into the mind of iTunes

One of my small procrastination fascinations these days is checking in on my iTunes "25 Most played songs" list. In addition to having iTunes running in Shuffle most of the time I'm in front of the mac, I've been turning the speakers off and leaving it running when I'm away. I've been told that it's supposed to use some not quite random algorithm that favors your more highly rated songs (yeah, I've given most of 'em 1-5 star ratings... and downloaded album artwork). This seems to be true. For the most part, the top 25 is filled w/4 or 5 star tunes (This isn't a purely scientific experiment, however. Wilco's "Jesus, etc." and Gwen's "Hollaback Girl" have benefitted from a few bouts of obsessive replays.). The anomalies are interesting. Joe Hanna's "Cincinnati Highway" is on my hard drive as a relic from Ray's Mother Lodge playlist experiments. I gave it three stars 'cause I didn't want to seem all big-headed, being that I co-wrote, arranged, produced, recorded and played half the instruments on it (I guess listing all that might seem a lil' big-headed...). Still, with no help from me, it never leaves the top 5... and I'm sad to watch the slow descent of R.E.M.'s 5-star "At My Most Beautiful", hanging on at 25 while the 3-star "World Leader Pretend" leapfrogs in at 24. How can iTunes not get around to playing "At My Most Beautiful" on valentine's day? Like it has no brain... or heart.