Honestly, I'm not a fan of the 5 star rating method. It's too limiting. A ten-scale or a letter based grading system (like in school) would be much more accurate. Consequently when you peruse my ratings don't assume that a 5-star album is perfect, or a masterpiece. Just that I loved it too much to give it a simple "A."

Rating Scale:

5.0 Stars- A+
4.5 Stars- A
4.0 Stars- B+
3.5 Stars- B
3.0 Stars- C+
2.5 Stars- C
2.0 Stars- D+
1.5 Stars- D
1.0 Stars- F
0.5 Stars- F

Essentially, I tend to grade optimistically. If I bothered to acquire the album, I want to like it. So when rating an album, it usually starts of at a 4 (B+) by default, and then is bumped up or down depending on how much I liked it. This is why most of my albums are rated at a 4. Most of the albums I get are due to either previous enjoyment of the artist or a serious recommendation. If it's the latter, I go into it assuming the album is good, and thus even if it doesn't really connect with me, I'm likely to give it a 4 anyway. For this reason very few albums I have get below a 3.5. The album has to be especially bad/un-enjoyable for that to happen. I'm in school now and getting a C is not good and the same is true for music.





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