Change shuffle algorithm

[vongdong]

Can something be done about the shuffle setting? I have a library of about 3000. Use this app 6 days a week for about 4 hours and I hear the same songs over and over again. There are so many songs I don't hear for months unless I actually choose it.

[maxmp]

@vongdong while in the shuffle session, you can hear song repeated only if song is duplicated in the target list. You may be resetting your shuffle session (by restarting player, or by restarting target category, etc.). To avoid resetting use "No Reshuffle" option. This way reshuffle will happen only when you change shuffle mode or when you press shuffle button in the target list. Note that manually selecting songs in the list may select last song in the list in this case.

You can see how songs exactly sorted by shuffle with List Options / By shuffle order.

Alternative powerful shuffle method is to add all desired songs into playlist and re-sorting it with "Shuffle (random sort)". You can play it then in normal mode + you can enable List Position for that playlist to keep the last played song there memorized.

[vongdong]

10 hours ago, maxmp said:

@vongdong while in the shuffle session, you can hear song repeated only if song is duplicated in the target list. You may be resetting your shuffle session (by restarting player, or by restarting target category, etc.). To avoid resetting use "No Reshuffle" option. This way reshuffle will happen only when you change shuffle mode or when you press shuffle button in the target list. Note that manually selecting songs in the list may select last song in the list in this case.

You can see how songs exactly sorted by shuffle with List Options / By shuffle order.

Alternative powerful shuffle method is to add all desired songs into playlist and re-sorting it with "Shuffle (random sort)". You can play it then in normal mode + you can enable List Position for that playlist to keep the last played song there memorized.

I use wireless earbuds that pause when taken out so I don't think it closes the app. I'll try those options out tonight but seriously I hear the same artists/albums all the time.

[maxmp]

Actually, even (normal) player unloading will keep shuffle session intact. Only abrupt app killing may break it. Though No shuffle option makes it more stable.

[andrewilley]

5 hours ago, vongdong said:

 I hear the same artists/albums all the time.

That would be expected in a random sequence, but you should never hear the same actual track (i.e. repeating the same audio file).

I assume you are using Shuffle All Songs mode, which as Max says is designed to take a list of all of the songs in your Library and reindex them into random order. So as each song exists exactly once in that long shuffled list, nothing can be replayed until the whole list has been finished.

You can watch this happening by looking at the track numbering in the playback counter just underneath the album artwork area. Note: on some skins this may need enabling, see Settings > Look and Feel > Player UI > Show Track Counter. When you first start a shuffled session, the counter should show the current position as 1/6000 (or however many tracks are in your library) and that will gradually increment to 2/6000, 3/6000 and so on as it works its way through the randomised list. You can move back and forth through that pre-shuffled order using << and >>, and you can pause for as long as you like or even exit the app or reboot your device without triggering a new sequence.

However if that counter ever jumps back to showing 1/6000 again, you know that a newly reshuffled sequence has been triggered - such as by manually selecting a new song from one of the category lists, or by changing the Shuffle mode. That's when you could quite possibly hear again a track that you heard in a previous session. Note: Settings > Library > Lists > No Reshuffle can prevent an automatic reshuffle occurring when you manually tap on a new song that was already somewhere in the current playback order; instead it will jump to that track within the existing random sequence (so the counter might then show as 4567/6000 for example).

Andre

[vongdong]

4 hours ago, andrewilley said:

That would be expected in a random sequence, but you should never hear the same actual track (i.e. repeating the same audio file).

I assume you are using Shuffle All Songs mode, which as Max says is designed to take a list of all of the songs in your Library and reindex them into random order. So as each song exists exactly once in that long shuffled list, nothing can be replayed until the whole list has been finished.

You can watch this happening by looking at the track numbering in the playback counter just underneath the album artwork area. Note: on some skins this may need enabling, see Settings > Look and Feel > Player UI > Show Track Counter. When you first start a shuffled session, the counter should show the current position as 1/6000 (or however many tracks are in your library) and that will gradually increment to 2/6000, 3/6000 and so on as it works its way through the randomised list. You can move back and forth through that pre-shuffled order using << and >>, and you can pause for as long as you like or even exit the app or reboot your device without triggering a new sequence.

However if that counter ever jumps back to showing 1/6000 again, you know that a newly reshuffled sequence has been triggered - such as by manually selecting a new song from one of the category lists, or by changing the Shuffle mode. That's when you could quite possibly hear again a track that you heard in a previous session. Note: Settings > Library > Lists > No Reshuffle can prevent an automatic reshuffle occurring when you manually tap on a new song that was already somewhere in the current playback order; instead it will jump to that track within the existing random sequence (so the counter might then show as 4567/6000 for example).

Andre

How do I start a shuffled session? I normally just choose a song from my library and let it run itself unless I choose another song and/or just hit play and it continues from last time.