An exemplary method and system for evaluating media-playing sets evaluates the likelihood of a selected performance condition occurring in a subject set including based on source data automatically collected from a sample group of the sets, systematic analysis of this data to form a decision tree model revealing prescribed values for characteristic input parameters that are determined to best relate to the condition, and automated comparison of the respective parameter values of the subject set to these prescribed values in order to screen each subject set for the likelihood of the condition occurring within a specified timeframe, which screening can be repeated for different conditions and timeframes using different decision tree models.