Alternative track shuffle method

[DevilSlayerDante]

Tracks have always been able to be randomized, but not a true shuffle, at least not in the context of a single list.  I always use "repeat list" and "shuffle songs/ordered lists" for list playback options.

Like a shuffled deck of cards, every track in a list should only play once before any track is repeated; for example, I often hear track X play 2 or 3 times before track Y plays.  So the list should be randomized, then played back so each track plays once, and when every track on the list is played, shuffle again and start over, or move on to next list, however the user has playback set.

Perhaps make this a choice in the Folders/Library settings menu to make shuffle behave one way or the other, depending on the user's preference.

[andrewilley]

Poweramp always does a true shuffle by building a full list of randomised songs - like your deck of cards example. It never randomises on-the-fly after each track.

As long as you let Poweramp continue to play its shuffled list - and don't change the shuffle mode, manually launch a new track or change playback category, etc - then PA will play the entire list to the end without re-randomising. You can can still use the next/prev track buttons without causing a reshuffle. To confirm, you can watch the play counter incrementing as it works its way through the shuffled list; if that counter ever goes back to 1/nnnn again then you know the shuffle order has been re-randomised. Repeat Category will cause a re-randomised list to be generated after the current category (e.g. current album) has been completed, so the next time round it will be in a new order. Note: in this case, the final track of the first playback order will always be treated as if it had been the first track of the new shuffled order - otherwise you could sometimes hear that final track again twice in a row. 

Settings > Library > Lists > No Reshuffle can be used to make the shuffled order even more resilient, allowing the user to manually select a different track from within a forthcoming shuffled sequence (e.g. by tapping on a song title within the All Songs list if that's the mode you are in) without triggering a re-randomise.

@maxmp In testing this, I've noticed a minor glitch when using No Reshuffle mode. This mode automatically enables 'Advance Category' playback, but the player-screen icon continues to show the old setting - e.g. Repeat Category - and allows the mode to be changed using the icon even though it will be ignored, which could be confusing to users.

Andre 

[DevilSlayerDante]

My apologies.  Up to 709, shuffle did not behave this way, and the little amount of time I've used builds 8xx, I believed it was still behaving as in older versions.

[maxmp]

@DevilSlayerDante You can enable "By shuffle order" sorting and see how exactly songs sorted for the shuffle. Songs can't magically appear or disappear from this list if it is just sorted randomly for the shuffle playback, so no duplications happen unless you have such duplications in the list.

Poweramp will reshuffle songs (change that random shuffle sorting for the list), and the resulting order may contain recently played songs on the top, but this is the new shuffle session. Poweramp reshuffles when shuffle mode is changed or list is (re-)started, for example, by clicking any song in it. The reshuffling with additional weighting (so those tracks are closer to end), such as number of played times, last played time, etc. is in the TODO.

You can reduce reshuffling events by No Reshuffle option, but in this case when you select songs manually from the shuffled list (sorted by anything except "By shuffle order") you have a chance of selecting the last song or close to that.

Thanks!