shuffle playback

[slazman999]

Is there a way to make the shuffle playback more random? I have noticed it plays the same artist twice before it moves on. I have 1075 songs with a variation of about 70 different artists.

[Nunzio390]

CTRL+P for Winamp Preferences > General Preferences > Playlist
Move the slider under "Shuffle Morph Rate" all the way to the right.

But for TRUE random play (where absolutely nothing will be repeated), use the Random playback feature instead of Shuffle...

Playlist > MISC button > Sort > Randomize List

In addition to the above, read this post by JonnyMac.

[duntkno]

slaz is right, terrible shuffle, maybe in the upcoming release they changed the way, songs get shuffled?

[Nunzio390]

Originally posted by duntkno
slaz is right, terrible shuffle, maybe in the upcoming release they changed the way, songs get shuffled?

I think not. It'll probably stay this way, as it's always been.

Shuffling is doing its job.
Randomizing is doing its job.

With shuffling, there is always a chance of repeat play.
With randomizing, there is never a chance of repeat play.

Just choose one or the other, depending on what your preferences are.

[duntkno]

oooo i didnt know that, i thought with shuffling each track had to play once in the playlist, and then it would end.

its just disappointing when i have more then 500 artists, and among the first 10 songs played, 3 of those are from one of those artists.

[JonnyMac]

Try DrO's Playlist File Remover plug-in. It can remove an item/file from a playlist after played, thus removing the chance the file will by played again. (Playlist File Remover Discussion Thread)

[chephy]

Originally posted by Nunzio390

Shuffling is doing its job.
Randomizing is doing its job.

With shuffling, there is always a chance of repeat play.
With randomizing, there is never a chance of repeat play. [/B]

No, Winamp shuffling is NOT doing its job properly. Yes, with shuffling there is a chance of a repeat play. However, a good shuffler will pick tracks truly randomly. Winamp's shuffle doesn't. When I load 9,000 songs into Winamp, and within the first 100 I get a song that gets played 3 times... that's not random. Winamp's shuffle feature tends to heavily overplay some portions of the playlist, and completely ignore others. It badly needs to be fixed.

[Nunzio390]

OK. Let's look at what shuffling really is in the true sense. A perfect "example" would be shuffling a deck of cards. It's entirely the "luck of the draw". There's always a chance that each time you shuffle, the same card/cards may/may not come up again. And Winamp's shuffle does the same thing. You never know what will come up again. So, just like you said -- "get a song that gets played 3 times" -- you can get the same card in the deck that appears 3 times (or more - or less). So there is no such thing as a "a good shuffler" when you truly shuffle (as a shuffler of a deck of cards does). Again, it's the "luck of the draw". Hence, the same with Winamp's "shuffler".

Now, let's talk about "randomizing" with Winamp and compare it with a deck of cards...

Take that same deck of cards, and pick out one at a time, and then toss it/them aside. That/those card(s) can never be found again in the deck (until you gather up all the discarded cards and start all over again).

So, once again, if you are not happy with shuffling, then randomize instead! ...

Playlist > MISC button > Sort > Randomize List

And if you are still confusing shuffling with randomizing, then if it makes you feel better, consider the randomize feature in Winamp your shuffle feature. Your problem/issue is solved/moot!

[Nunzio390]

And, if you still want to use shuffle in Winamp with no chance of a song repeating, do as JonnyMac indicated in his post above...

Use DrO's Playlist File Remover

You can use it while shuffle is enabled. A song/media file entry in your playlist will never be repeated (as in randomizing), because it will be immediately removed from the playlist.

[JonnyMac]

Something else worth mentioning is DrO's Time Restore & Autoplay plug-in. Which has a "Randomise Winamp's playlist on load" option. That option will randomize the default/current playlist each time Winamp is started.

[Nunzio390]

Originally posted by JonnyMac
Something else worth mentioning is DrO's Time Restore & Autoplay plug-in.

Another very good option, JM!

DrO...
Ahhh, what can I say about Darren and his plugins, other than perhaps this? ...

Keep those amazing plugins coming, O Magical Genie of Winamp plugins / enhancement!!

Forums member: "Hello. Can somebody make this or do that for Winamp?"
DrO: "Hmmm. I don't see why not."

DrO: "Your wish has been granted!"

[chephy]

Originally posted by Nunzio390
[B]OK. Let's look at what shuffling really is in the true sense. A perfect "example" would be shuffling a deck of cards. It's entirely the "luck of the draw". There's always a chance that each time you shuffle, the same card/cards may/may not come up again. And Winamp's shuffle does the same thing. You never know what will come up again.

Look, I get everything you're saying. The issue is not that songs repeat sometimes. I know they are supposed to occasionally repeat with a shuffle. The trouble is that the songs are NOT picked randomly. They are not luck of the draw, so to speak. To use the card analogy, suppose that each time you shuffle a red card ends up being on top. It's okay once, it's okay twice, it's okay three times, and even five times, and even ten (though the odds of with truly random shufflings are getting really small). However, if you shuffled the deck a thousand times and every time a red card was on top, and never a black one, then you are not shuffling properly.

That's how Winamp is. It's not shuffling properly. Suppose I have 50 songs. A proper shuffle might do something like this:

song 25
song 39
song 4
song 3
song 14
song 25
song 17
song 17
song 42

However, Winamp does something more like this:

song 11
song 15
song 15
song 15
song 11
song 2
song 15
song 3
song 11
song 15

I've exaggerated it here, but only to make a point. Some folders are very heavily overrepresented, and some are almost never heard. I have enough experience with Winamp shuffle to make statistically significant observations here.

[Nunzio390]

OK. I just read your reply and I get everything you're saying too.

Well, here's a solution, and everybody should be happy (I think)...

DrO's Time Restore & Autoplay (as was also mentioned in earlier posts above).

You can leave Shuffle "off" in Winamp and in DrO's plugin configuration, checkmark "Randomise Winamp's playlist on load". If you want to start Winamp with a random song, then also checkmark "Select a random file to play on startup" for good measure.

When Winamp starts with whatever playlist you choose, you have a perfect combination of shuffling and randomizing!
___________________________________________

Or... if you don't mind files being "removed" from your playlist as they play (as you keep Winamp running and switch between playlists), then, as JM suggested above, use DrO's Playlist File Remover.

Either way (or with a combination of both), problem solved! Everybody's happy! Happy Winamping!

[Marco=W=]

Mmh, looks like I'm reviving a dead thread, however...
I usually load the entire ML (only 1,000+ songs).

I know that shuffle+repeat leads to a certain amount of repetition of songs, I'm aware of this and don't care.

The real problem is when repetition is off.
Songs of course are not repeated but is incredible how are the same tracks played. It seems that Winamp knows my tastes and proposes me for first always the same songs, the same albums, the same artists.
Of course play count logging is disabled, and now I can't understand what's the cause.

How can the shuffling algorithm be flawed this way?

Any suggestion?

M

[Nunzio390]

Although I mentioned this in my first reply in this thread (many many months ago), have you tried increasing the shuffle morph rate?

Screenshot...