# Plays random songs my ass **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 25, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988 "2011-03-25T17:54:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/21 "2011-03-26T16:55:55Z")
The “random” mode on my Sansa Clip plays the same songs in the same order. Why it thinks that going to song 43 then 157 then 82 then 11 etc every time it’s on random mode is random, I don’t know. Why can’t it pick 42 and 158 and 10 some times? There are a lot of songs that are skipped every single time it’s on random mode, no matter how long, because it goes back to the beginning of the “random” pattern at some point and plays it over again in the same order as before. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/22 "2011-03-26T17:08:09Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I have a Droid, and I thought that also, until some songs started repeating every two or three selections. I discovered that for some reason the playlist it was selecting from got very short. When I get too annoyed by this phenomenon, I reset the playlist and it gets better. (I don’t actually use playlists, so there shouldn’t be any.) > I have noticed, after a recent OS update, that it is favoring different tracks from the same album, though it shuffles albums fairly well. It goes through 3 or 4 tracks, selected at random, and then moves on to new ones. > > It has always liked the second Traveling Wilburries album way too much, though. I have a Droid as well and the random is absolutely horrid. There’s been times when I’ve just skipped through songs and out of, let’s say 20 songs I’d skip the same one three times. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/23 "2011-03-26T17:19:45Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Ooh, thank you, this answers a question I have had since I got my Ipod (but have been too lazy to ask). I have it on shuffle, but not Repeat All. I just figured out where that is in Settings. > > Thank you! Quite welcome. Figured that would help somebody. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/24 "2011-03-26T22:01:03Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Um, that’s _exactly_ what it does when you set it for random and repeat all. Read **Lute Skywalker’s** post again. > > [Read here](http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1983). Yeah, but you guys are ignoring the most helpful sentence from that link: _However, if you turn iPod off by pressing and holding the Play/Pause button it will not remember the random order or the selected playlist._ And from my experience, the same holds true for closing iTunes; anytime you close it (i.e. turn off your computer for the night) the random shuffle starts over the next day. _That’s_ the problem, if you ask me. If I restart iTunes or turn my iPod back on, it should be able to remember where the shuffle left off (in an ideal world). 9 times out of 10 that’s why people don’t think it’s truly random; they’re looking at the big picture and wondering why they’re hearing the same songs over several days… well that’s why. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/25 "2011-03-27T00:48:08Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > One thing that I have noticed since switching to random is how incredibly annoying it is when a song comes on with more than a second of dead air for an intro. It makes me want to stab the artist in the back of the head with a tea spoon. This – you can fix. Right click on the song title in iTunes, choose “Get Info” and then the “Options” tab. You can specify to a fraction of a second how far into the track it will start playing, so you can make it skip over dead air or oddball intro stuff like an emcee introduction. You can also truncate the end of the song the same way. BTW, this is for the Windows version of iTunes. ---
**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:** [March 27, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/26 "2011-03-27T21:05:19Z")
I love shuffle mode, particularly when I’m working out. The only thing that bugs me is when you only hear just one song of a one-two punch. For example: McCartney’s Venus and Mars / Rock Show Boston’s Foreplay / Long Time Queen’s We Will Rock You / We Are the Champions And don’t get me started on the Abbey Road medley. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/27 "2011-03-27T21:49:25Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I love shuffle mode, particularly when I’m working out. > > The only thing that bugs me is when you only hear just one song of a one-two punch. > > For example: > > McCartney’s Venus and Mars / Rock Show > > Boston’s Foreplay / Long Time > > Queen’s We Will Rock You / We Are the Champions > > And don’t get me started on the Abbey Road medley. > mmm This – you can also fix, maybe. If you have the original CD, when you load (or maybe reload) the songs, you can link multiple tracks on the CD so they play in order, even if you have Shuffle turned on. Look up “Join CD Tracks” in iTunes for details on how to do it. ---
**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:** [March 27, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/28 "2011-03-27T23:48:09Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > This – you can also fix, maybe. If you have the original CD, when you load (or maybe reload) the songs, you can link multiple tracks on the CD so they play in order, even if you have Shuffle turned on. Look up “Join CD Tracks” in iTunes for details on how to do it. Wow, I had no idea you could do that. Thanks, Boyo! mmm ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/29 "2011-03-28T01:06:21Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It’s not like you can shuffle a deck of cards and somehow get two Aces of Spades. What if I _like_ Motorhead? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/30 "2011-03-28T02:05:38Z")
It really annoys me that there isn’t a “Shuffle Artist” choice, so I can listen to everything by one group before going onto the next. I got so annoyed that I overwrote the album titles of all 4,000 songs with the names of the artists. So now when I shuffle albums, I’m really shuffling artists. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/31 "2011-03-28T02:17:26Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > It really annoys me that there isn’t a “Shuffle Artist” choice, so I can listen to everything by one group before going onto the next. I got so annoyed that I overwrote the album titles of all 4,000 songs with the names of the artists. So now when I shuffle albums, I’m really shuffling artists. Why didn’t you just create a Smart Playlist that says “Artist contains \_\_\_\_\_\_\_” and then shuffle within that Playlist? ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/32 "2011-03-28T02:44:17Z")
If you want each song to play once and then not again until you have gone through the entire list, just go to songs and hit play. For example on my iPhone I just did that and here is where the list starts: Abortion doctor from hell! David Cross Accents Craig Shoemaker Accidentally like a Martyr Warron Zevon Aces High Soundtrack Longest Day Acid Queen Soundtrack Tommy The Actor The Moody Blues You have to admit that is a pretty random selection genre wise. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/33 "2011-03-28T02:59:43Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > Why didn’t you just create a Smart Playlist that says “Artist contains \_\_\_\_\_\_\_” and then shuffle within that Playlist? Because I don’t know how to do that. I still don’t. How do I make a rule that tells iTunes to play all songs by one artist before shuffling to another artist, regardless of what playlist I’m listening to? I have something like 500-1000 artists. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/34 "2011-03-28T03:46:18Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Because I don’t know how to do that. I still don’t. How do I make a rule that tells iTunes to play all songs by one artist before shuffling to another artist, regardless of what playlist I’m listening to? > > I have something like 500-1000 artists. Well now you’re asking something you weren’t asking in your previous post. You can’t make iTunes automatically go to the next artist after you finish that artist’s catalog. But you can make a Smart Playlist (which is probably the coolest thing about iTunes). Just go to File\>New Smart Playlist… A dialogue box pops up and you can pretty much tell it to create whatever you want. If you want to create a playlist by purchase date, you can do that. If you want to make one by year, you can do that too. In your case, you would choose “Artist”, which I believe is the default choice, then “Contains”, and then type in the artist name. That will create a whole new playlist of just that artist. So then you can shuffle within that playlist and it will only play songs by that artist. But once you’re done with that artist, you’ll have to delete it (if you want) and create a new one for the next artist. There’s no way to do it without creating a playlist for each artist, as far as I know. Semantic satiation: artist. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/35 "2011-03-28T03:59:23Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > Well now you’re asking something you weren’t asking in your previous post. You can’t make iTunes automatically go to the next artist after you finish that artist’s catalog. But you can make a Smart Playlist (which is probably the coolest thing about iTunes). Just go to File\>New Smart Playlist… A dialogue box pops up and you can pretty much tell it to create whatever you want. If you want to create a playlist by purchase date, you can do that. If you want to make one by year, you can do that too. In your case, you would choose “Artist”, which I believe is the default choice, then “Contains”, and then type in the artist name. That will create a whole new playlist of just that artist. So then you can shuffle within that playlist and it will only play songs by that artist. But once you’re done with that artist, you’ll have to delete it (if you want) and create a new one for the next artist. There’s no way to do it without creating a playlist for each artist, as far as I know. > > Semantic satiation: artist. Why would I need to do this? In iTunes I can sort any list by artist and play it, except I hardly ever listen to my music directly from iTunes. I listen on my iPod where I don’t have an option of resorting my list. On my iPod, I can listen to any artist by going into the list of artists and picking one. But I already have a bunch of lists made by music types, and I wanted an additional Shuffle option for those lists beyond what iTunes makes available. That is what I meant to say in my post. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/36 "2011-03-28T04:39:55Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Why would I need to do this? In iTunes I can sort any list by artist and play it, except I hardly ever listen to my music directly from iTunes. I listen on my iPod where I don’t have an option of resorting my list. On my iPod, I can listen to any artist by going into the list of artists and picking one. > > But I already have a bunch of lists made by music types, and I wanted an additional Shuffle option for those lists beyond what iTunes makes available. That is what I meant to say in my post. Look, you asked how to shuffle by artist and I told you. You can do what you’re wanting to do. The Smart Playlists will copy onto your iPod when you sync it. Turn on shuffle and press Play on the playlist and there you have it: shuffling within one particular artist’s work. But you’re welcome, and all that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/37 "2011-03-28T04:48:04Z")
I’ve made a number of playlists for artists/genres that I like to select and either play or shuffle within the playlist. I find this especially useful for artists like Prince who have about eight different names that show up (Prince, Prince and the NPG, Prince and the Revolution, Prince with X guest star, TAFKAP symbol, etc.). On the other hand, my Sony MP3 player shuffles whatever I’ve selected (artist, album, or songs) if I have shuffle on, which is quite nice. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/38 "2011-03-28T05:21:34Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > Look, you asked how to shuffle by artist and I told you. You can do what you’re wanting to do. The Smart Playlists will copy onto your iPod when you sync it. Turn on shuffle and press Play on the playlist and there you have it: shuffling within one particular artist’s work. > > But you’re welcome, and all that stuff. Except that a Smart playlist doesn’t do that. It might shuffle _an_ artist’s music, but it doesn’t shuffle music by artist. I don’t need or want a separate playlist for each artist, which is essentially what you’re suggesting. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/39 "2011-03-28T15:24:02Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Except that a Smart playlist doesn’t do that. It might shuffle _an_ artist’s music, but it doesn’t shuffle music by artist. I don’t need or want a separate playlist for each artist, which is essentially what you’re suggesting. I don’t know of any easy solution for the default setup but there’s an app called Flicktunes that let’s you control your music by one, two, and three finger gestures. One finger up to play/pause, one finger right for next song, two fingers up to increase volume, etc. It’s all configurable. Really nice when you’re driving and shouldn’t be looking at the small buttons on the default player. Flicktunes can also configure is a gesture for Shuffle Artist. I usually play shuffle all and when I run across an artist I like, I do three fingers up to shuffle just that artist. As far as the OP, I sort of agree, but I think it’s really random and we’re just picking up patterns. I swear my old 40GB 3g iPod used to be worse though. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988/40 "2011-03-28T16:30:31Z")
My original nano had a setting that you could set the randomness of shuffle - so that songs by artists would tend to bunch together more often. I cannot find that setting on my iPhone. Did they remove it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-random-songs-my-ass/575988.md?page=3)