Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Why doesn't shuffle do what it is supposed to do? - RANDOMIZE

Shake 'n' Bake

Shake 'n' Bake

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 2, 2009
2,186
2
Albany
I have had iTunes on shuffle all day and I've finally realized that it doesn't really shuffle.

Right now I'm playing "Life In Technicolor." I've noticed that each time it is over, iTunes plays "Lost!" If it were a true shuffle, it would pick something different each time.

According to my calculations, my playlist with 19 songs has 1.216451 × 10^17 or 121,645,100,000,000,000,000,000 ways to play. But I've found out that iTunes just picks a loop and sticks with it.

Is there anything I can write to really randomize things?
 
Sounds like it is using the same seed for the RNG, so you get the same sequence of random numbers everytime. If you could change the seed each time, then you wouldn't have this problem. I don't know if they let you do that though.
 
mobilehaathi said:
Sounds like it is using the same seed for the RNG, so you get the same sequence of random numbers everytime. If you could change the seed each time, then you wouldn't have this problem. I don't know if they let you do that though.
Click to expand...

There's always a way to change what ever you want. You just have to know the right things to tell the computer.
 
Does it say somewhere that shuffle randomizes your music? If I recall it says it shuffles your music. There's a difference between to shuffle and to randomize.
 
Shake 'n' Bake said:
There's always a way to change what ever you want. You just have to know the right things to tell the computer.
Click to expand...

Sure, a computer only does exactly what you tell it. The problem may be that the seed is hard coded into iTunes, and the only way to change it would be to modify the code and recompile it. It seems silly that they wouldn't provide a mechanism to change it or provide an automatically changing seed (i.e. based off the clock).
 
TuffLuffJimmy said:
Does it say somewhere that shuffle randomizes your music? If I recall it says it shuffles your music. There's a difference between to shuffle and to randomize.
Click to expand...

shuffle |ˈ sh əfəl|
verb

2 [ trans. ] rearrange (a deck of cards) by sliding the cards over each other quickly.
• move (people or things) around so as to occupy different positions or to be in a different order : she shuffled her papers into a neat pile.
• [ intrans. ] ( shuffle through) sort or look through (a number of things) hurriedly : he shuffled through the papers on his desk.
________________________________________________________________

random |ˈrandəm|
adjective
made, done, happening, or chosen without method or conscious decision : a random sample of 100 households.
• Statistics governed by or involving equal chances for each item.
• (of masonry) with stones of irregular size and shape.
________________________________________________________________

They are so similar that it doesn't make a difference.

When you shuffle a deck of cards, you don't know where each goes. You place each without knowing.
 
It may have something to do with ratings and/or play counts. I seem to recall that iTunes takes these things into account and will play things you "like more" more...

Or perhaps it is just that they made a half-ass randomizer and you are feeling the effects of it. And as per your comment
Shake 'n' Bake said:
There's always a way to change what ever you want. You just have to know the right things to tell the computer.
Click to expand...
um, true to some degree, but lest we forget this is iTunes and OSX, not Linux. You cannot just go in and change things without fighting way too much for it. My advice: just get over it :)
 
Shake 'n' Bake said:
They are so similar that it doesn't make a difference.

When you shuffle a deck of cards, you don't know where each goes. You place each without knowing.
Click to expand...
Oh but it does. You see when someone says they're going to do a service for you then they should do that service. That's it. There's no reason for someone to do all other services that sounds similar to the first.

Also, shuffling a deck is not random, yes you don't know the outcome, but that doesn't make it random.
 
illegallydead said:
It may have something to do with ratings and/or play counts. I seem to recall that iTunes takes these things into account and will play things you "like more" more...

Or perhaps it is just that they made a half-ass randomizer and you are feeling the effects of it. And as per your comment

um, true to some degree, but lest we forget this is iTunes and OSX, not Linux. You cannot just go in and change things without fighting way too much for it. My advice: just get over it :)
Click to expand...

I've done a bit of research and it seems the play count has something to do with it. All of my songs are the same rating - None.

TuffLuffJimmy said:
Oh but it does. You see when someone says they're going to do a service for you then they should do that service. That's it. There's no reason for someone to do all other services that sounds similar to the first.

Also, shuffling a deck is not random, yes you don't know the outcome, but that doesn't make it random.
Click to expand...

I see your point.
 
maybe there are some smart playlist work arounds you could look into. Have it search for some obscure criteria that fits nearly all your songs (or all the ones you want) and have it select randomly* and turn off live updating. That way you can delete what's in the playlist to refresh it.


*I have a sneaking suspicion Apple doesn't actually do anything random here
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back