You assign iTunes ratings to rate your favourite songs in your music library by applying stars from one to five. After you rate your songs, you can use those ratings as a playlist criterion.

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For example, I created a smart playlist that contained songs with a rating of five stars guaranteeing that I listened to my personal favourites.

To Assign Ratings

You can assign ratings in one of three ways…

1. One track at a time
To assign ratings to individual tracks, click on ‘View > View Options’ and tick the ‘Rating’ check box.

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Select a track and right click to bring up a menu, choose ‘Rating’ and select your rating for the selected track from one to five stars.

2. Multiple tracks
You can also assign the same rating to several songs at once. To do this, select the songs in your iTunes library holding down the ‘Shift’ key on your keyboard whilst you select songs. Now right-click the selected songs and assign your rating. Notice that the rating you choose is assigned to all your selected songs.

3. On the go
You can assign ratings using your iPod too. When listening to a song, press the ‘Center’ button three times if you have album art work. If you don’t have an album art work, you only need to press the ‘Center’ button twice.

You’ll be taken to a rating screen, where you use your iPod’s scroll wheel to assign a rating.

When you sync your iPod with your computer, the ratings you’ve entered on your iPod are transferred to iTunes.

Note: You can only rate songs with third-generation and later iPods with display.