Problem with MP3 Player's Shuffle Feature

[Mangosteen]

I have a Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Extra. I like it very much, but I do have a problem with it. I downloaded about 250 songs into it, but it plays only one hundred or less of these songs when I hit the "play any song" button. I listen four or more a hours a day and its always the same songs day after day. Its like all 250 songs are in a large container and the MP3 only plays songs near the "top" or "surface" of the container. It never goes deep into it to "scoop" out any songs from the bottom. I know all 250 songs are there because I can play any one of them if I do a search. How does a MP3 search for songs to play and why can't it play all 250 songs in a truly random manner?

Is there another newer MP3 player that can play a higher number of songs in a random manner?

I know I can create smaller play lists and play these on different days so I can listen to a greater number of my songs, but I'd really rather just hit the "play any song" button and listen.

Thank you!

[chrisk]

I don't know anything about that particular model, and I don't tend to do much shuffle playing with MP3 players myself, but I'd like to nitpick here and say that maybe you should request a subject line, as it sounds like you're asking how the MP3 format itself works, how it manages to cram so much (relatively) sound information into relatively small files.

[astro]

This really should be titled "How does the Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Extra random shuffle feature work?" It has little to do with MP3 encoding. Ask a mod to change it.

In looking at the reviews it appears that it may possibly prioritize songs that are played more often in the shuffle. There is apparently a firmware update for this model. You might want to make sure you have the latest update.

[astro]

In looking at the Xtra pdf manual from the Creative website it appears the shuffle feature only acts on a list you have pre-selected at some point. Make sure you have selected all the songs if you want it to be comprehensive.

The Shuffle Play Mode can be used once (“Shuffle”) or continuously (“Shuffle
Repeat”).
1. Press the Menu button .
2. Scroll Select Selected Music.
The Selected Music List screen appears.
3. Press the Scroller. A list appears.
4. Scroll Select Play Mode.... A list appears.
5. Depending on which mode you want, follow the corresponding step:
To Shuffle the Selected Music List once
Scroll Select Shuffle.
The Shuffle icon appears onscreen and a track is selected at
random and played back. The Selected Music List stops playing once all
the tracks in the Selected Music List are played back once.

[Rico]

<mod>

Gotcher title covered.

</mod>

[Mangosteen]

Thanks for making the title clearer.

I've tried both the "shuffle" and "shuffle repeat" modes and all they seem to do is shuffle the same "top" 100 or so songs and never pull up any of the other 150 songs that I don't ever hear.

As far as pre-selecting a list goes, I pre-selected the entire list.

I telephoned the company and they said I should just keep shuffling, but it just doesn't work.

Maybe I'll try another MP3 player. Any suggestions?

Thanks for your replies.