Confusion over TrackStat

[Mick Trusler]

Hi,

I'm confused over TrackStat. I'm evaluating it and will pay for it if I can get it to do what I need. I want my albums to be rated as I play them. I think I have reset all data and then using TrackStat via the web interface if I View Albums and then Albums Not Rated it shows all my albums at zero. This is perfect. However, if I then View Albums Rated 6 (I'm using a 1 - 10 rating) it also shows all my albums as having been rated at 6. I don't think it should be showing any albums as rated as 6. How do I get this set up correctly?

Thanks


Mick

[erland]

Albums which haven't been rated currently shows up in the middle of the rating scale (at 6) because it's most likely where they will end up after rating if you look at it from a statistical perspective.

So it might be a bit confusing but I believe your system is working as it should:
- The "Not rated" menu displays albums which haven't been rated
- And unrated albums are considered to have the average rating when looking at the "Specific rating" which means they will also show up under 6.

I can agree that it might look a bit strange in the "Specific rating" menus but the intention was to make sure unrated albums didn't always show up in the end of "Top rated" menu, the idea was that it would be strange to always consider unrated albums to be the worse music you have in your library, better to consider it to be average.

Let me know if you think this is a major issue and I'll consider adding a configuration option for it in a future release.

[Mick Trusler]

Hi,

Thanks for the quick response.

For me it's a major issue but maybe not for anyone else. As I see it, when albums are automatically rated because I listen to them, they could be rated at 2 or 3 etc. This is then below all those that are unrated. Alternative for me would be to set all albums, if not to 0 then set to 1. Then as I listen to them the rating would automatically increase.

Is there anyway to achieve this?

Thanks

Mick

[erland]

Thanks for the quick response.

For me it's a major issue but maybe not for anyone else. As I see it, when albums are automatically rated because I listen to them, they could be rated at 2 or 3 etc. This is then below all those that are unrated. Alternative for me would be to set all albums, if not to 0 then set to 1. Then as I listen to them the rating would automatically increase.

Is there anyway to achieve this?

At the moment, if you both want:
- To see them under "non rated album"
and
- To see them with a low rating under "specific/top rated albums"

There isn't any solution except for me adding a new option in the plugin settings. I will consider adding this for a new version.

However, if you really want all tracks to be rated but rated with a very low rating there is a solution through Database Query plugin, but this means the ratings will be set and it also means automatic ratings will start increasing from zero rather then starting at 6 as they do for unrated tracks when first played at the moment, so be 100% sure this is what you want before going this path. The solution through Database Query plugin is to create a new "Free form query" with the following SQL statement:


update track_statistics set rating=1 where rating is null or rating=0

And then select to execute it. When executing the query you aren't going to see anything interesting on the screen but it will set the ratings in the background so you will see the effect when looking at TrackStat afterwards.

The scale in the database is 1-100 so the above will set the rating to 1/100 which shows up without any stars in the TrackStat user interface, but they won't show up under "Not rated" in the TrackStat user interface.

Note!
It's a good idea to make sure you have taken a fresh backup of TrackStat data before doing this, else you will have no way to go back if you don't like the effect.

[Mick Trusler]

Thanks.

An additional option would be great depending on what it would do.

I'm happy not to see them as unrated, rated at 1 is fine. What I don't want is to see them at a rating of 6. I play albums rather than individual tracks and so want my album ratings to gradually increase as I listen. If everything starts at 6 it does not leave much room for improvement.

Setting everything to 1 sounds like it should resolve my issue. Then all my tracks can gradually increase as I listen to them. I will think through the logic of this before I do anything and also make sure I have a backup. Good advice.

I assume I would have to run this every time I add new music. Correct?

Thanks


Mick

[erland]

I assume I would have to run this every time I add new music. Correct?

Yes

[Mick Trusler]

Erland,

Thanks. I have run the sql and think it might now be doing what I want. I will try for the next few days or so and then come back again to confirm.

Thanks for your help and patience.

I asked another question about Album Flow and wondered if this applet still only works as a screensaver or if it can be used for scrolling through my albums?

Can you advise.

Thanks


Mick