Anti-Choice Paralysis, Quasi-Album Shuffle

[EthelTheFrog]

Ok, so this is totally off the wall, but I figured I'd post it in case anyone else is interested.

I'm often in the position where I know I want to listen to something but I can't choose what. I'm sure we've all been there. Years ago I read some literature on choice paralysis that concluded that the optimal number of options for an intelligent choice is about 5. So here's what I do in these situations:

I have some Python code that scans the music collection on my computer, randomly samples some albums, and then generates image files of those options. I then bulk transfer a bunch of these images to my DAP for access when I can't decide what to listen to. I pull up the next image and then choose one of the albums. This process works fine, but it would be cool to have something similar work natively.

I've attached an example of one of these quasi-album shuffle iterations.

[6b6561]

A soul mate!

I have asked a couple of times to have a "Shuffle" added as a sort order for Albums Category. This would give you a "Shuffled" list of albums and then you could pick one of the albums on the first screen. I see two benefits from this:

• Helps you to find something to listen to when you don't know what to listen to. (As you mentioned)
• and it helps you to re-find albums in your library that you have forgotten about.

I did at some point consider to code a Album launcher for PA, simple GUI that would display six albums or so and a re-shuffle button. I got to the point were I started looking into Android app coding and asked for some advice in the API forum where I got some pointers from @flyingdutchman.

End of that is that he did add "shuffle" to his Playlist Manager and I use that as a launcher. Three taps in Playlist Manager and I have my shuffle list. I would love to have this embedded in PA but until then this is a good workaround.

EDIT: And tapping on the album cover in Playlist Manager launches it in PA, so no need to launch PA and browse for the album.

Developer even added a dark theme to make Playlist Manager look more like my dark PA.

Edited December 12, 2023 by 6b6561
Added content

[flyingdutchman]

@6b6561 👌

[EthelTheFrog]

Cool! I will definitely try this out.

[6b6561]

Pro tip: Enable "Library access shortcuts" in Playlist Manager settings, this will add a "disc" icon on the startup page, taping the disc takes you to albums.

"workflow"

1. Launch Playlist Manager
2. Tap the disc icon
3. Tap the "three dot" menu button
4. Shuffle
5. Tap the album you want to hear and it will be launched in Poweramp

[6b6561]

@flyingdutchman Just added "start in library" to the Playlist Manager so mine is now configured to always start in the album view.