How to rate a song that is not in your Apple Music library
Rating a song in Apple Music is easy while it sits in your library. A song you only streamed or favorited is different: the Music window lets you rate it, but other apps get an error when they try. Likeit has a way around that, and it changes one thing in your library, so here is exactly what happens
Why other apps cannot rate it
Music accepts a rating from a script only for songs in your library. A song you liked from the catalog without adding it lives only in Favorite Songs, not in the library list, so a script that tries to rate it gets a file permission error. Music's own window has no such limit, which is why the same song can be rated by hand and not by an app. The difference between the two lists is covered in favorite or add to library
What Likeit does
- Press your Rate shortcut. A small panel opens under the star in the menu bar
- Press a digit from 0 to 5. 0 clears the rating
- If the song is already in your library, the rating is set right away
- If it is not, Likeit finds the same song in the Apple Music catalog, adds it to your library, waits until the entry shows up there and sets the stars on it
While this runs, the star in the menu bar shows an ellipsis. When it is done, the digit appears next to the star
What to expect
- It adds the song to your library. That is the only way to rate it, so rating a song that was not in the library puts it there. If you do not want that, do not rate it
- It can take a few seconds. The new library entry appears on Music's side after a delay. In our tests it took from about 2 to 13 seconds, and Likeit keeps checking for up to two minutes
- The match must be exact. Likeit searches the catalog by title and artist and adds the song only when both match. If it cannot find it, you see a short "Can't find this song" note and nothing is added, so you never get a different release by accident
- One permission prompt. The first time, macOS asks to let Likeit use Media & Apple Music. Without it the song cannot be added
Set it up
Record a Rate shortcut in the Shortcuts window: there is no default, so it never clashes with another app. After that, a shortcut and a digit rate whatever is playing, from any app
Likeit rates, likes and marks songs Suggest Less from the menu bar and leaves the Music window alone