# Did anyone try to "shuffle" their music collection in the pre-iPod era? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-try-to-shuffle-their-music-collection-in-the-pre-ipod-era/550904 "2010-08-20T19:44:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-try-to-shuffle-their-music-collection-in-the-pre-ipod-era/550904/21 "2010-08-21T06:41:06Z")
Not to the same extent as you but… I had a five-CD capacity boombox (until sadly I accidently melted it ☹ ) which had a song-shuffle function, that I took advantage of. The only disadvantages being the 5-CD limit and the very loud shuffling of CDs between tracks… ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-try-to-shuffle-their-music-collection-in-the-pre-ipod-era/550904/22 "2010-08-21T11:53:35Z")
When ‘shuffle’ came out, I thought it was the coolest thing on earth (still do). I had been doing my own version of it for years, dating back to albums, even. I had, I dunno, 500 or so albums on shelves. Once in a while I would get in a shuffle mood. I’d close my eyes, grab a record, and place it on the turntable. Then I would open my eyes and place the needle on a random track, all the while being careful to cover the label with my hand so as not to reveal the album or artist. I’d do this for several songs in a row (different album each time). Sometimes I’d accidentally catch a glimpse of the label and get pissed off. 🙂 Yeah, I’m not weird. mmm ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-try-to-shuffle-their-music-collection-in-the-pre-ipod-era/550904/23 "2010-08-21T16:55:51Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Albums were meant to be played purposely, with songs in the order that the artist intended. That’s the law. You must listen to a lot of **Yes** , or maybe **Pink Floyd** ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-try-to-shuffle-their-music-collection-in-the-pre-ipod-era/550904/24 "2010-08-21T18:15:05Z")
I have two players now with a combined 500 discs, that can both shuffle and trade off tracks between them. Crossfaded, even. Individual tracks can be dropped out of the rotation. Pretty good setup if I don’t feel like choosing something. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-try-to-shuffle-their-music-collection-in-the-pre-ipod-era/550904/25 "2010-08-21T18:34:47Z")
When I got my first CD player (in 1991—it was a 6-CD changer), I thought the “random mode” was a very cool feature, and that it would bring new freshness to old familiar albums, if I could hear the same songs in a new and unexpected order. It did that some, but I didn’t (and still don’t) end up using it anywhere near as often as just playing CDs straight through in the intended order, because usually, that intended order is what flows best. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-try-to-shuffle-their-music-collection-in-the-pre-ipod-era/550904/26 "2010-08-21T18:40:15Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Does making mix tapes count? If so, yes. I’d say “yes” if you deliberately made them (as I did) so they had unexpected combinations of music styles – Bach rubbing shoulders with Hendrix, etc. ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-try-to-shuffle-their-music-collection-in-the-pre-ipod-era/550904/27 "2010-08-21T18:40:20Z")
This is cheating, but MP3s were widely popular before the debut of the iPod in 2001. I attended college from 1996-2000 and during this time I had quite a bit of music on my computer. Shuffling through these was quite easy. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-try-to-shuffle-their-music-collection-in-the-pre-ipod-era/550904/28 "2010-08-21T18:58:55Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > I’m clearly not as smart or devoted as you, but I specifically bought carousel CD players (usually 5 disk) so I could shuffle through disks without having to constantly go back and forth to the player. My first CD player was specifically a 5-discer for that purpose. I had a CD set of national anthems of the world, I didn’t want to listen to them in (alphabetical / track) order, as I’d know which one was next (yeah, I know, same thing for my non-anthems CDs, but bear with me), I liked the idea of playing “Test the Uber-Nerd”, if I had my anthems CDs on random shuffle, I could see how long it takes for me to guess which anthem it is (instead of knowing because if, say, I’d just played Nepal, I know that this must be Netherlands). I usually average getting it within the first bar or so now (many the first note or two). Unfortunately, my CD set was a 6 CD set, but, I was happy. Extreme geekery? Where?? > [@tdn](#): > > Albums were meant to be played purposely, with songs in the order that the artist intended. That’s the law. > [@JKellyMap](#): > > > [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > > > Does making mix tapes count? If so, yes. > > I’d say “yes” if you deliberately made them (as I did) so they had unexpected combinations of music styles – Bach rubbing shoulders with Hendrix, etc. With the rest of my music, combination of the above disparate statements. I’d make mix tapes all the time (translated now to Mix CDs (is that the term? I still call them “mix tapes” even if they’re on a CD) but put a hell of a lot of thought into the order of them - I’d assemble my mix tapes like how most people assemble jigsaw puzzles - I’d start with the obvious songs (in a jigsaw, it’s the corners and edges) to lead and end with. For instance, “Assorted Songs 1” starts with Platinum Blonde’s “It Doesn’t Really Matter” (and has since high school), the woman saying “Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin.” in a calm manner at the start of the song is a _natural_ way to start the collection! Similar way of choosing the end song, there are a few songs that make great ending songs of a CD. I’d then pick what songs go best after the first one/before the last one, and build the collection that way. It has the disadvantage that slow songs tend to get lumped together (but I may luck out that there’s a song that starts slow and ends fast, or vice-versa, to get me out of the jams) ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-try-to-shuffle-their-music-collection-in-the-pre-ipod-era/550904/29 "2010-08-21T19:19:00Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Everyone around here is very late to adopt technology. I’m pretty sure my first CD player had a random function, but I never used it. I’d be much more likely to use the program feature, and thus skip songs I didn’t like. Amen. Being able to program the playback on CDs made _Double Fantasy_ a much more enjoyable listen, as I was able to eliminate all the Yoko songs. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-try-to-shuffle-their-music-collection-in-the-pre-ipod-era/550904/30 "2010-08-21T19:47:08Z")
The kid and her husband bought me a new CD copy of Abbey Road for Christmas. Son-in-law put it in the player and hit shuffle. Weirdness ensued. ---
**Author:** ![NoiseBomb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/49beb7/32.png) [@NoiseBomb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoiseBomb)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-try-to-shuffle-their-music-collection-in-the-pre-ipod-era/550904/31 "2010-08-22T01:14:51Z")
I had a 6-disc changer in the early 90s. The options were to randomly play songs from one CD or all 6 CDs, or to program in a list of songs and play them in the order that you programmed them in. Long before there were MP3s or iPods, I had thought the BEST. FEATURE. EVER. would have been to give it a list of songs that was a subset of everything on those 6 discs, and play those in a random order. Yeah, playlists. A lot of us thought that up years before it existed. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-try-to-shuffle-their-music-collection-in-the-pre-ipod-era/550904/32 "2010-08-22T22:51:23Z")
I have a couple of 400-disk carousel players and before I moved to my present abode, I had them full and would often play them randomly. They had an interconnect which allowed both players to shift between them. Since I got my 42-inch flatscreen tv an DirecTv I haven’t unpacked the cds. Anybody wanna buy the carousels? Just kidding, onthe sale offer. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-try-to-shuffle-their-music-collection-in-the-pre-ipod-era/550904/33 "2010-08-22T23:22:47Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Meet the [MiniDisc](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiniDisc). Developed in 1992, you could copy a whole CD onto them (or several tracks from many CDs), the disks couldn’t be scratched, the device fit in your pocket, you could split, join, and re-order tracks, as well as play in shuffle mode. Unfortunately, Japanese companies didn’t really try to sell them outside of Japan until MP3 players started to sell in the US. > > This is why Isolationism is bad. I have a first generation MD player/recorder, the one that had a metal case instead of the plastic case, and it also recorded … bought it at a Navy Exchange. Beautiful little toy. I was so sad when the format did not take off in the US =( [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-try-to-shuffle-their-music-collection-in-the-pre-ipod-era/550904.md?page=1)