A perfectly rational approach to automating iTunes with AppleScript, if you’re obsessive-compulsive. Via 43 Folders, where the author comments that he hasn’t really implemented all of this. I’m still impressed that he thought it all through.
[5]d. If a song plays for at least :03, but less than half its length, its rating is decreased by 1. It takes only one skip to demote a track from 5 to 4, 4 to 3 or 3 to 2, but two to go from 2 to 1. Since promotion goes from 0 directly to 2, the rating 1 is reached only by demotion, which allows it to serve as an unambiguous indicator of disfavor.