Tip: use half-star ratings in iTunes

How to enable half star ratings in iTunes Mac screenshot 001

If you like to rate songs on Apple Music, including those you have purchased on the iTunes Store, chances are you will at some point want to submit your star-based ratings. Now, iTunes for Mac and Windows PCs used to support half-star ratings out of the box, but recent updates have changed this behavior to using full stars only.

Fortunately, as noted by The Loop’s Dave Mark, this can be quite easily reverted back to half-star ratings with a quick Terminal command.

In this post, you will learn how to enable half-star ratings in desktop iTunes and rate music more accurately than before.

How to turn on and off half-star ratings in iTunes

Step 1: If iTunes is running, quit it.

Step 2: Launch Terminal on your Mac.

Step 3: Execute the following command in the Terminal window and press Enter to enable half-star music ratings in iTunes:

defaults write com.apple.iTunes allow-half-stars -bool TRUE

You can now assign half-star ratings to music in desktop iTunes. To revert back to full-star music ratings, execute the following command in Terminal, and press Enter:

defaults write com.apple.iTunes allow-half-stars -bool FALSE

This only works for rating music, not apps.

How do you like this little-known feature?

You can submit your how-to ideas at tips@iDownloadBlog.com.