to return the song rating to an unrated state, since one of the most annoying things about the Launch.com model is that if you accidentally rate a song before you've really decided how good it is, you are stuck having to rate it with SOMETHING.


stsirois - 3-16-2003 at 11:48 PM

In Windows Media Player 9, you can quickly & easily click on some stars to rate a song. Something like this that is based on 100 point rating system would be cool.

Steve


Demnos - 3-17-2003 at 05:00 PM

I hope you don't mind if I post a disagreement here, but I would much prefer a simple one-click rating system with 5 or no more than 9 stars.

The reason is that the rating has to be a one-click affair in order for it to be useful. Try as I might I cannot imagine how you can quickly rate a song between 1-100 with only one click. As soon as you start with listboxes or double-digit-entry etc, the system would become too cumbersome to use, especially for those on HTPCs or with touchscreens.

And to be honest, I see no benefit at all in such a fine grading. You really want to tell me you can adequately rate a song on a scale of 1-100? I.e. two weeks after you rated a song at 67 and then listened to a bunch of other songs, you know exactly whether the current song should be a 68 or a 69 grade? My opinion of a song changes so much over time that I would never need such accuracy.

So, I vote for a simple 5 to 9 star system and would be interested what others think.


Pirk - 3-17-2003 at 05:48 PM

Hi Demnos,

You are right, I would like too a simple rating system with 9 stars, at the most...

Pirk


stsirois - 3-17-2003 at 05:59 PM

Well, I was thinking that a 100 point system with gradations of 10 points would be cool & not too cumbersome. This would be much like Launch.com's service where you can rate a song 0 to 100, but only in increments of 10. Maybe for people who want to more finely tune their song ratings can they go into an edit mode to type in a number from 0-100. This would give users the choice to choose between something easy to use & the option to get into detail with a little more work.

Steve


jhlurie - 3-18-2003 at 01:20 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by stsirois
Well, I was thinking that a 100 point system with gradations of 10 points would be cool & not too cumbersome. This would be much like Launch.com's service where you can rate a song 0 to 100, but only in increments of 10. Maybe for people who want to more finely tune their song ratings can they go into an edit mode to type in a number from 0-100. This would give users the choice to choose between something easy to use & the option to get into detail with a little more work.


Yes, this is almost exactly how I was thinking of it. Ten-point blocked rating positions from a quick interface (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, or 100), and further gradation (as well as the ability to return to an unrated state--not the same as zero) inside the full editing interface.

Best of both worlds.


Demnos - 3-19-2003 at 04:03 AM

Ok, that could work. Indeed: best of both worlds.


jhlurie - 3-28-2003 at 05:14 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Demnos
Ok, that could work. Indeed: best of both worlds.


I guess we have to wait and see. :cool: Probably a lot of programming, but would be totally worth it, in my opinion, if they can pull it off.


Blaze - 4-24-2003 at 11:52 AM

I second that


jhlurie - 5-6-2003 at 09:00 PM

Audiosoft, do we have hopes of seeing something like this in a future release? Have you had a chance yet to see if its viable?


Audiosoft - 5-7-2003 at 06:20 AM

Thank you all for the great suggestions in this topic. Yes, we plan on adding this ability soon.

The hard part is not implementing the rating ability itself, it is deciding on how we are going to effectively integrate it with popularity mode and on the Homepage/Top10 view.

As of right now this is what we have planned so far:
0-100/5 star rating system. 5 stars will be displayed on the "Now Playing" panel for easy one click rating ability (clicking between 2 stars will display a 1/2 star). Each full star would represent 20 points on the 0-100 scale. 1/2 star representing 10 points.

You will then be able to enter a value between 0 and 100 in the editor.

We think this should make everyone happy. Not too many stars clogging the "Now Playing" Panel and the ability to set a 1/2 star. Plus total customization on the scale of 0-100 in the editor.


Pirk - 5-7-2003 at 10:31 AM

As you says, your choice seems to be very well for everyone, simple to use and precise too. That make me happy! :)

Pirk


Blaze - 5-7-2003 at 10:39 AM

It sounds like a really good solution, and I can wait try it out.
How will the playmode actually work? Can you choose to play songs with a decided number of stars and above???
Hope you understand what I mean:)


stsirois - 5-7-2003 at 02:51 PM

Awesome solution, Audiosoft! Can't wait to try it!!

Steve


jhlurie - 5-11-2003 at 06:22 AM

Great. Can't wait.

Quote:
The hard part is not implementing the rating ability itself, it is deciding on how we are going to effectively integrate it with popularity mode and on the Homepage/Top10 view.


Is this anything we can help with? I can see the possible issues with the Top10 list, but the integration with Pop mode seems like it would only be an issue if you are trying to change the existing popularity mode to ALSO take the rating into account, as opposed to treating the rating and popularity modes as two totally seperate things (although certainly a joint popularity/rating mode WOULD be nice as a THIRD option).

Sorry. Don't want to step on your strategizing. No matter which you choose it gives every indication of being a pretty great step forward.