Louis,
How can I have Bridge CS3 read the star ratings and color coding applied in PM?
I've tried to follow some of the other threads on this topic and have been unable to make sense of them.
You have to tell PM to 'Add tag, color class, and rating to IPTC/XMP:' "For all photos" (Preferences->Files)
You have to have PM embed XMP inside JPEGs, PSDs, DNGs, and TIFFs, and to "Always Create and/or update XMP sidecar file with IPTC4XMP" for TIFF-based RAW files
In order for labels/color classes to work, you need to use the same colors and names in both Adobe's apps and in Photo Mechanic.
That should do it.
-Kirk
P.S. Don't embed XMP into RAW files if you're using Adobe's products. They've got some bugs related to lost ACR settings when embedded XMP is found which causes ACR to ignore XMP sidecar file settings.