Random not really random

ingolfson · 23rd January 2002, 17:30

HI!

Using the 'shuffle' option, I am supposed to get randomly selected songs from my playlist. But - duh! In fact it STRONGLY prefers the list of titles that were recently played, last time I used Winamp.

What to do? If all I wanted to hear were the same songs, I wouldn't use a 700+ titles playlist, I would listen to the radio.

Shutting off shuffle won't work either - I'm not really in the mood to listen to 30 songs from the same band in a row...

Thanks for any help!

Kaboon · 23rd January 2002, 17:56

You could try Winamp version 2.77 or higher. (I don't which one you are using now.)

Quote:

Winamp 2.77:
* added page and slider for 'shuffle morph rate' to Preferences so you can control how much the playlist morphs (mutates) each time it cycles through.

So just open Preferences (press CTRL + P) and go to "Shuffle" and adjust the slider. That should fix the problem.

elbep · 26th January 2002, 10:54

unfortunately, the morph slider does not help too much.

I would report this to be a bug that has survived through all previous versions of winamp.
The problem is that this bug is very difficult or even impossible to reproduce.
Only if you would be able to automatically produce a log-list of the files played, this bug could be verified.

I use a playlist of appx 2,500 mp3 files. The effect of the shuffle-button is not only that several songs are repeated almost every time and even during the same rehearsal, which is annoying enough.
The other aspect of this bug is, that winamp always repeats songs out of the same directories. If you have maybe 250 directorys/subdirectories that your playlist is made of, winamp most of the time choses only from 10 or 15 out of that.

During the building-up period of my song archive I also recognized that the same bug sometimes selects another set of "prefered" songs and directories after a new directory had been added.

It is not possible to overrule this permanent preselection, e.g. by renaming the dirctories involved or by sorting the playlist in random order (even if you do this 10 times).

Imho,
something must be wrong in the algorithm of the shuffle-machine itself.
Maybe the programmer has been working for a ****** before he joined nullsoft. That would make sense...

Rocker · 26th January 2002, 14:17

here's what most of the more senior members do when we want shuffle

open the playlist ---->click misc----->sort----->randomise list
(step can be repeated many times)

turn shuffle off and just hit play

there you go a shuffled playlist

btw the winamp3 shuffle isn't much better..though its the best shuffle winamp has ever had....

elbep · 26th January 2002, 14:38

you are right and I sometimes use this method, too.
There are only two things with that:

The randomized list that you get as result seems to have some kind of preference sorting as well if you look very close to it. Even if you randomize several times.

And then, if you listen to a particular song that you like so much you want to listen to the rest of the CD, or maybe only the following track of the CD afterwards, then you will have to sort the list first, listen to the next track and then randomize again. That is too much work...

I'm not shure if I should install this beta 3.0 yet. I don't like betas in general because i have seen some funny things happen to my system in the past...
by I will think about it and read the bug list

Rocker · 27th January 2002, 12:24

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread....threadid=73377
this is annoying me having 2 threads with the same posts

DJEgg or sawg please *whack* this thread

elbep · 27th January 2002, 12:39

I would appreciate that, too
Thanks alot

MoPhat · 30th March 2002, 15:28

Hi Guys,

New here. Just wanted to say that I have the same "random isn't very random" problem discussed in this thread. I'm running 2.78c. I hope it gets fixed soon.

MoPhat

23rd January 2002, 17:30	#1
ingolfson Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 1	Random not really random HI! Using the 'shuffle' option, I am supposed to get randomly selected songs from my playlist. But - duh! In fact it STRONGLY prefers the list of titles that were recently played, last time I used Winamp. What to do? If all I wanted to hear were the same songs, I wouldn't use a 700+ titles playlist, I would listen to the radio. Shutting off shuffle won't work either - I'm not really in the mood to listen to 30 songs from the same band in a row... Thanks for any help!

26th January 2002, 10:54	#3
elbep Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Dusseldorf, Germany Posts: 8	No, sorry, does not help unfortunately, the morph slider does not help too much. I would report this to be a bug that has survived through all previous versions of winamp. The problem is that this bug is very difficult or even impossible to reproduce. Only if you would be able to automatically produce a log-list of the files played, this bug could be verified. I use a playlist of appx 2,500 mp3 files. The effect of the shuffle-button is not only that several songs are repeated almost every time and even during the same rehearsal, which is annoying enough. The other aspect of this bug is, that winamp always repeats songs out of the same directories. If you have maybe 250 directorys/subdirectories that your playlist is made of, winamp most of the time choses only from 10 or 15 out of that. During the building-up period of my song archive I also recognized that the same bug sometimes selects another set of "prefered" songs and directories after a new directory had been added. It is not possible to overrule this permanent preselection, e.g. by renaming the dirctories involved or by sorting the playlist in random order (even if you do this 10 times). Imho, something must be wrong in the algorithm of the shuffle-machine itself. Maybe the programmer has been working for a ****** before he joined nullsoft. That would make sense...

26th January 2002, 14:38	#5
elbep Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Dusseldorf, Germany Posts: 8	well I know you are right and I sometimes use this method, too. There are only two things with that: The randomized list that you get as result seems to have some kind of preference sorting as well if you look very close to it. Even if you randomize several times. And then, if you listen to a particular song that you like so much you want to listen to the rest of the CD, or maybe only the following track of the CD afterwards, then you will have to sort the list first, listen to the next track and then randomize again. That is too much work... I'm not shure if I should install this beta 3.0 yet. I don't like betas in general because i have seen some funny things happen to my system in the past... by I will think about it and read the bug list

27th January 2002, 12:39	#7
elbep Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Dusseldorf, Germany Posts: 8	Yeah I would appreciate that, too Thanks alot

30th March 2002, 15:28	#8
MoPhat Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 1	Same problem Hi Guys, New here. Just wanted to say that I have the same "random isn't very random" problem discussed in this thread. I'm running 2.78c. I hope it gets fixed soon. MoPhat

26th January 2002, 14:17	#4
Rocker Hiding in plain sight (mod) Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 9,910	here's what most of the more senior members do when we want shuffle open the playlist ---->click misc----->sort----->randomise list (step can be repeated many times) turn shuffle off and just hit play there you go a shuffled playlist btw the winamp3 shuffle isn't much better..though its the best shuffle winamp has ever had....

27th January 2002, 12:24	#6
Rocker Hiding in plain sight (mod) Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 9,910	http://forums.winamp.com/showthread....threadid=73377 this is annoying me having 2 threads with the same posts DJEgg or sawg please whack this thread

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