How to make ratings syncing work?

[Grivooga]

I got a 4gb Fuze a few days ago and I'm mostly happy with it. My major complaint would be that I can't get ratings and playcounts to sync from the device back to the PC. I also don't really like that I can't use iTunes without major workarounds but that's not the players fault.

I've tried Mediamonkey, Songbird (which grinds to a screaming halt when I try to sync the fuze with it), the train-wreck abomination of WMP, and work-arounds with iTunes. So far I really like the potential of Songbird but I can't even get it to sync music much less ratings so its out until it gets updated. WMP has an abomination of an interface and it still doesn't sync the ratings and playcounts so it's not even remotely useful. Mediamonkey works the best of the players I've tried; it syncs music and playlists and the ratings and playcounts from the PC but it doesn't seem to support pulling them from the device back to the PC for generic devices.

Has anyone found a way to get ratings set with the Fuze to sync back to the PC? I like to use 1-star ratings to filter out stuff that I don't want to hear again. Playcounts to work with last.fm would be frosting but I'm really getting frustrated with the ratings thing.

[CrowdAds]

[gabe565]

Are you in MSC or MTP mode? Because you can't sync ratings with MSC, but if your in MTP mode, Windows Media Player and Rhapsody can sync ratings to it. Ratings don't sync from the Sansa, only to it...

I wish it did playcounts for last.fm, also, but it doesn't

[Grivooga]

Have tried both. MSC and MTP. Ratings sync from the PC to the Fuze just fine using WMP, MediaMonkey, iTunesAgent, and I've even now gotten Songbird to sync but unreliably.

If I can't find a way to make this sync in both directions then I'll probably be looking for an alternative. Apparently from what I've read iPods, most Zens, and most iRiver players sync ratings both ways with MediaMonkey and Rockbox'd players can sync ratings with an intermediate workaround program. I almost bought a Zen but the poor integration with the memory card pushed me towards the better Sansa implementation.

[Grivooga]

J River Media Center syncs ratings in both directions. Doesn't seem to sync playcounts or last played dates though. I'm declaring it a partial victory and hoping that Songbird will eventually deliver full functionality.