2006.12.29
iTunes Ratings
I can finally claim to be winning the battle of the metadata.
Now that I have an iPod, I’ve been spending a not-insignificant amount of time working with the metadata for my iTunes library. I’ve fixed bad metadata (incorrect track names or artists, mostly) on about 100 tracks, and I’ve managed to rate over 80% of the music in my library. This opens the door for a number of smart playlist tricks that will make my iPod listening more rewarding, and I hope to get some funky smart playlists set up over the weekend. Given the amount that I use my iPod, I’m sure this effort will pay off very quickly.
It’s a little surprising just how quick I was able to rate this many songs. My best estimate is that I’ve spent about 9 hours rating the 2,400 some odd tracks that I’ve gotten to so far. Definitely quicker than I would have thought.
I’ve also spent a bit of time organizing my podcast audiobooks so I can play them back start to finish. I’ve got a growing list of audiobooks I’ve obtained via services like podiobooks.com that I have to manage in addition to my usual music collection.
I also have to mention that I didn’t accomplish all of this completely unassisted. In this process, I’ve made judicious use of several applescripts I obtained from Doug’s AppleScripts for iTunes, which has proven to be an indispensible resource. If you run iTunes on a Mac, you’ll no doubt find at least a few gems in Doug’s collection of AppleScripts.
And now it’s time to get back to enjoying my music.
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