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Sarc · Jun 12, 2002, 02:36 AM

My Library is roughly 1300 MP3's, of which 115 are of U2 ... now ... by probability and rounding the numbers a little bit, the chance of me getting a U2 mp3 is of about 1/10.
But strangely most of the time this DOESN'T happen ... so the damn shuffle algorithm must suck !

Just a thought ...

Sarc

Aldie G · Jun 12, 2002, 05:47 AM

whatever..

Jerommeke · Jun 12, 2002, 06:31 AM

it is indeed a bit weird... when I drop new files onto iTunes they get shuffled at the end of the list, and after that it always starts trhe same song...

so it should be improved for 2.1 or 3.0

SwarmyCurve · Jun 12, 2002, 06:37 AM

I have noticed over time that the shuffle is determined at the start of play, then just loops this listing it creates. Make a playlist with only a couple of songs, and it will shuffle them by simply changing the songs order visually. It really should be totally random, that would be music better.

Physn · Jun 13, 2002, 11:51 PM

I too have noticed that the shuffle is a bit wierd. If I shuffle my entire music collection (1500+ songs) it arranges the music such that there are more often then not two songs by the same artist, one after the other.

For example

34. Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
</li>
35. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
</li>
36. Metallica - One
</li>
37. Metallica - Enter Sandman
</li>
38. Live - Lightening Crashes
</li>
39. Cat Stevens - Where Do The Children Play
</li>
40. Cat Stevens - Sad Lisa
</li>

It does this even if the artist only has 1 albums worth of songs (I only have 1 cat stevens album), and therefore a very small percentage of the total.

[ 06-13-2002, 11:58 PM: Message edited by: Physn ]

hotani · Jun 14, 2002, 12:18 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Physn:
I too have noticed that the shuffle is a bit wierd. If I shuffle my entire music collection (1500+ songs) it arranges the music such that there are more often then not two songs by the same artist, one after the other.

For example

35. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
</li>
36. Metallica - One
</li>
37. Metallica - Enter Sandman
</li>
38. Live - Lightening Crashes
</li>
39. Cat Stevens - Where Do The Children Play
</li>
40. Cat Stevens - Sad Lisa
</li>

It does this even if the artist only has 1 albums worth of songs (I only have 1 cat stevens album), and therefore a very small percentage of the total.<hr /></blockquote>YESSSS! That is exactly what I have noticed: songs from the same album get grouped together which is pretty annoying. I use iTunes to mix mp3 CDs to play in the car and rely on its randomizing, but it leaves much to be desired. Maybe it will be improved in the next version.

jwblase · Jun 14, 2002, 07:24 AM

I have noticed that any CD's that I have ripped recently ALWAYS get thrown to the top of the shuffle list, REGARDLESS of where they fall in the Library. This doesn't seem to be truly shuffled (random) to me, but heck. I still get all my songs in 2.5 days!!!

JB

WJMoore · Jun 14, 2002, 07:55 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by SwarmyCurve:
I have noticed over time that the shuffle is determined at the start of play, then just loops this listing it creates. Make a playlist with only a couple of songs, and it will shuffle them by simply changing the songs order visually. It really should be totally random, that would be music better.<hr /></blockquote>I think the iTunes way of shuffling the playlist visually (assmuing it actually does a decent job of shuffling) is much better then just picking a random song each time one finishes, because you still get to see a list of what's coming up.

Wesley

iBookUser · Jun 14, 2002, 03:00 PM

I've noticed many of these annoyances in iTunes as well. The thing that gets me the most is that it doesn't seem to remember what songs have already played. Every time I open up itunes, chances are that I'll hear a song that played yesterday. With over 2000 songs, this shouldn't be an issue...

Matt

absmiths · Jun 14, 2002, 05:38 PM

I never could understand how people listen to music in random or shuffle. Evrything I listen to is either multi-movement (Classical) or theme albums like the wall or live albums where shuffle play is kind of annoying.

foamy · Jun 14, 2002, 06:06 PM

Yes shuffle play is only semi-random in iTunes. I have an album where a couple of songs are divided into continuous 15 second mini-songs; that is if you listen straight through the album, then you never notice that a single continuous song is actually 15 or 20 short segments. However on shuffle, you get a 15 second clip here and there.

When my entire collection is on "shuffle" I ofter hear 2 or 3 of these segments back to back (although not linear). I have also noticed that I will hear songs from a certain group at a higher than random frequency. This leads me to believe that the algorithm Apple uses is not truly random with respect to songs...maybe it is random with respect to album, or artist, but once a certain artist is playing, the probability of that artist being played next increases dramatically.

<blockquote>quote:<hr /> I never could understand how people listen to music in random or shuffle. Evrything I listen to is either multi-movement (Classical) or theme albums like the wall or live albums where shuffle play is kind of annoying. <hr /></blockquote>Uh. Maybe because most people don't listen to theme, live, or multi-movement albums.

Gul Banana · Jun 14, 2002, 10:53 PM

Shuffle's best when you're not listening to albums at all, but to lots of songs by different artists - it gets boring to hear unrelated songs in the same order every time. I used to make tapes from the radio, years ago, and listen to them on the bus... whenever I hear a song that was on one of those tapes, now, I _still_ expect to hear a certain other one directly after it.