Ratings FAQ

How is Orzeszek Ratings different from MusicBridge?

MusicBridge is a great utility for syncing ratings, and certain other metadata, between Windows Media Player and iTunes.

Orzeszek Ratings syncs only the play counts and ratings for files. MusicBridge has options to sync track number, name, artist, album, album artist, year, genre, album art, and rating (but no option to sync play count).

I developed Orzeszek Ratings because I needed to sync play counts, and to fix quirky behaviour when syncing ratings with MusicBridge.

Windows Media Player and iTunes both store ratings as a number from 0 to 100. However, the numbers translate slightly differently into 1- to 5-star ratings. If you copy the number directly, without accounting for this difference, the ratings will be slightly off (eg, some 3-star ratings in Windows Media Player might become 2.5-star ratings in iTunes).

Orzeszek Ratings takes this into account, and syncs the ratings correctly. (Since Windows Media Player has no support for half-star ratings, half-star ratings are rounded up to the nearest full star when you sync ratings from iTunes to Windows Media Player.)

Does Orzeszek Ratings sync automatic ratings?

No.

Can Orzeszek Ratings sync between two computers?

No. Both Windows Media Player and iTunes must be installed on the same computer, and both the Windows Media Player library and the iTunes library must be pointing at the same files for the play counts and ratings to be synced.

Can Orzeszek Ratings sync between two folders on the same computer?

No. Both the Windows Media Player library and the iTunes library must be pointing at the same files for the play counts and ratings to be synced.

What is the ‘Only sync missing ratings’ option for?

If you select the ‘Only sync missing ratings’ option, Orzeszek Ratings will only sync the rating from the source application to the destination application if the relevant track is unrated in the destination application.

This is useful if you’ve rated some tracks in WMP and rated some other tracks in iTunes. By selecting this option and syncing once each way, you can make sure that both applications are updated with the ratings that they’re missing.

Note that selecting this option does not make Orzeszek Ratings perform a bidirectional sync. That is, ratings are modified only in the destination application. To perform a bidirectional sync, you can sync once each way with this option selected.

What is the ‘Only sync play count if higher’ option for?

If you select the ‘Only sync play count if higher’ option, Orzeszek Ratings will only sync the play count from the source application to the destination application if the play count in the source application is higher than the play count in the destination application.

This ensures that play counts in the destination application are not completely disregarded during a sync.

This option may be useful because it’s not possible to properly aggregate the play counts from both applications. It’s possible for the first sync, but after that the play count in both application would be the aggregate. Syncing again would add the aggregate to itself, doubling it in both applications.

You cannot use this option in conjunction with the ‘Aggregate and move play count’ option.

What is the ‘Aggregate and move play count’ option for?

If you select the ‘Aggregate and move play count’ option, Orzeszek Ratings will add the play count from the source application to the play count in the destination application. It will then zero the play count in the source application.

For example, if you play a track three times in WMP and five times in iTunes, after you sync from WMP to iTunes with this option enabled, the play count in WMP would be zero and the play count in iTunes would be eight.

This ensures that the correct total play count is stored in at least one application.

This option may be useful because it’s not possible to properly aggregate the play counts from both applications. It’s possible for the first sync, but after that the play count in both application would be the aggregate. Syncing again would add the aggregate to itself, doubling it in both applications.

You cannot use this option in conjunction with the ‘Only sync play count if higher’ option.

Can Orzeszek Ratings perform a bi-directional sync?

Not presently. However, Timothy Chu has modified Orzeszek Ratings to include a bi-directional sync feature. The modified version is available as Orzeszek Ratings 1.3 Beta (download, source). I have not reviewed this version yet, but you can read more about how it works here.

What are the system requirements?

You must have Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 installed to use Orzeszek Ratings.