Top stories

Journalists Cover Microsoft, Using Macs

It’s not an easy time for Microsoft — with Steve Ballmer having to field questions about being “buffoons” and an “evil empire”  at the shareholder’s meeting (.doc) — so when they get together “the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers” (nb: we weren’t invited) for Mobius to discuss super-secret mobile tech you’d think [...]

Guide To Black Friday Apple Bargains: Cheap MacBooks, iPods and Accessories Galore

Here’s a guide for finding the best bargains on Apple-related gear during the infamous Black Friday sales on November 27. We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of gear from leaked photos of sales flyers and descriptions of sales.
The bargains include a 2.26 GHz MacBook + $150 gift card at Best Buy for $999.99 ; a 32GB [...]

Review: Voices Is Today’s Best Thing Ever, Grab It Now While It’s Cheap

New on the App Store is Voices from the clever folk at Tap Tap Tap. You can guess what it does.

Open it up, pick a silly voice. Helium is pretty silly. A microphone appears and the app even clears your throat for you (try it, you’ll see what I mean). Now speak your brains, and [...]

Review: Sony Walkman S540 Series Video MP3 Player

Press releases, you will hardly be surprised to hear, are rarely very interesting. But one arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks ago that made me double-take.
“Sony’s S Series Walkman,” it chattered, “is a serious challenger to the iPod Nano.” Gosh, really? Perhaps the Cult had better have a look at one, then, despite [...]

Cult of Mac Favorite: Fall In Love With I Love Stars

FB90EE65-8132-4F43-8304-A5C6E8423ACD.jpg

What is it? It’s one of my all-time favourite Menu Bar apps, and was recently updated to work with Snow Leopard. I’m delighted to have just re-installed it after a spell of trying to live without it.

The app is called I Love Stars, and I prefer it over ever other iTunes helper I’ve tried. And I’ve tried quite a few.

Why’s it cool? It sits in your Menu Bar and displays the star rating for the current song in iTunes. You can change ratings with a click, or assign keyboard shortcuts if you wish. And that’s all it does. It doesn’t Scrobble, it doesn’t display artwork, it doesn’t control playlists. It’s just for ratings and nothing more, but if ratings matter to you, it’s indispensable.

20090910-ilovestarsprefs.jpg

I’ve been influenced by the Minimal Mac ethos in recent weeks, and initially took a scythe to my Menu Bar, stripping out all the stuff that I thought I could live without. But right-clicking on the iTunes Dock icon to change ratings is cumbersome and takes twice as long as using I Love Stars.

Furthermore, I’ve discovered that the iTunes Dock icon won’t let you pick ratings while listening to Genius Mixes in iTunes 9. Bizarre, but true. I Love Stars still works, though, allowing me to enjoy the mixes (with all their randomness) and still rate each song as it comes.

Marks out of Pink Floyd? Dark side of the moon.

Where can I get it? Here: I Love Stars

About the author

gilest

Giles Turnbull is a freelance writer in England. He is a columnist for PA, and has written for the BBC, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, MacUser, Macworld, and The Morning News. He has a blog you can ignore and a Twitter account you needn't follow.

Email the author | Read more posts by Giles Turnbull.

2 comments

    I’ve been looking for an app like this my whole life. Well, for the past year or so. Perfect in its simplicity.

    It also lets you set half stars, if you’re a real ratings obsessive. I agree that it is brilliant in doing one thing simply and excellently. I love it.

    Toby

Add your comment

Name(Required)

Mail (required, but not published)

Website

Comment

Buy Inside Steve's Brain Buy from Amazon.com Buy from Barnes & Noble