# Winamp questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 19, 2001, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winamp-questions/50783 "2001-01-19T00:42:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winamp-questions/50783/1 "2001-01-19T00:42:05Z")
Hi, a few quick questions about winamp, the music software: 1. I don’t know if anyone will know this but: lets say I have a play list of 200 songs on shuffle, and I hit “play” the button and Song A comes on, then at 3:25:18 I hit the “next” button would the next song (song B) be the same as if I had hit it at 3:25:19? (or have I touched on some unproveable, chaos theory-related subject?) 2. Everytime I load my playlist of 276 songs (from one directory), it always puts them up in the same disorganized order, with Don McLean’s “American Pie” 1st. This is neither my longest/shortest, largest/smallest, oldest/newest, 1st/last alphabetically. Why is this one always first? ---
**Author:** ![TheNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TheNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheNerd)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winamp-questions/50783/2 "2001-01-19T01:42:02Z")
To answer the first one, I don’t think so. If you hit the next button, it will go to one song. Hit previous, you come back. Hit next again - and you go to the same next song. I think it’s not time-dependent. As to the second. I get the same behaviour, but the starting song is always different. Don’t really know why. My songlist had 1624 songs in it, for reference. ---
**Author:** ![TheNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TheNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheNerd)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winamp-questions/50783/3 "2001-01-19T01:43:17Z")
oops. that should read, “to answer the first, I think so” ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winamp-questions/50783/4 "2001-01-19T02:06:21Z")
Well, if you drag a bunch of files from a directory window into the Winamp playlist, the first song is always the one your mouse pointer was on when you started dragging it. Does that help? ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winamp-questions/50783/5 "2001-01-19T03:04:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, if you drag a bunch of files from a directory window into the Winamp playlist, the first song is always the one your mouse pointer was on when you started dragging it. Does that help? Not to speak for **Qwertyasdfg** , but I load entire directory at a time (as I’m sure he does), otherwise he would have to add all 276 songs manually, and I have the same issue of the same song always loading first. This is done by using the ADD DIR option under the ADD directory at the bottom of the WinAmp interface. I have never dragged and dropped tracks into the playlist, so I guess I can’t comment on that aspect of it. Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winamp-questions/50783/6 "2001-01-19T16:48:28Z")
Your filenames are stored in the directory (or folder) in some order. Perhaps WinAmp is just reading the directory, and putting the songs in the order they are listed in the directory. Try an experiment. Put three or four songs in an empty directory one at a time, _noting the order you put them in_. Compare this with WinAmp’s order. Now remove the songs, and put them back in a different order, and compare this with WinAmp’s order. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winamp-questions/50783/7 "2001-01-19T17:48:21Z")
In a winamp directory (v2.71) of random songs, they are listed in alphabetical order, with ascii characters and songs with the track number, then the first letter of the title. If You have all your Meat Loaf songs listed under “Meat Loaf” but download one entitled “A Kiss is a terrible thing to waste” It won’t be with the rest of the meat loaf, but with the rest of the A’s. That said, when I load a directory, it loads it in that order. In the directory I have (11)-Foreigner followed by (Bon Jovi), load it in Winamp, and it’s (11) - Foreigner followed by Bon Jovi. I’m not sure why the Parentheses disappear.