Poll: Ratings, The Real Problem With iTunes

[m_jim]

Setting aside the many other problems that people have with iTunes (randomly losing songs, DRM out the wazoo, song prices, blah blah...), I will say that the ratings on iTunes are absolutely horrible. On the 1-5 star scale, a three star review should be the average, but most albums on iTunes seem to live in a world of a 4 to 5 star scale. This score inflation, where nearly every album is described as "perfect," worries me. To me, a five star review should mean "perfect"... a chorus of angels heralds the opening of the album and nearly every song makes you want to cry with the sheer brilliance. With high ratings thrown around like candy, suddenly 4.5 stars is average, and any sort of judgement based on the score becomes impossible. What's worse is that most written reviews (with grammar that would make YouTube commenters shudder) credit only one song on an album as the reason for the score. With music treated as consumables rather than durable goods, chart toppers hit the scene, are purchased, then discarded for the next big thing. The casual buyer , however, is left to look at countless reviews that claim that every Top 40 song is "the greatest ever" and every third group is "the best band today" or "the next Bob Dylan." Since I like to browse for new, up-and-coming artists, this is a problem for me.

How do my fellow Escapists feel? Do you think score inflation on iTunes is a problem? Do ratings affect your buying/browsing decisions or do you go in knowing exactly what you are looking for? Is there any other system that you think would work better? For those of you who will inevitably reply with the insightful "I don't use iTunes lol," do you see similar problems on the Zune network, Amazon, or any other legal MP3 sites?

 

[Minimike3636]

I am surprised that you are surprised. Obviously, this inflation comes from Apple's desire to make more money. You don't make money by saying "Hey, this album is shit, buy it anyway." If these ratings come from other iTunes users, then they're just hardcore fans of the music. I don't see this as a real problem. People just have to ignore the damn ratings and decide if they like the music themselves. You know, YouTube is there to give you a peek at the music for free, you know. The next step is the purchase.

EDIT: And to answer your questions, I know exactly what I'm looking for when I go on iTunes, so screw the ratings. My friends show me all of the music they like, and I pick out what I enjoy from their libraries. I use music-based videogames to fuel my interests as well.

 

[scotth266]

I don't use Itunes anymore: and when I did, I never really cared about the ratings, but now that you mention it I can't remember seeing a single review that wasn't really positive. That either says how selective I am in the quality of my music, or that the reviews that are being put on display are the ones that will help convince the customer to buy the songs.

It doesn't matter to me now anyway: I gave up on my Ipod, and Itunes by extension, about a year ago.

 

[smokeybearsb]

Actually, every time I see an album rating, they're generally well thought out and apply to several if not all songs from the album. I don't think the album ratings are really inflated as much because generally people like the bands that they're giving reviews for and know what the band is normally like. I'm pretty sure if a band came out with a not so good album it wouldn't get a four out of five because the people that actually like the band would be giving their two cents. It's actually not been a big problem for me.

 

[Pumpkin_Eater]

My Anime List is even worse. A few cases in point:

FFVII Advent Children - 8.61
Toradora - 8.56
Lucky Star - 8.40
Naruto - 7.68
Moon Phase - 7.5
Inuyasha - 7.49

Six weeks into Endless Eight the second season of Haruhi still has a 7.61 with about 60% of users rating it 8 or higher. It's almost impossible for a show to score below 7 (Boku no Pico is the only one I could find by searching titles I know).

This is why you should never look to the ignorant masses for recommendations about much of anything. They have horrible taste and don't understand how to properly rate things on a numeric scale. Music forums are definitely the way to go when you want to broaden your listening experience.

do you see similar problems on the Zune network, Amazon, or any other legal MP3 sites?

Does Youtube count? Music videos (including AMVs) may as well get automatic 5/5s the way people rate.

 

[megapenguinx]

No the real problem with itunes is, well it's basically itunes. The other examples you listed are much worse than score inflation. If you want to find out if a song is good or not, why not just youtube it or pandora it? Heck, there is a 30sec sample that you can listen to before you download anything. One thing I wished iTunes had is an auto rater for your own library based on the number of times you played/skipped that song.

 

[m_jim]

No the real problem with itunes is, well it's basically itunes. The other examples you listed are much worse than score inflation. If you want to find out if a song is good or not, why not just youtube it or pandora it? Heck, there is a 30sec sample that you can listen to before you download anything. One thing I wished iTunes had is an auto rater for your own library based on the number of times you played/skipped that song.

I don't check it out on YouTube or Pandora because most of the folks that I'm looking at aren't big enough to be on YouTube or Pandora; I'm looking for people who haven't hit it big yet. True, you have the samples, but it would be nice to know if something is probably crap before you listen to all of the tracks. I do like the "auto-rater" idea, but the only problem is that when you skip something on an iPod (my primary means of listening to music), it doesn't add to the skip count. Cool thought, though.