When iPod Is Put on Shuffle, Is the Order Based on the Times the Songs Are Played?

[VanHiscers]

When I'm listening to music on iPod or on iTunes, I usually put songs I like from one artist on a playlist, and I put each artist's playlist on Shuffle when I listen.

Nevertheless, often I find out, even when it's on shuffle, there's still an order regulation, the songs that have been played fewer times tend to be played first, so as a result, if an artist have just released a new album, then songs from the new album tend to be played first, which really bugs me, because when I put an artist's playlist on shuffle, I want his or her old and new songs to be played in a staggered way.

I'm not sure if I'm the only one that have found out about this phenomenon, but at least I need to try asking around. If any of you are also bothered by this, do you guys know any way to avoid it? Thanks for you time for reading this.

 

[PSCGuy]

When I'm listening to music on iPod or on iTunes, I usually put songs I like from one artist on a playlist, and I put each artist's playlist on Shuffle when I listen.

Nevertheless, often I find out, even when it's on shuffle, there's still an order regulation, the songs that have been played fewer times tend to be played first, so as a result, if an artist have just released a new album, then songs from the new album tend to be played first, which really bugs me, because when I put an artist's playlist on shuffle, I want his or her old and new songs to be played in a staggered way.

I'm not sure if I'm the only one that have found out about this phenomenon, but at least I need to try asking around. If any of you are also bothered by this, do you guys know any way to avoid it? Thanks for you time for reading this.

I have a large iPod collection (~900 songs) and I seem to get a decent shuffle, but songs that I listen to more often seem to come up more often. I still get a lot of things I don't listen to frequently.

For a more in depth look, here's a good thread. http://forums.ilounge.com/ipod-shuffle/232203-shuffle-play-truly-random.html

And here's what I think is the money quote from someone who seems intelligent:

Never having seen the code, my assumption based on its behavior is that Apple opted to go with a simple mod algorithm starting from a semi-random seed (probably something like the second digits of the time or something) so that it appears random on a single play through. However, with repeated plays you will notice that certain tracks are found by this method more often than others. This is much faster, much less CPU intensive, and, in general, works well enough for your average schmoe.

You will never hear the same song on a single play through. But once you start over, it seems the algorithm favors more 'popular' songs in your list.

 

[VanHiscers]

I have a large iPod collection (~900 songs) and I seem to get a decent shuffle, but songs that I listen to more often seem to come up more often. I still get a lot of things I don't listen to frequently.

For a more in depth look, here's a good thread. http://forums.ilounge.com/ipod-shuffle/232203-shuffle-play-truly-random.html

And here's what I think is the money quote from someone who seems intelligent:


You will never hear the same song on a single play through. But once you start over, it seems the algorithm favors more 'popular' songs in your list.

Thank you for your reply. I read that thread you shared briefly, but one other sentence struck me--true randomness will result in some repetition... So since I never get repeated song within a whole run through, I guess the CPU is already working hard.

It's funny because I just add some songs to an artist's playlist, and when I shuffled it, it was the newly-added songs that are played first, and I don't know how the CPU can tell, when it's on shuffle, it tends to play the hit singles first--I always do complete run-throughs of playlists, so a lot of non-singles are played the same amount of times too... Interesting, anyway.

 

[Corny]

it has been long known that apple's definition of "random" is somewhat skewed. you are not the first to notice this behavior - unfortunately there is nothing that you can do about it, either.
let's just hope that they don't use the same algorithm for the random numbers in their encryption

 

[AlmondMilk]

Glad I wasn't going crazy

 

[GamerBear]

Yeah there use to be an option on iTunes. They always seem to change stuff around or remove it all together. I think the option was for songs to play only once or play more often.

 

[JB3]

it has been long known that apple's definition of "random" is somewhat skewed. you are not the first to notice this behavior - unfortunately there is nothing that you can do about it, either.
let's just hope that they don't use the same algorithm for the random numbers in their encryption

Yeah. Easiest way to tell? After a song starts to play, go back to the previous song. When it plays for a few seconds, skip to the next track. You'll be back on the original track.

Try the same on an Android device (or most other players), and when you skip to the next track it'll be different than the first.

 

[Keelandson]

Yeah there use to be an option on iTunes.

Not sure if you're speaking of the iTunes app on an iPod, of which I know nothing about, but there's a shuffle button in my iMac version, at the bottom under the list of songs, second icon from the left.

 

[Mrbrightside976]

Obvious answer - Make sure that on your "Shuffle setting" it says, Shuffle Songs now Shuffle Albums. If it is on Shuffle Albums it will play through a full album then go to the next one.